Where have all the hitchhikers gone?

[stevej37]

Just remember...almost all thumbers/hitchhikers are out there because of their hard times.
If they wanted to steal/assault someone...they wouldn't do it by asking for a ride.

What goes around...comes around.

[SCadaddle]

June 1985.

My friend and I were fresh out of college. Jumped in his 1970 VW Microbus camper and headed out west from Mississippi taking only back roads. No interstate was the plan.

The 2nd attempt at climbing the hill out of Cody Wyoming to Yellowstone didn't go any better than the first. So we turned north towards Powell Wyoming on a Friday morning. I was driving, the bus was dying, I had it in first gear on the floor and we got passed by a kid on a bike on the shoulder. Limped in to Bob's Auto Repair in Powell and Bob was nice enough to give us a ride back to Cody for the weekend.

Sunday morning wake up and decide to hike it back from Cody to Powell, about 25 miles. I'm wearing camo pants and a Mississippi State T shirt. On a Sunday morning in Wyoming on the side of the road. We probably walked the first 10 miles, and at about that mark I noticed a partial roll of electrical tape on the gravel shoulder. I was about 200' ahead of my partner and never broke stride as we already had a roll of tape in the bus. 200' later my partner comes across the roll of tape and hollers at me "hey! You see this?" Yeah, we've already got some of that. He stops and picks it up. 100' later I come across a piece of plywood about 1'x2'. I stopped and picked it up, turned and told my partner to come on.....with that roll of tape.

I'm on my knee pulling strips of electrical tape and sticking them to the board. Pretty soon she looks pretty good "P O W E L L". Try it on the first car to come our way. It's an AMC Gremlin. "C'mon Gremlin, make my day!" I said. They pull over. It's two girls that are trick riders in the rodeo on their way home from washing clothes. We get a ride about 5 miles to the trailer park and put out on the side of the road. Next car to come by is an elderly couple in a Chevy impala. 4 doors. "We saw you fellows on our way to church and we're on our way home, so hop on in." They had a little dog that rode on the armrest between the front seats. He had an eye on us the whole time! Got dropped off at Bobs and eased across the street to the Park Motel. Shacked up with Rod and Mary Lou for the next week waiting on Bob to put a new engine in the bus.

So that's my one and only hitch hiking story.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Tervuren

Have you ever looked at per capita crime rates and compared now to those "peaceful places in our rear view mirrors"?

Consider that per capita violence has gone down nationally for a few decades.
IF your perception is different than that your sources of news are warping your mindset into a fanatasy world that isn't reality and keeps you in fear.

I am sure there are lots of places that are safe throughout the US. I know for a fact that the larger cities out here in the west cost isn't them. Greater LA for example, I and many of us here will not ever pick up a hitch hiker until we are well out of city limit. In the smaller mountain towns people seem to be much nicer. Today, there's no way I will not chance that here.