I pick up hitchhikers when I can. Sometimes my vehicle is too full, sometimes I have passengers who flip out at the thought. Yesterday, I picked up a hitchhiker on his way to Michigan to see his ailing mother. Mom is 90, the man I picked up is 65. I knew he wasnt from the area because of his tan. From N. California. Very engaging, he talked about how nice people are. He had gone through oregon, and ran out of water in the high desert. A state worker had stopped to see if he was ok and by law, couldnt give him a ride but gave him a gallon of water. He got caught up in snow in Montana, rain thursday night but was very pleased with his trip so far. I was able to take 20 miles off his trip. I dont see many hitchhikers now-a-days so this was a pleasant surprise. I used to hitchhike a lot in my teen years. Mostly very pleasant experiences but I did jump from one moving car as the old guy tried to drive away with me (he had to slow to take the corner) and had told one guy I would stab him as he demanded sex so he pulled over and kicked me out of the pick-up truck. A friend of my moms was stabbed by a hitchhiker, but not killed. So I am not unaware there are potential dangers. But then, my first harley ride was via hitchhiking and the man even drove about 5 miles out of his way to get me a bit closer to home (he didnt want to drive down the dirt road to take me to my front door). One guy who gave me a ride (years ago) had himself hitchhiked to alaska in the early 70s and told me the stories of camping alongside the road waiting for a ride, and most rides were 300-400 miles but one wait for a ride was 5 days. Took them most of their summer break to get to alaska, and they only had about 2 weeks in state (had plane tickets for the ride home). A man I picked up years ago turned out to be the last official land squatter in MN. Built his own log cabin (2 of them) on the 160? 260? (cant remember) acres (with an island) in Ely MN. I went and visited his homestead a few months later. Wow. His driveway was 2 miles long and used a beaver dam for part of it. It was so cool to drive the length of a beaver dam, sinking down some from the weight of the truck, under a pine tree with eagle nest atop. Searching a couple weeks ago I found a blogpost a traveler had done about him. Hes still there and the beaver dam is still a part of his driveway. Then there was the messed up guy I picked up who peed himself almost as soon as we pulled away from the curb. He was a local I had picked up before without a problem but I dont pick him up anymore. Once in a while I get a bug to go hitchhiking again. A trip to duluth maybe... But I have resisted the urge so far. I do worry I might get hurt. Any of you pick up hitchhikers? Been a hitchhiker? Good stories? Bad stories?
I do not pick up any hitch hiker. I recommend that no one does because in todays world you can never tell who it is you are allowing into your car and what they might do. Why take a chance with your life if you can avoid it?
a couple of tips for hitchhikers: place yourself so that cars can pull over. abandoned/ disabled cars make great excuses to hitchhike, drivers assume the car is yours. in the US it's illegal to hitchhike on interstates or their on/ off ramps. be aware that most new cars lock their doors automatically when the car is put into gear and the unlock button is in an unknown position or maybe entirely absent, so ask where the unlock button is before getting in.
i will give rides to hitchhikers if i am not alone. i make my passenger sit in back behind the hiker. leaves lots of doubts in the hikers mind about what he can get away with. i've had hikers refuse my ride because of this.
I havent a problem with choosing not to help someone with their thumb out. But I sure dont live in a world (well it is semi-rural MN) where you never can tell. In my reality, most of the people choose "do no harm" as their life philosophy and if they have their thumb out, its cuz they are asking for a ride (rather than stealing a car or someones bike). Most of the time anyways.
I never hitched at night, but being far enough off the road is a good point. Not sure what you mean about abandoned/disabled vehicles as an excuse. Good tip about the lock/unlock. Windows still roll down regardless of autolock. Might want to test that too.
I've picked up the odd person here and there... never really to worried about it because I keep my knife in easy reach should things go wrong... that and, well, I've become a fairly decent judge of character Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
You must be scary looking or something Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Did you have playboy air fresheners dangling from your rear-view mirror? I always appreciated when a driver had his passenger get in the back seat so I didnt have to ask. I did have to ask a few times (for a passenger to get into the back) and when I finally said well, thanks but no thanks for the ride, they always gave me the front. It was just no body wanted to be in the back, not a perv attack plan. One year they had the Rainbow gathering up in Superior nat. forest. I picked up one of the hippies who wanted a ride to the bus station in Saint Paul. He insisted on riding in the back of the truck so he could smell the air. So I took a bunch of back roads for him. Happy fellow that one.
bad choice of words. standing by an abandoned/ disabled car will increase your chances of getting a ride.
If you're in the passenger seat, the door handle overrides the lock. You can always get out. Most new cars provide the driver with a control to hard-lock the back doors and windows, to prevent children from falling out. So if you hitch a ride, don't sit in the back seat. This dovetails nicely with Leopold's advice to the driver: put your passenger in the back seat and make the hitchhiker sit in front. This ought to put everyone at ease. I never see hitchhikers in the city anymore. But they're still out in rural areas. And there are still a few wanderers with backpacks out in the boondocks, thumbing a ride from one campground to the next. These days virtually everyone has a cellphone, so they can call for help instead of waiting for a stranger. It's a good reason to be an AAA member. I'm too old to be into this new culture where everybody's always talking on the phone--even on the toilet! But I keep one in my glove compartment so I can dial 911 or call the AAA.
True. My car broke down on the freeway, going north towards duluth. Me and my ex debated who should head for the next exit and before long I was headed north. He is just too big and scary looking, would have had to hike the whole distance. I had expected the first car to pull over with the dead car/hood up and me, a girl hitching just a bit away but 10-20 cars went by. Things had changed by then. I was 500-600 feet from the car and a pickup pulls over. I get in and this man was fresh out of mexico (this was like 87-88) so I was surprised he was this far north (and going further north). Couldnt hardly speak english but he offered me a smoke. Having had experienced mexican cigs in the past, I politely declined. We communicated best we could and he drove me to the first house off the exit (no gas stations on this one). Nice guy. He was willing to give me a ride back to the car, but it was only 2 miles so I walked it. He would have had to go an extra 15 miles round trip between exits.
