Have you ever hitchhiked or picked up a hitchhiker?

[jumpergirl 0]

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The only time I ever picked up hitchhikers was many years ago under very odd circumstances.

You can't just leave it like that! You have to tell us!

[hookitt 1]

I was picked up hitch hiking one day and after a good conversation, he invited me to dinner with the family. The food was great but I gotta say, his wife sure seemed a bit freaked out.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[Girlfalldown 0]

I used to hitchhike home from school when I was a teenager along with my best friend. One time we were picked up by a group of spanish speaking men. They didn't understand where we were going and started taking us across town and we ended up jumping out of the car at a light and walking ever further home then we were originally. We didn't hitchhike anymore after that.

These aren't really hitchiking stories but kind of close.

When I was about 16, a friend and I went to this really cool beach. I think we were somewhat altered at the time and we watched the sun set and then we watched as the last bus home went by. Not realizing it we just sat there enjoying the view. Finally we went to the bus stop and realized our mistake. Luckily this really cool older gentleman stopped at the bus stop and picked us up in his truck and dropped us off a couple of blocks from our house. Edited to add: Did I mention the guy looked just like Willie Nelson and was smoking a doobie when we got in?

One time the belt on my Honda Elite 250 exploded and some guy in a truck pulled over, loaded into the back of his truck and drove me about 60 miles out of his way to drop me off at home.

Another time my alternator died on my car and I was stuck in the middle of the freeway during rush hour in Southern California. Three cars stopped, a bunch of people jumped out, pushed me to the side of the freeway and then one of them gave me a ride home.

Soon after that I was driving on the freeway one night in a totally sketchy area and there was a broken down car on the side of the freeway. A woman was walking very fast (obviously frightened)down the freeway towards the nearest off ramp but it was really far away. I stopped, she turned and started running AWAY so I got out of the car to show her I was female. I remember the look of her face in my headlights still to this day. She stopped and peeked into my car to make sure there wasn't someone hiding in the back or something. I ended up giving her a ride to the gas station, getting her a gallon of gas and driving her back to her car. She was really thankful and nice. I just thought she must have been scared shitless and totally stuck out there and I wondered how I would have felt if I was her. Reverse karma or something.

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(Do not, I repeat DO NOT, take my posts seriously.)

[NWFlyer 2]

Haven't ever hitchhiked myself (so far I've always been picked up by DZ people when I've landed out ). Once, in college, I was driving back to my apartment past a local shopping center in the rain and saw a woman trying to wave down help. For whatever reason I pulled over and checked it out. Ended up giving her a ride home (not far - it wasn't a huge town). Turns out she was a grad student who had gone running, hurt her ankle, and then gotten caught in the drizzle.

My friends and I took a guy from a trailhead into the local town in New Zealand. He was pretty ripe, but nice enough. I had two (male) friends with me for that one, though, and in NZ things are generally safer and more hitchhiker-friendly.

Generally, though, the risks seem too high.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[SkydiveStMarys 0]

yes...I have hitchhiked, after a night of partying..I was too drunk to drive ( I lived about 20 miles away) so I thumbed it...was picked by a guy who was driving a "shag" van.....smoked a doobie....he dropped me off two blocks from where I lived and it took me three hours to find my house...I swear the joint was laced with something (LSD)....didn't think anything off it at the time...I was just glad to be home and figured I arrived safe and sound...glad I got a ride....

Today...

I know better...I was a complete IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God! I was so lucky!!!

Bobbi


Bobbi

A miracle is not defined by an event. A miracle is defined by gratitude.

[Nightingale 0]

Yes. I picked up two ten year old girls who thought hitchign a ride would be "fun". I brought them home, told their parents (who flipped out), and I'd bet those kids won't be doing that again.

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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The only time I ever picked up hitchhikers was many years ago under very odd circumstances.

You can't just leave it like that! You have to tell us!

Naw...nothing good.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[dropdeded 0]

I used to do both, quite frequently. Different world back then

dropdeded

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The Dude Abides.
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[Andy9o8 2]

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I used to do both, quite frequently. Different world back then

Yep; me, too, in my college daze. Best road trip I ever took was hitching from Upstate New York, down to Z-Hills, over to Lauderdale & then all the way back.
It probably wasn't too safe, even back then.
Nowadays if one of my kids seriously thought of doing that, I'd handcuff them to the doorknob.

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

One time, in 2000, I was leaving my mom's place, about 20 minutes away.

I had just pulled out of her neighborhood and was waiting at a red light to turn left onto a main road, late late at night, around 2 or so, maybe later.

From my right came a young woman in a slinky dress, gesticulating and calling out, "Please, let me in!" About 20 feet behind her was a man.

I made a split-second decision, having very quickly weighed the possibility that she was in on some ruse to rob me or carjack me. I reached over and unlocked the passenger door and let her in, then sped off as she was closing the door, driving through the red light.

She thanked me profusely as soon as we were on our way. She explained that this guy had been following her for a few blocks and trying to catch up with her. I didn't get a good look at him. I think it might have been a drunk or homeless dude. She feared what he might want to do if he caught up to her (possibly with good reason).

The girl herself smelled of liquor and seemed a bit drunk, and appeared obviously to have been out partying at the bars. She explained that she had gotten separated somehow from her boyfriend, and could not contact him. She figured that he himself was probably looking for her.

She was pretty damned cute, actually, from what I remember. She had on this form-fitting green dress, and at one point she showed me this tattoo she had of some japanese woman all across her back! (She also bummed a cigarette from a semi-truck driver who had stopped next to us at a light.)

I remember that she had her license or something on her but didn't have money or her credit cards or something. My memory about that is hazy, but I remember seeing her name on something. I asked her just what she thought we should do about her predicament since we had no way to reach her boyfriend. Our first goal -- to get her away from the crazy street dude -- had been accomplished.

Her boyfriend's apartment was sort of between where we were and where I was headed (home), so I told her we could go there and I could drop her off.

Well, she didn't have a key to the place, so we waited around there, after checking the possibility of sneaking her in through a window or something. We eventually gave up on that, and I decided I would just take her home to my house and let her sleep on the couch and call for him in the morning, which is exactly what happened. I tried to keep her comfortable, thinking that she would probably wake up with a nasty headache, gave her some apple juice and a foot massage, and in the morning her (oh-so-concerned-and-responsible) boyfriend came and picked her up.


I don't make a habit of picking up hitchhikers. I think it has dangers.

The only other time I can remember was last year. I was passing along the edge of downtown West Palm Beach, and at a busy corner of a six-lane road I saw two girls who were trying to snag a ride. They weren't having any luck, but as luck would have it, we happened to make eye contact. They mimed, "Can we have a ride?" and so I just shrugged and said yeah, and gestured to come on.

Once in my car, they were really polite and appreciative. Turns out they were sisters, and hotties to boot. They were trying to get from West Palm Beach to Boynton Beach. It took a short while before it became evident that they were not just two girls out shopping or something.

Along I-95, they asked if I partied. I was like, "Uh, no, not as in drugs or anything," but that I leave people to do their own thing. They explained that the reason they asked was that they wanted to know if they could smoke their crack in my car!!!!!

Honestly, I was worried that they might freak out or something if they didn't get their "fix" -- I had never been in the presence of a crack addict before.

I suggested that I could stop at a parking lot or something, but they (knowing their business) said it was better to do it on the move. So I guess just out of some sort of pity (and morbid curiousity) I said okay, and so they did their thing with their little glass crack-pipes. (You can be sure I opened the windows!) What a freaky experience, I can tell you. Two sisters, one 19 and one 20, in the back seat and passenger seat of my car, respectively, smoking crack because, well, they gotta.

I got a good earful of their story along the way, and when I dropped them off at a McDonald's, it was where they had their dealer (a hot blonde chick who used to be a "dancer"!!) arranged to meet them for a score. They had been crack-addicted since age 13 or so. The younger one had a warrant out for her for something or other. Had also almost died of a blood infection. One of their dealers (probably a pimp of some kind, actually) had insisted she go to the hospital, and that saved her life.

Both girls were friendly, sweet, polite, really good people it seemed. I was struck by the tragedy of what had happened to them to make their lives be this way. It was quite surreal. But then, there was nothing much I could do. I gave them a hand with some money as I let them get on their way... To this day, I hope they are all right, but I truly wonder.

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-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[Beverly 1]

I have picked up teenagers that are walking home late at night.
I always take them all the way home. Even if it is far out of my way.

I think true friendship is under-rated

Twitter: @Dreamskygirlsa

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

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I hitch everytime to the DZ. Bus drops me in a small village so i thumb it from there

Oh, that reminds me, on New Year's Day this year, I was heading back to the Sebastian DZ from in town and there was a chick walking from U.S. 1 along Roseland toward the DZ. I could tell she was a skydiver, because she had on one of those knapsacks made to look like a rig. I pulled over and yelled back to her that I'd give her a lift to the DZ, and she got in and we went. I think she said her name was Liz.

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[peacefuljeffrey 0]

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I used to do both, quite frequently. Different world back then

Yep; me, too, in my college daze. Best road trip I ever took was hitching from Upstate New York, down to Z-Hills, over to Lauderdale & then all the way back.
It probably wasn't too safe, even back then.
Nowadays if one of my kids seriously thought of doing that, I'd handcuff them to the doorknob.

Holy shit! How many different rides does it involve to just get down one way on a trip that long?! Wow!


Any of you interested in the subject of what can go wrong for hitchhikers, watch the movie "Freeway," which is some of Reese Witherspoon's best work ever. Oh, what a fucked-up movie that is, but she's a delight to watch in it.

I'd love to hear from people who have seen it.

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-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[CornishChris 5]

I hitched up the East coast of Australia when I was 19. Was pretty good fun and met some cool people although did get picked up by one strange couple. I was in the back and they were in the front of this old ford charger type thing with a spider inside the globe of the gear stick. They were both off their faces (I realised after getting in) and proceeded to go to a drive through bottle shop to pick up more beer. they were drinking and smoking weed in the front and kept telling me i should come and stay with them. They kept kissing as they were driving to which was pretty unpleasant. the woman asked if anyone knew were i was and I made up that i was meeting some friend in a nearby town. i have to admit i was pretty freaked out when i eventually persuaded them to let me get out after travelling about 50 miles the opposite way from were I was going.

Picked up spme hitchers too including one guy i picked up leaving a little village in Cornwall who turned out to be going to the same town as me in the north of England - so I took him all the way and had a good laugh with him. Haven't hitched or picked anyone up for a few years now though.

CJP

Gods don't kill people. People with Gods kill people

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

Holy shit! You have DANGERMOUSE and PENFOLD as your avatar now?!?!

ROCK ON!! I LOVED them when I was a kid!

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-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[Andy_Copland 0]

I take my Helmet out my bag, even people going to the DZ for tandems pick you up that way

1338

People aint made of nothin' but water and shit.

Until morale improves, the beatings will continue.

[Mattbs4e 0]

I could write a book about all the interesting times I've hitchhiked or picked up hichhickers. In my opinion though, the only bit that needs to be said is that often times people are too afraid to pick up hitchhikers, and for very unfair reasons.

There's all this talk of "if we lived in a safer world..." or if "these weren't such dark times..." Give me a break, the world's the same as it's always been. We're all just trying to survive, feed our families, get a piece of the same pie, and get from point A to point B. The only thing that has changed is that we've been led to believe that we're all different somehow and that rapists and murders line every corner. If half of us just showed enough compassion to pick someone up here and there, I bet you'd be surprised at how mellow and normal everyone is.

I used to hitchhike to the DZ every weekend. Gone across Australia, New Zealand, and the US by thumb. And I probably could have afforded public transportation or even a rental car most of the time. But to be honest, my travels were made by the people that picked me up and I did it for that very reason. Just being invited into their homes, being shown that secret fishing hole, being asked to participate in a political debate, shown that beautiful spot the tour book never mentioned, given a free pass to an amusment park or hotel, etc. The people make your journey memorable.

And you'll never meet a more interesting or amazingly vast collection of people than you would if you didn't hitchhike. From inventors, to artists, to diplomats, to soccer moms, to grandmothers, to yes--weirdos, hitchhiking shows you the real people that live in the areas you pass through. Give it a try.

Believe me, it does get cold and tiresome out on those on-ramps with people passing by yelling profanities as you watching the blank stares of the rest drive on. But in the end it is worth it, and likewise it is worth it to pick them up. That one person that stops makes all the difference. I'm not saying that everyone you pick up will be a saint, or even fun to talk to, or even safe. But as a skydiver, you're already a risk taker, would you not lend a helping hand to a fellow risk taker----just remember, he/she thumbing a ride is taking just as much of a risk with you, as you are with them. Help your fellow man, and you'd be surpised what unexpected bits lie in your otherwise routine and mundane life.

[Mikki_ZH 0]

When I was younger I hitchhiked a lot. But I lived in Europe and not in the US. And possibilities here are statistically much lower to get killed or raped here. In Switzerland it’s much more difficult to get a weapon and we have much lower numbers of psychos here compared to number of habitants then in the US..

Michi (#1068)
hsbc/gba/sba
www.swissbaseassociation.ch
www.michibase.ch

[wingnut 0]

i've picked up several hitch hickers, two memorable ones were a guy that had a stutter so bad we talked for 2 hours and he only probly said 5 minutes worth, but he told me how he rode trains from LA to OR and then there was the time i picked up a guy out side vegas, he lost his car and all his money and was going home to ohio ( i was going back to utah but i am originally from and live in ohio now) he eneded up living in the town nextto my aunt's and had wrked for the same company as my granfather... so yeah, it's also a small world...

and once i even picked up a whole family coming back from the sda christmas boogie on i-15 just south of beaver utah..... they had hit something in the road and totaled thier car, there were two dudes, a wife and 3 small children.. go thing i had the rv or they all wouldn't of fit!!

______________________________________
"i have no reader's digest version"

[weegegirl 2]

Yes and yes. Used to do it quite often. But one comes to mind....

I picked up a hitchhiker on my way back from New Mexico one summer. I had 2 other friends and my dog travelling with me, and I think the dog could drive stick shift better than my friends. So as the only driver on a 3 day drive, I was freakin exhausted. I picked up this guy John at a service station. He was this long-haired hippie kid from New Jersey, just trying to get home. John was the coolest hitchhiker EVER. Not only did he right away share the driving with me so I could catch some well needed zzzzzzzzzzzzs, but he got us all a hotel room one night, bought us a bunch of beer, and chipped in for gas. I ended up driving him all the way to his doorstep, he cooked us a meal before we took off again, and we stayed friends for many years.

I don't pick up hitchikers anymore. Some of them were sketchier than others. I just don't feel safe doing it anymore. It's pretty sad.

[tbrown 26]

Hitchhiking was very common in the sixties and early seventies and very much part of the "youth counterculture". I used to hitchhike everywhere locally, and with confidence. There was also a lot of long distance hitchhiking, even cross country, and some people just lived that way for years at a time. When I was sixteen I took off from upstate New York and hitched all over the New England states. Stayed at a couple of communes in the Vermont countryside and a few urban crash pads. Didn't like the urban stuff much, so mostly stayed out in the country.

I never really had any trouble with anybody who gave me a ride. I knew several girls who hitched a lot themselves. None of them ever said they'd been raped, but for a fact they had a lot more problems and it was considered safer for girls to hitch with guy friends.

When I finally got a car I picked up a lot of hitchhikers through the end of the seventies, but times changed and people started getting wierd. I'll still pick up somebody in tie dyes if I know something like a Grateful Dead show is happening nearby.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[carbonezone 0]

I used to hitchhike all over the country.....many many moons ago (east coast to west coast). It was a lot of fun. I had one bad experience and it was with a fucked up cop "crooked cop"! I met a ton of very nice people. Truck drivers were key to efficient hitchhiking. They would always radio another driver for me if they could to get me closer to my destination .
As far as hitchhiking or picking up hitchhikers today……….”FORGET ABOUT IT”!
<>
Tami

[turtlespeed 212]

Everytime I hear about someone hitchiking - I think about ben stiller and the rest stop.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[Richards 0]

Hitchhiked on a few occasions. With respect to picking up hitchhickers, I have occasionally done it. My criteria for picking up a hitchhiker was always based their appearance and on my perceived ability to get them out of the car if things went bad. Obviously I would never pick up anyone that looked like trouble. That said looks can be deceiving, and even if somone looked nice I would not let them in my car if they outweighed me significantly. Generally I always said "If he/she acts up would I be able to remove him/her from the car without sustaining injury?" If the answer was no then I would not pick him/her up.

Richards

My biggest handicap is that sometimes the hole in the front of my head operates a tad bit faster than the grey matter contained within.

[kallend 1,929]

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I was thinking about this today, and how if we lived in a safer world, I would love to pick up stranded travelers, or perhaps even hitchhike myself. However, there are many wackos out there that make hitchhiking nearly impossible these days.

I would think one would meet a lot of really interesting people in the process, and it would be awesome to help someone out in their travels.

My dad used to pick up hitchhikers all the time, and one particular occasion he picked up a guy who looked just like him and had the same name! He also used to bring people home to take care of them and that freaked my mother out.


Anybody have an interesting story?

Yes and yes, but it was many years ago.

Funniest was being picked up by a kid who worked for car repair shop and who was out driving around in a Lotus (high performance Brit car for the uninformed) they'd just fixed (memo to self - always check the odometer before and after getting car serviced). He obviously was trying to impress/scare me by driving like a maniac, so I just shut my eyes and went to sleep.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.