Huh?

Did the bumper sticker you saw differ from the one I saw? Nawwww, the Uniformity For Smart Ass Bumper Stickers Coalition (UFSABSC) would never allow that! :rolleyes:

For about 18 yrs., I used to take a ferry across the river to work at the shipyard. Some guys, if they were stuck for a ride, would hitchhike on the main roads leading to the ferry. They would wear their ID where it could be seen and another "yardbird" would always pick them up. Other than that, I would never pick anyone up.

i've done both. I don't know if it counts, but the last person i gave a ride to was the middle aged Indian lady that works at our local dunkin donuts.....in the complete opposite direction from where i live, a couple miles to her house. I was surprised when she asked me, but was in no rush, so.....

I remember once, when i was young, i found myself about 15 miles from home, on foot.....damn, i can't remember how that came to be......but, anyway......i remember i was wearing a red dashiki, and a bandanna (drug helmet).....and walking along rte 23 near St Peter's Village and hitching. A guy in a van pulled over, and as i approached the pass side, he asked if I had any pot ( this was done in sign language by making the 'smoke a roach gesture, and raising his eyebrows) When I shook my head and shrugged, he took off. fucker. about 3 miles later, a guy in a concrete truck that I knew from my days as a masonry laborer recognized me, and gave me a ride to within 2 miles of home.

man, now it's buggin the crap out of me that I can't remember why the hell i was stranded so far from home on foot....

Anyone except guys not in uniform. Lots of military around here that I don't mind helping.

Don't hear about too much trouble with hitchhikers anymore. Not like the 70s.

I forgot to mention this before, but the DC area has massive organized hitching. In fact, there's probably more hitching here than in most cities in the US.

Yup, Slug Lines! When I lived in Alexandria 'till last year and drove into the District, I used to pick folks up in slug lines and run them into DC. Perfectly safe. Just working shmoes trying to get to the office and home again. I never heard of anyone having trouble from the slugs.

In 1962 after reading On The Road by Jack Kerouac, I hitched all over the US, and had a great time. Rode with young mothers and their children, plumbers in their work vans, bail bondsmen in Cadillacs, and every other interesting person on the road. Would make the trip from NY to CA in a week or so, turn around and do it again heading east. Back and forth, back and forth. Those were great and safer times.
Don't see any hitchers where I am now.

Back in the seventies I was with a madman...

I'll never forget this day as long as I live. I don't even remember
his real name but his nickname was "whitey". Whitey was a crazy
fucker, although I had no idea to the extent.

We both were pretty buzzed and saw a hitcher looking, so whitey
pulls over and says "hop on in". I move to the back seat and let the
hitcher ride up front, we wern't even hardly back up to speed when
the hitcher asked "if we could spare some dough". Whitey looked
back at me as if to say "who the hell does this fucker think he is".

This is where things got weird... Whitey being the redneck he is said
"if your dick is bigger than mine i'll give ya ten bucks" whitey asked
"if I wanted in on this"... I said "forget that shit" or some such. So
whitey says "well, lets see what ya got". So the hitcher starts pulling
his junk out and whitey hits him square in the jaw. He said
"you dumb fucking faggot" the next thing I knew whitey was pulling over
to the side of the road and he kicked the hitcher literally out of the
car, then spun out leaving the hitcher rolling around on the ground.

I looked back and he wasn't getting up right away. About a mile
down the road whitey pulled over and told me to get up front. There
was blood in the front seat and I used an old news paper to put over
it. I didn't ask where it came from *I was scared but I was trying
not to show it* and acted like nothing had happened.

I was relieved to get home and from that day forward I avoided ole
whitey like the plague...

to answer the question... I used to... but don't anymore

Oh my.

It was probably for the best.

Hundreds, back in the day. A lot of guys in uniform, and more than a few times well out of my way, to make sure they got back before their weekend pass turned into a pumpkin.

A couple of scary ones. The worst was in British Columbia or Saskatchewan, a dirt road through an Indian reservation was a good shortcut over a mountain range. There was a group hanging salmon on racks to dry so I stopped to ask if this was the right road to whatever city it came out at. A young guy maybe 22/23 tells me yes, but take the left fork just up the road.

Cool, I thanked him and started to go, when he stops me and asks for a ride over to the city...sure, hop in. We take the left fork and head out on a beautiful drive, small lakes/big ponds, silver deadfalls, the aspens had turned. A warm September afternoon.

We told him we were from Philly but he'd never heard of it, until my wife mentioned the Flyers. He knew them alright, big hockey fan. Then she asked him why he was going over the mountain, he said he was going to see his cousin. That's nice. He and his cousin would get drunk and fight. Then tomorrow they would get drunk and fight some more. I was starting to regret giving him a beer.

Anyway I stopped to pee and he got out and found a rock about 6 inches in diameter and wanted to play soccer in the road. I laughed and declined, so he said OK, we'll wrestle instead. I said no thanks, but at that point he got pissed and real belligerent. Waving his arms and rattling on but not ready making any sense. I'm thinking damn, I'm going to have to fight this bastard, and even if I win, I'm going to have to near kill him and in the mean time he's going to near kill me. This is not good.

Fortunately wifey had it together and brought out some beer which defused him some and as soon as we got moving again he was fine. I'm glad of that because the left fork was the loooong way and we didn't get out of the woods to paved roads until 9:30 that night.

No harm, no foul...... but I had enough adrenaline pumped to drive all night with no problem. :sweat:

What do you say to a one-legged hitch hiker?


Hop in!



What's the difference between a hitch hiker and a dead pet?


I haven't got any dead pets buried in my backyard.

You're a bad man....very, very bad man. :haha:

I picked up one hitchhiker back in 2000. Big dude on the side of HWY 17 in northern AZ.

It was a blizzard so the highways were going to be closed soon. It was so bad out, and I saw this huge, bent figure hitching along the shoulder. I figured this sucker was gonna get hit, so I pulled over for him. He came over and folded himself into my tiny Subaru.

A few quiet moments later, he asks, "Are you freakin' nuts or something? You're not scared? You scare me ... little lady such as yourself picking up a man like me."
"Where ya' heading?" I asked him. He told me how he was a cowboy (and just where the fuck was his horse?) following the rodeo circuit. Could I take him to the valley?

I told him I could take him 19 miles to the next exit, but no farther. "Sorry, pal."

I dropped him in Munds Park to carry on with an 18-wheeler, and I swore I'd never take on another person ever.

Yep, I have given rides in the past, as recently as Jan 2007. I've probably given 3 or 4 rides over the past year. It's always a judgment call, and I'm very happy to report that I'm not sorry yet. And I've been a rider as well, but much more frequently a driver, say, 50:1.

Got a thank you card from the last lady, complete with Starbucks gift card. A nice gesture, all the nicer for being unexpected and unnecessary.