Adventures in hitchhiking

[Zundfolge1432]

Anyone less than 30 probably doesn’t remember using your thumb to get a ride. Isn’t that amazing you’d get in the car with a perfect stranger or you’d stop to pick up a stranger ? I’ve got stories from the 70s and into the 80s, then it seemed to just go away. People quit doing it because everyone is now scared of everyone else and they may have a disease or want to use your skin to make a jacket.

VW people were real big on this too, especially Deadheads. I once picked up two young ladies and took them 20 miles out of my way because they were late for work. We ended up at the “ Blue Flame” strip club in Atlanta. I was a hero because I got them there. Great time

https://tasteofreality.com/location/blue-flame-lounge/

Do you have any stories about either being the hitchhiker or giving a ride?

[TDCTDI]

Yeah, I stopped picking up hitch hikers after picking one up that apparently pissed all over himself while sleeping off a drunk in a field, I kicked him out about 100 yards later.
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[iowegian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHHEUyWJXhM

[Pruneman99]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

years ago I picked up a woman that was clearly in distress. she was walking down a really bad back road (bad like you'd get hit walking)

she wasn't really hitchhiking but looked at every passing car like "please help me"

for some reason, Skills grew a heart that day. as I flew past her I slowed down and threw it in reverse. I asked if she needed help. cell phones were barely a thing back then (late 90's...we were still on beepers )

she was fairly well dressed, had what seemed to be her belongings with her in a back pack. if I had to guess, late 20's-early 30's. clearly she had been crying

anyway I asked if she needed a ride. I was on my lunch break so I didn't have a ton of time. I was on my way to the bank which had a state trooper post next-door to where I was heading.

so she got in and I dropped her off with the state police. cop took my name/info and a day or 2 later turned up where I worked and told me she had been assaulted by her boyfriends cousin. crazy shit...

that's the only time I had picked anyone up

I have a pretty colorful story that happened to a coworker...but it may not be a good story to post here. pretty funny tho
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[Abscate]

I still pick up single women hitchhiking as it’s too close to home.

Talk ABout your wife and kids in the first 10 seconds if you are a guy.

Don’t be a creep,
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.ssS!

[EverettB]

I've only hitched once, after I blew my motor in my Squareback driving to college.

I knew something was wrong so I had flipped around to go back to a gas station I had "just passed". The engine blew and I didn't make it. I started walking, got up to a top of a little hill and didn't see the gas station in the distance. I kept walking but stuck out my thumb a few times. A guy in a van picked me up and took me to the gas station so I could call my dad. It was around 5 miles so I hadn't just passed it... figures. I never really thought about it at the time but now I realize it was sort of stupid to get into a random van with no rear windows, especially since I just jumped in the front seat and didn't look in the back.

I've only picked up someone once. I saw a guy walking on the highway after I saw a broken down car. It was sort of in the middle of nowhere and in the summer in AZ. He wasn't hitching, I just stopped and asked. He only needed a ride to the next exit/little town but I think that was 5 miles or so too. A long way to walk in the summer without water.

Jen and I tried to ask someone if they needed a ride a few days ago at the local park. Some guy was walking with a gas can and we were 1-2 miles from the nearest gas station so we thought maybe his car was stuck somewhere. She yelled at him a few times to get his attention but he didn't respond at all. Oh well.
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[Da TOW'D]

Back in the '60 my grandfather died so I hitchhiked from California to Pennsylvania. I got some interesting rides but the one that stands out is.

Getting dropped off at a off ramp in Chicago I waited quite a while. I noticed a crowd of men a ways from me point my direction. A older black man in a old Chevy pulled up and said get in. He didn't ask where or what I was doing . I thanked him then he said " either you are a tough SOB or really stupid those guys would have messed you up for your wrist watch or worse.
He drove me out of town to a safer area and dropped me off.
As I was thanking him again as I was getting out
He said call your momma and tell her that you love her
champion in my book
cheers
Hank
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[Glenn]

I hitched across the USA back in 77.

Was walking in a down pour in Kansas with no place for shelter when I heard a car come behind me and beep the horn. It was 2 old ladies asking if I needed a ride. After a short conversation they said i need a shower and a hot meal. There were sisters and lived on a farm with one of their sons. I stayed 4 days and worked on the farm. They fed me well and it was a awesome experience.

I remember using the showers in high schools, a hospital and washing in a irrigation ditch.

It was the 70s and it was AWESOME.

I have many more stories over the 4 months on the road. But some I don't fully remember and some I can't tell in mixed company.
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[iowegian]

[Manfred58sc]

I read some good sociology on hitchhiking and their conclusion was that up until the mid eighties there was a shortage of cars for the poor. As affordable used cars ( especially Japanese cars that would still run and get good mileage ) infiltrated the market the need diminished.

The hype news stories had little effect in their view.

I did lots of it with some weird stories,
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[Zundfolge1432]

[Abscate]

[crukab]

I used to thumb rides in the late '70's earlie '80s, many a time from Ct. to Vt. to see my girlfriend, I do recall my parents dropping me off on rt. 84 in Hartford Ct. so I could hitch to Boston to see Frank Zappa, and when I was in Culinary school ('83-'85) I hitched about 50% of the time, but that was easy since I wore a Chefs uniform and most people knew where I was heading, carrying a canvas Knife roll & books... When I was 17 my bud & I hitched up and down the California coast for a few months, ahhhh to be young again......
2 weeks ago I was driving my Rabbit truck home from the shop, they did a front wheel baring & alignment, of course they didn't tighten everything up & the CV axle let go, I started walking to find a phone (no cell coverage) and the 1st car to come along was a '85 Westy w/ a elderly couple, picked me up right away, they were the OG Westy owners.
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Tom

My Pops:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604100&highlight=
I know you will always be with me, rest in peace with no more pain. 8/13/14.....

In the yard right now:
'51 Dodge 5 window truck
'65 Bug
'66 Singlecab
'82 Rabbit Truck Diesel from CALI
'86 Doublecab W/T
'91 Vanagon carat/wolfsbrg.Tiico
'88 Dodge Ram pickup
'11 Jetta Wagon

[my59]

I used to hitch from VT to NJ and back in the early 80s. It worked out ok. Hitching from Vt out to Potsdam NY one Febuary was damn cold. Kept getting stopped by the boarder patrol, wanting to know if I was a US citizen, did I have ID, and where was I going. My answer every time was "yes", "yes" and "to get laid". They never asked for the id....
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[gt1953]

I hitched hike a lot i the 70's. Kansas City to St. louis on I-70. Broke a crankshaft in Salina Kansas hike to KC. Got the truck and tow bar went back to get the VW. Was way safer back then. One trip on I-70 in the back of a pickup with a cooler full of beer and several other. Now that was fun.
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72 Squareback
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[KTPhil]

Back in high school ('70s) I picked up dude a few miles from home, and as he got in I noticed he had a joint on his lips. At the next intersection, a cop pulled up next us, and I thought my life was over. But it wasn't this guy's first rodeo; without using his hands, he flipped the doobie so the lit end was in his mouth, and held his breath until the light changed. He then flipped it back out and took a draw. Skills.

I let him out a couple of blocks later, and parked with the windows open to air it out before I headed home. I checked out riders a little better before I gave any more rides. Today, forget it.

[typ914]

Two hitchhiker stores.
1St. A co worker coming back to the shop picked up a really nice looking girl after making a delivery. He thought he would take her back to his place and offer her a bed and shower and other activities. He said she smelled so bad from not showering in apparently weeks he couldn't stand to be in the truck with her. Dropped her off as quick as he could.

2nd. I picked up a girl in distress. Her brother left her at this bar after argueing about him being to drunk to drive. I drove her about a half hour out of my way to her house. Helped her break into her house at 2am because the brother had the keys. Her brother had been picked up for his 3rd DUI offence and was taken straight to jail for 3 months. I was rewarded that night for my chivalry and we dated for about 3 months. The relationship abruptly ended when the brother turned out to be her husband and he was released from jail!

Fun times

[Zundfolge1432]

I bet there’s lots of stories here about mowing someone else’s lawn. BTDT The sweetness of youth

[67 Florida Deluxe]

I never pulled that trigger.
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