hitch hiking - did you? Any stories to share?

RRP

Being on the OT forum then most eggers won't even see this, but I want to ask anyway. 

For some reason (maybe my second covid shot went to my brain last night, LOL), but I had brain wave flashbacks to 1962-64 when I would hitch hike across Missouri on HWY 80 which ran 4 lanes across MO from STL to KC. I was a poor college kid wanting to get back home to see my honey so I never thought of traveling unless it was FREE. I always dressed nicely and even wore a necktie! 

I never had even a remotely bothered ride except by a guy who had picked me up and soon thereafter he said something to the effect of “see this” pointing to a pistol stuck in his door handle! I about pissed my pants! But there was NO problem. I guess that was his way of saying “don’t EVEN THINK of messing with me!

Gulfcoastguy

The closest was when I had my second flat tire on the way to the interview for my big boy job. A state trooper pulled over and seeing me in my only suit drove me straight to my interview.

By the 80’s hitchhiking was already too dangerous, both taking the ride and giving one.

JohnInCarolina

I never hitched myself, Ron, but I have picked up a hitcher from time to time.  One guy I picked up on a highway pretty late at night in the 90’s as  I was driving across the country.  I’d been driving 15 hours straight and figured I could use the company.  He didn’t have much besides a large pack he insisted on bringing with him inside the car.  But whatever.

The annoying part was that he thought he had this amazing idea for a new business.  He said he was a salesman, and that he was going to start his own company.  I couldn't believe it, but he asked me if I wanted in!  I turned him down because I didn't really have any money, but that didn't stop him from telling me about his idea.

That was the time in the 90's when workout videos were popular.  One of the big ones was "8 minute abs".  He said his idea was going to blow that right out of the water - it was - get this - "7.MINUTE.ABS"!  He said his company would guarantee the same workout as the 8 minute folk, which didn't make sense to me.  But he said if people weren't happy with the first 7 minutes, they'd send them the extra minute for free.  After I suggested someone might come along with a 6 minute video and steal their thunder, he got pretty agitated.

That was just the start of a really crazy night.  It was all kind of downhill from there, and I won't even mention what happened at the rest stop.  Eventually the cops got involved, because it turned out that what was in his large pack was a dead human being!  All that time I was giving a ride to a serial killer, and I didn't even know it.  Can you believe it?  Crazy.  Like something out of a movie. 

RRP

JohnInCarolina said:

 because it turned out that what was in his large pack was a dead human being!  All that time I was giving a ride to a serial killer, and I didn't even know it.  Can you believe it?  

John...yuppers - dead body? girl I assume? didn't that bag stink? 

Your recollection story sure beat mine hands down!

Ozzie_Isaac

I gave a ride to a guy, can't remember his name. I think it was Ian Monk, or something like that. Odd name. I told him my idea about, get this, online banking. We would accept and process payment for people, all on the World Wide Web. I also talked to him about another idea I had. Electric cars. All he would talk about was Mars and rocket ships. I think he might have been crazy.  Must have been 1996 or 97.

HeavyG

Gulfcoastguy said:

The closest was when I had my second flat tire on the way to the interview for my big boy job. A state trooper pulled over and seeing me in my only suit drove me straight to my interview.

By the 80’s hitchhiking was already too dangerous, both taking the ride and giving one.

"But hitching didn’t die a natural death — it was murdered. And there’s little evidence that it was as dangerous as we think. Our fear of thumbing a ride stems not from the facts but from a carefully calculated publicity campaign begun by the F.B.I. and continued by law enforcement agencies across the nation. The end result is that we have largely turned our backs on the obvious efficiencies — for our wallets as well as the planet — of ride-sharing. And we have lost a way to humanize the landscape of the road."

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/opinion/sunday/hitchhikings-time-has-come-again.html

And the mid 80's movie "The Hitcher" with Rutger Hauer no doubt played a role in scaring folks. That Rutger can be scary - he's seen things we'll never see!

JohnInCarolina

RRP said:

JohnInCarolina said:

 because it turned out that what was in his large pack was a dead human being!  All that time I was giving a ride to a serial killer, and I didn't even know it.  Can you believe it?  

John...yuppers - dead body? girl I assume? didn't that bag stink? 

Your recollection story sure beat mine hands down!

I don’t remember it stinking Ron, but I had been driving for 15 hours straight so who knows!  And I want to say it was a girl, yes.  I don’t know that I ever got the name for sure, but I recall something about Mary.

dmchicago

JohnInCarolina said:

RRP said:

JohnInCarolina said:

 because it turned out that what was in his large pack was a dead human being!  All that time I was giving a ride to a serial killer, and I didn't even know it.  Can you believe it?  

John...yuppers - dead body? girl I assume? didn't that bag stink? 

Your recollection story sure beat mine hands down!

I don’t remember it stinking Ron, but I had been driving for 15 hours straight so who knows!  And I want to say it was a girl, yes.  I don’t know that I ever got the name for sure, but I recall something about Mary.

Please make this continue. 🤫

dmchicago

1976 I was a junior in high school. A friend and I hitch hiked from Houston to Austin for the 1st Sunday Break concert.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Break_(1976,_Austin,_Texas)

Told my parents we had a ride lined up.
Got there no problem. Enjoyed the concert along with a few "party favors".

Got a ride towards home pretty quickly but the dude was only going as far as Giddings Tx. Not even halfway home.

It was pretty late when he dropped us off in Giddings and there was very little traffic going by so we slept under an overpass.

The next AM we quickly got a ride back to Houston.

My parents were waiting in the kitchen we I got home wondering why I was not home when they woke up as I promised I'd be back by midnight.

Told them our friends car broke down and we finally got it going again at first light.

This was life before cell phones. I miss it sometimes.

The Second Sunday break, we had a ride each way. No problems except our driver fell asleep on the way home and we ran off into a field.

No damage done. Driver change and we kept on truckin'!

The road goes on forever and the party never ends.

fishlessman

i rode my bike before getting a car still different times. mom asks where are you going, kid says the beach, 40 miles peddling later im home. found out the truth is a better lie than lying, get car at 16, where you going, bonfire, we have a keg.....

JohnInCarolina

dmchicago said:

1976 I was a junior in high school. A friend and I hitch hiked from Houston to Austin for the 1st Sunday Break concert.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Break_(1976,_Austin,_Texas)

Told my parents we had a ride lined up.
Got there no problem. Enjoyed the concert along with a few "party favors".

Got a ride towards home pretty quickly but the dude was only going as far as Giddings Tx. Not even halfway home.

It was pretty late when he dropped us off in Giddings and there was very little traffic going by so we slept under an overpass.

The next AM we quickly got a ride back to Houston.

My parents were waiting in the kitchen we I got home wondering why I was not home when they woke up as I promised I'd be back by midnight.

Told them our friends car broke down and we finally got it going again at first light.

This was life before cell phones. I miss it sometimes.

The Second Sunday break, we had a ride each way. No problems except our driver fell asleep on the way home and we ran off into a field.

No damage done. Driver change and we kept on truckin'!

The road goes on forever and the party never ends.

I had friends in high school who decided to drive up to one of the ski mountains the day after we got slammed with a snow storm and it was clear school would be cancelled but the mountains would be open and the skiing would be great.

They got up pretty early to try to get to one of the mountains as soon as it opened.  The passenger fell asleep of course, and unfortunately for them, the driver soon followed suit.  

When they both woke up, they discovered that in their slumber the car had managed to cross the median, as well as the other side of the highway, only before coming to rest on its own on a hill about 100 yards from the edge of the highway, and just a few feet in front of a forest of trees.  

As Frank says, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.  Those two clowns (and trust me, they were idiots) are lucky it was fairly early in the morning and the huge storm had kept most cars off the roads.  

PigBeanUs

JohnInCarolina said:

I never hitched myself, Ron, but I have picked up a hitcher from time to time.  One guy I picked up on a highway pretty late at night in the 90’s as  I was driving across the country.  I’d been driving 15 hours straight and figured I could use the company.  He didn’t have much besides a large pack he insisted on bringing with him inside the car.  But whatever.

The annoying part was that he thought he had this amazing idea for a new business.  He said he was a salesman, and that he was going to start his own company.  I couldn't believe it, but he asked me if I wanted in!  I turned him down because I didn't really have any money, but that didn't stop him from telling me about his idea.

That was the time in the 90's when workout videos were popular.  One of the big ones was "8 minute abs".  He said his idea was going to blow that right out of the water - it was - get this - "7.MINUTE.ABS"!  He said his company would guarantee the same workout as the 8 minute folk, which didn't make sense to me.  But he said if people weren't happy with the first 7 minutes, they'd send them the extra minute for free.  After I suggested someone might come along with a 6 minute video and steal their thunder, he got pretty agitated.

That was just the start of a really crazy night.  It was all kind of downhill from there, and I won't even mention what happened at the rest stop.  Eventually the cops got involved, because it turned out that what was in his large pack was a dead human being!  All that time I was giving a ride to a serial killer, and I didn't even know it.  Can you believe it?  Crazy.  Like something out of a movie. 

John, that story is pretty hair-raising. For real. 

lousubcap

Being old I have hitch hiked and picked up hitchers in my youth but I can't get within an order of magnitude of the stories above.  Clearly back when we were all invincible.  

JohnEggGio

Late 70s hitched from Baltimore to Univ of Delaware to see my honey.  Multiple rides, most notable was a group of hippie-types.  It was some kind of van - no seats other than the front 2 - that was the "thing" at that time.  They shared a couple of bowls with me, followed by bologna sandwiches and chocolate milk.  "Peace, man..."

Multiple other trips from my hometown to the same destination.  One guy gave me the creeps pretty bad - had my knife in my right hand the whole time.  No bowls, no bologna.

RRP

JohnEggGio said:

Late 70s hitched from Baltimore to Univ of Delaware to see my honey.  Multiple rides, most notable was a group of hippie-types.  It was some kind of van - no seats other than the front 2 - that was the "thing" at that time.  They shared a couple of bowls with me, followed by bologna sandwiches and chocolate milk.  "Peace, man..."

Multiple other trips from my hometown to the same destination.  One guy gave me the creeps pretty bad - had my knife in my right hand the whole time.  No bowls, no bologna.

Reminds me of the '60s term of "Ass, Gas or Grass - No free rides!"

Botch

I've only picked up a couple riders, never "hiked" myself.
I'm curious to know the difference between hitchhiking, and hiring a "Uber" on the phone.  

RRP

Botch said:

I've only picked up a couple riders, never "hiked" myself.
I'm curious to know the difference between hitchhiking, and hiring a "Uber" on the phone.  

Well, if you go missing after an Uber dude picks you up then the police might have a better lead on their first suspect vs who knows where to start looking!

CTMike

From age 14 to 17 I played on a travel soccer team and our practices were about 15 miles away from home. Both parents worked so I would hitch back and forth, fairly busy two lane highway. 

They only memorable incident occurred when a young lady picked me up driving daddy’s Caddy. She made it clear that more than one type of ride was available. Despite being a horny teenager, I turned her down - she was 300 lbs at least. I felt bad seeing the look on her face, and couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. 

Gulfcoastguy

CTMike said:

From age 14 to 17 I played on a travel soccer team and our practices were about 15 miles away from home. Both parents worked so I would hitch back and forth, fairly busy two lane highway. 

They only memorable incident occurred when a young lady picked me up driving daddy’s Caddy. She made it clear that more than one type of ride was available. Despite being a horny teenager, I turned her down - she was 300 lbs at least. I felt bad seeing the look on her face, and couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. 

That reminds me of a certain cafe waitress in North Mississippi back when I was 19. A financial offer was made. Besides that was around the time that herpes became known my friends were witnessing the offer. The reputation could have stuck around longer than any possible disease.

frazzdaddy

Driving to Emerald isle late one night after work, it was late I was beat. Saw a guy hitching on 70. I needed to stay awake so I picked him up. Took him to Atlantic beach and dropped him at his house. Got to GF's place and crashed. Next day getting my stuff out of the car the GF pulled a bag from under the pass seat opened it and kinda freaked out. Very nice SW chiefs special with a box of ammo inside. We took it back to him that day. Ya just never know...  

PigBeanUs

True story:

walked to and from school every day in the third grade. About a mile. 

I could get up later and be home earlier than if I waited for the bus. 

I would cook myself breakfast, clean up, and head out to school after the bus had passed by the house. And still get there with fifteen minutes of recess before the bell rang.

Anyway...

Walking along one day a car pulls over. Guy says: “You walking to school young man? Hop in!”

I hopped in. 

Guy says (as he’s driving along): “Do you know who I am?”

”no”

”You don’t?  And you got in my car?”

>shrug<

“Does anyone know where you are?”

“Um”

Him (as we pull up to school): “My name is Mr. so-and-so and I live around the corner from you. I know your parents. Your name is [insert the name of any naïve third grade boy here], right?”

Me: “Yeah”

Him: “I want you to promise me you won’t ever get into a car with someone you don’t know, never again, ok?”

Me (oblivious): “yeah. Alright. Thanks mister!”

Him: “I’ll call your mom and let her know we talked.”

When Mom got home from work around 4:30, the guy hadn’t called yet. No voicemail, no answering machines. (Ca. 1976)

I told her the story. Told her what he said. I thought it was cool I got a free ride to school

she dropped to her knees and hugged me in tears. 

Then we had a little talk. 

Botch

PigBeanUs said:

...
When Mom got home from work around 4:30, the guy hadn’t called yet. No voicemail, no answering machines. (Ca. 1976)

I told her the story. Told her what he said. I thought it was cool I got a free ride to school

she dropped to her knees and hugged me in tears. 

Then we had a little talk. 

Where did you grow up?  In '76, this was perfectly normal (for me, in South Dakota).  
I miss those days.  

JohnInCarolina

PigBeanUs said:

True story:

walked to and from school every day in the third grade. About a mile. 

I could get up later and be home earlier than if I waited for the bus. 

I would cook myself breakfast, clean up, and head out to school after the bus had passed by the house. And still get there with fifteen minutes of recess before the bell rang.

Anyway...

Walking along one day a car pulls over. Guy says: “You walking to school young man? Hop in!”

I hopped in. 

Kayak

On a weekend liberty from my ship, I decided to drive home and see the folks. It was 300 miles one way, and well outside the distance we were 'supposed' to be going. On the way back to Newport, RI, Sunday evening, the water pump of my 78 Cherokee Chief parted company from us, and left me stranded at a gas station on 95 in middle Connecticut. No cell phones, ship was out on a training cruise with reservists, so I walked to the nearest truck stop and started asking. Truckers weren't interested, but a derelict in an old Pinto was going halfway there. Why not. He dropped me off on an interchange ramp, I climbed down the embankment and over a fence, and found myself in the middle of the bad part of New Haven at midnight. I had seen the train station from up on the highway, so knew where I wanted to go. As I'm strolling along, dressed like a squid on shore leave would be, a police cruiser goes by, looks me over and does a 180 back. Officer says "Get in". He dropped me off at the station and told me to stay inside. The next train east wasn't going through for 5 more hours, so I got comfy on a wooden bench and tried to sleep. All night long they were chasing out prostitutes, so I was beat when I walked up to the pier just as the ship was pulling in. I grabbed lines to help tie up and worked the whole day too. The next day I got my first ride on a motorcycle, "b!tch" but free, and picked up the jeep. Never hitchhiked before or since, but I did have more mechanical adventures with that car. Loved that car.

dmchicago

RRP said:

JohnEggGio said:

Late 70s hitched from Baltimore to Univ of Delaware to see my honey.  Multiple rides, most notable was a group of hippie-types.  It was some kind of van - no seats other than the front 2 - that was the "thing" at that time.  They shared a couple of bowls with me, followed by bologna sandwiches and chocolate milk.  "Peace, man..."

Multiple other trips from my hometown to the same destination.  One guy gave me the creeps pretty bad - had my knife in my right hand the whole time.  No bowls, no bologna.

Reminds me of the '60s term of "Ass, Gas or Grass - No free rides!"

My guess is that the dudes with that bumper sticker got mostly gas and maybe some grass...maybe. Nothing else.

tau_ceti

I used to hitchhike around the Berkshires a bunch in the mid 1980s. I met all sorts of interesting people. The scariest was this one guy who gave me a ride in his white van. It had an empty cage in back, not too weird, vans commonly have those, but he gave off a really bad vibe. We got into some traffic and I said, oh hey, I forgot I got to go to my friend's house over here, got out and hustled. Later on, I read about serial killer Lewis Lent and I am convinced it was him, looked like him, same glasses, same weird stare.