So Who Has Actually Done Extensive Traveling????

[naturelover24]

awesome man!! good advice, and yeah i know people who've hitchhiked and had no problems whatsoever! common sense and weaponry is all ya need! and kindness! so how much cash do you recommend i bring, if im going around the USA??

[bobenns]

Back in the day there were so many people hitch hiking. It was so common. And people tended to be a lot more trusting. Young people were into the flower power, make love not war etc. They were naive and not as worldly as they needed to be. A lot of bad shit happened to some of them. Basically when you get into a vehicle with someone you are taking a risk. You may never be seen again. Male or female. I did it a lot, nothing too serious ever happened, but I met some crazy people along the way.

When you have a free country, unfortunately that makes opportunities for opportunists. I was just kind of shocked by the number of serial killers in just one state. There are 49 more. I would hate to learn that someone I was sharing with here, went missing while hitch hiking. On the other hand, nobody ever stopped me from sticking out my thumb. At 18 it was a cool way to get somewhere.

See today I wouldn't hitch hike unless it was a real emergency like my vehicle went over the cliff on the Alaska hiway and It was hitch hike or walk to the next place. At my age people don't think much of you hitch hiking either. I generally don't pick up hitch hikers these days. I might given the right circumstances, but I'm usually driving a coupe and theres no room for starters. I have a big old camper van but when I'm driving that its just to go camping with my lady friend, so no hitch hikers.

Now one time we were driving a small school bus from A to B and we picked up every hitch hiker along the way, about 300 miles. It was way cool and fun. Everybody was in the same spirit that got on. If I had the money, that would be a cool thing to do, just get an old school bus and drive coast to coast picking up everybody on the side of the road. Good times bus. Thats just the old hippie in me.

If you hitch hike I wish you good luck, good rides and good weather.

[stilltrekker]

While we're on the topic of hitch-hiking. . .

I did my share of hitching "back in the day"--back and forth across the US several times, plus lots of regional and local trips. . . and yup, made some bad choices and had some bad things happen to me (but no, I never got drunk with my ride and never went to a motel room either, but when Interstate 80 is closed due to flooding and you're stuck in Scranton PA with the Wonder Bread trucker who picked you up, shit happens). . . also met cool people and saw the country with a very different view from traveling with more unknown variables. Breathed a lot of exhaust fumes. Learned to play the harmonica.

I agree with Bob--it's a different world out there today. How many hitch-hikers do you see? And when you do, what demographics do they appear to be? Not usually the young adventurer type. Usually men of a pretty rough variety. Doesn't mean they're bad people, but I don't pick up hitchhikers any more (though I still feel a twinge of guilt driving past). The glory days of the hitch-hiker are over, and it wasn't always glorious even back then.

But adventurer! has a good idea about using his cellphone as a self-tracking device, and it makes me think about how we can do what we want to do--share community, help each other, find a way around the money-driven transportation system--using today's technology. Does anybody know of an online version of Ye Olde Ride Share Board? I know that folks going to Rainbow Gatherings, Phish concerts, etc. find ride shares online. How about adventure travelers? And sure, danger can be masquerading as a friendly stranger online just as well as in that pickup slowing down, but I think the odds are less, if people meet through shared interests rather than randomly along the highway.