Where have all the hitchhikers gone?
 

It recently occurred to me that I very rarely see hitchhikers anymore. Even before covid. It's been many years of a slow decline. I used to see them fairly regularly. Not anymore. Why is this?

In the early 70's I hitched more than almost anyone.
In college, we would thumb in groups of two or three and still get rides easily.

Still fairly common in Alaska.

Think the serial killers made it impractical everywhere else.

Murdered?:D

I only hitched once, central MO to Lawrence, KS when my friend got a DUI after a Widespread Panic concert in St. Louis. Found a long haul trucker who took mercy on a stupid 20 year old.

You are correct. I no longer see them. Too many nut jobs here in socal. Lets be honest, I wouldn't want my kids doing it and they will never find out I did such thing, twice.

My buddy and I hitch hikes into the sierras from Fresno when we got out of high school. Took the bus up to Fresno and thumb out way into the back country. No truck driver ever even gave us a look. Mostly were logging trucks.

All living in tents in Portland...

HMM, there was my hitchin' trip from Athens, O to PGH. Got picked up on I77 in a VW van with a couple of ladies and some..., well that was a good trip

Living in Kalamazoo, three of us decided to thumb to a BOC concert in Det on a Sat afternoon.
Easily got rides right to the stadium.
Never put much thought to the fact that we would have to thumb back the 150 miles after midnight.

Crazy times!

Still have them here. Nevada City to North San Juan on how way 49.
Hitchhiked from the Bay Area to Yellowstone one summer. Lots of interesting people. Montana was another story. Lots of drunk cowboys wanting to fight. Luckily they were really hammered.

No long distance hitchhiking, but all around town in the 70’s.

Same here. After I got a car I made a point to pick up others. Just my way of paying back. It just aint safe these days.

Hitchhiking - That was the original ride share app...

These days, people think hitch hiking is dangerous but Uber is not... because there’s an ‘app’...

Umm hmm.

The chances of a driver or a hitchhiker being a serial killer are microscopic.

The chances of an opiate/meth addict robbing you is a different story.

Hitchhiking was never the best option... Maybe broke people can get around a whole lot easier today?

That and Taxi/Uber drivers take plastic.

I hitched all over Cali. in the 60s to the late 70s. Sometimes I did it for the fun of it. I normally hitched to S.D.S. College from the beach area where I lived. When I drove my VW camper, I'd pick up other students. Then a professor at school created something called the "Bug Line." They took some old city type busses, put bug eyes and antenae on them and operated them from all the beach areas to school & back. It was free and they paid for it with advertising. I also hitch hiked a bit in Europe and around western and southern Mexico and parts of Central America. I doubt I'd do it now and probably not pick up anyone, because of the way people are now days.

Sad if it's not happening like it used to.

In my teens I hitchhiked from San Diego to NYC. And in my 20's from Cape Town to Harare (Zimbabwe). Ha, the mental attitude of the young - you know it's a long way so you bring a good book.

Same here. In my late teens we hitchhiked several times all the way down to the riviera. Coast of France, Monaco, italy. Slept in bags. I would not dream of having my children doing that now. As late as the 80´Europe, not least Scandinavia, was a very peaseful place, sharing the same moral codes. Not anymore.

A bit off topic, but its sad about the slipping of the moral codes and our peaceful places are in our rear view mirrors. This got me thinking about how safe Japan is. I felt pretty safe in China a couple summers ago when we visited. I wouldn't live there but when we arrived in Hong Kong, and got talking with some expats, they all tell me its super safe, not sure if they would ever pick up a hitch hiker though? Are there safe places (cities) anymore?

My last time was back in 88 with a back pack larger my me on my back in the Sierras Navada mts. The only time I picked up someone in LA was a couple of Mexican guys on the side of the road. Their big old dump truck was out of gas sitting on the side of the road. I knew no way in hell anyone would help them so I took them to the gas station and brought em' back. My workman was surprise that I would do such thing knowing how dangerous LA can be. These guys just want to work, get done and go home to their families. If they were young, homeless guys, no fooking way I would even stop a mile from them.

I hitchhiked across Europe 25 years ago with no issues. Dont think I would have tried that in the US though.

Overall it was a great experience.

I used to hitch hike a lot when I was 15-16 years old. I also picked up more than my fair share of hitch hikers until I was about 18. My vehicles would get broken into regularly and this stopped for the most part when I quit picking up local hitch hikers.

When I left for college for the first time, I picked up a couple about my same age in Vancouver and drove them all the way to Jasper. I was invited to spend the night with them and they told me I would have work in the morning. I politely declined and continued on to Edmonton, an education, and a career in Engineering.

Seems like now a life goal would be being a ski bum in a park town... I had my chance.

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.

Is hitchhiking legal?
I think most leos discourage "thumbing".

I did my fair share of hitchhiking back in the 60's and 70's, usually when my car was broke down...

I was actually about to post the same thing. Until CV screwed everything up we were actually at record low levels of crime nationally. Which is hard to believe if you watch the mainstream media. It’s actually safer to let your kids play outside than a generation ago but everybody is still scared to let their kids play outside.

Depends on the state and often they have differences for the type of road in the state law.

A white Jaguar "Did something" on an interstate in the northwest last year; I looked up the laws for people being on the interstate across multiple states as a result.

You can walk down the exit/entrance ramp in most states, and thumb from there.
Anywhere else on an interstate is a no go as a pedestrian.
Even if your car breaks down, walking for help is "illegal"; but you likely will get help from a trooper that picks you up and then drops you off instead of getting in trouble.

After walking away from writing my post I did realize for 2020 there are specific cities wth major violence spikes. Didn't have to be that way but that is a subject for another part of the forum.

After college I hitched from jersey up the East coast and into Canada and then back down to the jersey shore with a backpack. I had no problem getting rides and only one proposition from a gay man. I even had women invite me to spend the night on their couches more than once.

Those days are gone forever.

No question.

I only hitchhiked twice out of necessity - missed flight, needed to get home flew into Charlotte vice Charleston where my car was parked was the longest. I honestly don't think I could have done it faster in my own car - first ride was second car I propositioned, second was trucker in about two minutes direct to the airport. Late 1970's.

I rarely picked up hitchhikers - the randomness of it and the fact that I like driving by myself were the big factors.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1611583602.jpg

Well there is this....

seems pretty common in Maui, while there last year we saw kids hitching almost every day. picked up most.

Hitching was just part of the times. The culture of the 1960's and 70's.

No need anymore, with internet ride boards, Lyft, or what have you, like every kid has a car now. Right or wrong, there's also been way too many slasher movies out where the unsuspecting hitcher gets picked up by Ted Bundy. Remember that one with kiefer Sutherland and Reece Witherspoon - Freeway... Good wholesome entertainment.

Dear Penthouse, I never thought it would happen to me, but I picked up these two hitchhiking cheerleaders and.......

I hitched locally in the late 60s an 70s. Best ride was in Ed Daly's Lamborghini Espada. The funniest one was hitching to driver training at our high school and being picked up by a couple of girls in the class.

Driving from Denton to Decatur , TX my truck broke down (roll pin on distributer gear sheared). I was about 10 miles out of Denton so I started hoofing it back that way. Never thought of thumbing.

After about a mile this rust bucket Ford Station wagon pulls over. As I jog up I see this big azz hairy arm that is covered up with tattoos hanging out rhe passenger window.

Hop in, he says. I open the rear passenger door and a few empty beer cans fall out. Rear floor board is covered in empty beer cans.

The passenger looks like he weighs about 250. Driver is skinny dude with blonde hair down to his ass and no shirt.

One of them asks me what I was doing out here in the middle of nowhere. Truck broke down, I said. Didn't see it, long hair replies. I think to myself, you are so f'n drunk you can't see your hand in front of your face

They then asked if I wanted a beer. Sure, if I am going to die I might as well die drunk. So they pass me back a generic can of beer. You know the kind. White can with BEER as the label.

They asked me if I liked Rock & Roll. Sure. So they popped in a Sabbath Paranoid cassette and cranked up the Kraco to 20. Pure distortion.

As we near town I tell em to just drop me off at the gas station on this side of town. I have a buddy in town that I can call to pick me up (a lie).

So, luckily, they pull into the gas station and let me out. I tell em I'll buy em a couple of six packs for their trouble. What brand would they like. They reply, whatever is cheapest.

I bought em a six pack of Bud and one of Coors. And with a wave, off they drove, stereo blaring, in beer heaven.

Only us old people know what a guy sticking his thumb out standing on the side of the road even means anymore.

The real pros use signs at truck stops.

^^^
We always used the on-ramps to the express-ways...if possible.
Traffic had time to take a good look at you and was going slow enough to stop without causing a problem.

If the driver wasn't going far enough to the destination...just tell him thanks and wait for the next one.

Cant remember the last time I seen a hitchhiker on the side of the highway.

Suprisingly around here, you do see Orthodox/Hasidic Jews hitchhiking a lot on some of the local roads. (We have a large Hasidic community a couple towns over..)



.

about ten years ago they wanted me to drive a couple hours up to the city for some job training. i was pissed because deisel was something like $4 a gallon then and they weren't reimbursing me.

a woman at worked said i could drive her nephew up, drop him at the airport and he'd cover fuel. sounded like a good idea.

the next morning i pulled up to their house and the shiftiest meth head i'd ever seen came out. over the course of the ride he explained that the local airline had him blacklisted for some reason. his uncool aunt and uncle made him sleep in a tent because they didn't want him in the house. and he was in a hurry to get back to portland before his parole officer realized he was gone.

i was never scared because my old heeler, T-Rex, was in the back seat. she decided quick that she didn't like the guy and spent the entire trip with her mouth half an inch from the his ear emitting this barely audible I'm gonna **** you up growl.

Always found it easier to get a ride if thumbing in pairs.
If going single...drivers were hesitant.
In pairs...the drivers looked like they felt more safe. (weird..but true)

(remember...this was in the early 70's)

Used to hike a bit in the '70s .Got a ride one day from two guys in an AMC Ambassador (remember those). Even though the half empty two four in the back covered a bit of the floor, I could still see the road through the rusted out holes. I got out at the next exit.
An RCMP buddy of mine once advised me of the percentage of hitch hikers who were convicted felons. I didn't think much of it until I picked up a drug dealer and a shoplifter in the space of a few weeks. No more for me.

Best
Les

June 1973 the day after graduating from high school my buddy and I jumped on a plane for Hawaii. We planned and saved for this trip all year. No money for a rental car or hotel but we're 18 and don't need those silly luxuries. We land on Maui headed for Hana and got a ride from the airport as far as Paia and then struck out hitchin. Can't Imagine why, 2 long haired scraggly kids with 60 lb. packs with snorkel gear and spear guns dangling. We started asking people coming out of the fish market if they were headed for Hana. Finally a beautiful young lady reluctantly says that's where she's headed but has no room for our stuff. No problem! We'll make our stuff fit, can we try? Pleeeze? Talked her into it. By the end of a 3 hour drive we were good friends and she invited us to visit the hippy commune where she lived. We ended up staying for a week long party. I ended up having a week long affair with this girl. Not only was she hot but way older than me (26). She seduced me the second night we were there. "Let's take a walk" she says and leads me into the jungle. We did it in the moonlight in an ancient Hawaiian grave yard. A week later "thanks, we gotta go to Kaui now!". A memory for life that happened because we were hitch hiking.