One of the most memorable hitch hikers I ever picked up was in Spain in the late '70s. My former wife & I were driving north from Madrid (I think). There was an old lady in black (yorona, sp.?) by the side of the road hitch hiking. We picked her up, & she told us she was going home to a communal farm (finka?) where she & her husband lived. When we got to the area, we insisted on taking her to her home on a dirt road about two miles long instead of her walking. She insisted we come in to her modest little house to meet her husband, who was a toothless old guy. After we were inside, she insisted we have something to eat. While her husband & I drank some wine from a porone, she cooked some eggs. sliced some ham from a ham hanging near the stove, and cut some bread. While eating the eggs, I told her they were some of the best I'd ever eaten and asked where her chickens were. She motioned for me to come with her, and we went into the back of the house to a room where she opened the door. Standing on the dirt floor of the room were about 20 chickens looking at us. The chickens had an open door where they could go out into the yard. Great people, great experience.

Right after the fall of the Berlin Wall, I was hitchhiking from around Bielefeld to Magdeburg and got picked up right away by an elderly couple. They noted my accent and, upon learning I was an Ami, the old man went on and on about being a POW and shipped off to Erie, PA where he had the time of his life and had never eaten so well as he did in captivity. A few hours later they dropped me off right at the end of the exit ramp for Magdeburg and I started walking into town to grab a train to Halle. An old lady on a bicycle came right up and said I looked like I wasn't from around there and asked if I needed directions. Upon hearing my accent and asking where I was from, she said he husband had been a POW in Chesapeake, VA and had the time of his life and had never eaten so well as he did in captivity. I really enjoyed that day.

I picked up a hitchhiker (stranded motorist) about 3 months ago.....in the Ferrari. when I stopped I asked "excuse me, are those bugle boy jeans you're wearing?" ...didn't get the joke. but I ran them into town anyway

That's a great story.....my wife and I picked up a guy on Vanuatu years ago, broken down truck. We drove him back to his village to collect help and another truck to tow...It was very funny. It seems no one on Vanuatu drives at more than 15mph, and we were absolutely punting a tiny rental Nissan around the only wet, dirt road on Vanuatu -built by the US Navy in 1943- and not touched since, in a completely sideways manner. I didn't realise, we were having a ball, but he was terrified. Anyway he was the son of the headman, and we were invited to a traditional wedding feast at the village the next day as a thank you.

It did occur to me that we may have been the feast, but it was a huge day.

I hitchhiked about 10 years ago. I was riding a motorcycle up around Mt Ranier and Mt St Helens on a beautiful spring day. Unfortunately the bike died (something electrical) and wouldn't restart. No cell reception in the middle of those mountains. So I wound up hitchhiking about 100 miles back to I-5. Got a lady who worked at a gas station about 1/4 mile up the road to take me about 20 miles when her shift ended and she went home, and another college-aged couple in a pickup truck to take me the other 80 miles. While riding in the back of the pickup truck we passed through a couple small towns and I was able to get enough reception to call my wife (120 miles away) to come pick me up along I-5. It dawned on me that it was probably illegal to ride in the bed of a pickup, but heck I was wearing full Power Rangers leathers, boots, gloves, and a helmet so if anything bad happened I would at least be as prepared as you can be, thrown from the back of a moving pickup.

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Les

While living on base at Maxwell AFB I would pickup anyone in uniform that wanted a ride. If we were on the way to the BX or liquor store it was common to see an airman walking to the store. It was always interesting to find out where they were from.

That is a little different than picking up a random stranger in the real world.

I believe the last time I picked anyone up was in the late 70s. I was driving out of town to meet a co-worker to go hunting. It was a young couple from France with back packs. They were hitchhiking from the Canadian Maritime Provinces all the way to the south of Chile. The two packs were too big to both fit in the back seat with the guy so I had to put one pack in the trunk with my guns. I thought they were going to have second thoughts about the ride when they saw the arsenal but were very intrigued with them and wanted me to take them somewhere that we could shoot them. I guess they though that if they were ever going to have the opportunity to shoot guns it would have to be in Texas. Very trusting folks, I guess I did not look like a mass murderer. Anyway, I begged off on their request and took them as far as I could before I had to turn off of their route and meet my buddy.

Frankly - most people are afraid to accept rides from strangers these days...

I've only picked up one person in the past two years, guy wouldn't ride in the cab, but took a ride in the bed to the nearest gas station and back to his car.

I was picked up and dropped off at work when the rubber center on my 944 went into pieces. Turns out the guy who picked me up use to deliveries to my workplace and recognized my car, then saw me 600 feet down the road and put 2 & 2 together.

These days, with cellphones, people tend to call someone to pick them up - rather than foot it.

There are also more social "safety" nets that mean footing it to another town/state to look for opportunities doesn't have to happen as often either.

[QUOTE=Jolly Amaranto;8054402]I believe the last time I picked anyone up was in the late 70s.../QUOTE]

Same here. The 70's might as well be the Bronze Age as far as hitchhiking is concerned: things have changed.

During Christmas break in 1977 I fly up to see a girl I was dating who went to Williams College. Her break schedule was a few day after mine so it worked out great.

Getting home becomes an issue. Weather sets in, numerous flight cancelled and I have to fly into an airport about 100 miles from the one I flew out of.

Flight arrives at 9pm. Dark. But I need to get to my car and get home.

I walk to the Interstate dressed in my standard issue 70's down jacket, Levis, hiking boots with my Kelty bag (which I still have) and position myself just past the on-ramp under a light.

I am not there two minutes when an old semi passes me and then pulls to a stop about two hundred yards away. As I get to the truck the driver is already out of the truck, asks me, "Can you drive?"

"Yes".

He looks like a complete mess, tells me he has been driving without rest for a day and needs sleep. I get in, having never driven a semi before. He gets me through the gears to 60mph and tells me to keep it there and wake him when we get to the airport. He goes out.

Almost two hours later I wake him up. He walks me back through the gears and up the off ramp. I jump out and he jumps into the drivers seat.

"Thanks, Bud" is all he says.

I work on a military installation. On base, I give people rides all the time. Downtown, not so often, but I do occasionally. However, I have never accepted a ride from a stranger.

Several years back, I was heading from the base to go home to Phoenix one weekend (about a 3 hour drive) and stopped at a local gas station to pick up a drink for the road. Young lady there looked like she needed help, so I asked her where she was headed. She was going to Tucson, which was on my way to Phoenix, though actually taking her into town would be going well out of my way. I was a new-ish father of 2 girls (one was about 4, the other 1), and I couldn't help but thinking I'd want someone to help my daugthers if they were ever in this situation, so I gave her a ride. She was very grateful. Unfortunately, she talked my ear off the whole way to her house.

Headed north from Fort Huachuca I bet.

Indeed. Northwest.

LOL a guy I know felt sorry for a local homeless lady who was known at the time as Boxcar Annie.
So he gave her a ride. She stunk so bad he had to roll down all the windows and hold his head out the window.
And it was apprently time for her monthly visitor, which she left on the cloth seat in his 6 month old pick-up. To go along with the other stain she left an inch further back.

ewwwwwwwww






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Lived there in the mid 60's when my Dad was in Vietnam.

Last time I was there was for an airshow in 1987...I flew in for the weekend. Great time at the Sins of Cortez!

While hitch hiking, accepting rides from semi drivers had it's irritations. Twice I had truck drivers ask directly after I was in the cab & we were on the road if I wanted a BJ. Eewwwww! I just said I didn't do that kind of thing.

A guy was hitchhiking down the road with his dog, when a ferrari pulls up. The guy in the car says, "I'd offer you a ride but I don't want a dog in my car".
The hitchhiker says, "that's OK, I'll hold the leash out the window and he can run along beside us."

The guy in the car says "this is a ferrari, I drive fast. No dog can keep up with me".
the hitchhiker says "I dunno, this dog is really fast".

The guy in the Ferrari starts laughing in an evil way, and says "OK, lets see what he can do".


He starts out in 1st gear, going maybe 25. "Howz yer dog?"

"Oh he's fine".

Bull flop. So he hits 2nd gear, now he's going 40.
"Howz yer dog now?"

"wow, his legs are really going good".

"I don't believe it". So he hits third, going 60.

"Ha ha, howz he doing now?"

"wow, his legs are a total blur, I've never seen his run that fast".

No frickin way, he ain't still out there".

Oh yes he is, and he's keeping up with your ferrari".

The driver gets pissed and slams on the breaks and comes to a tire-smoking screeching halt.

He runs around the car to see if the dog is still there, and he is. But he looks strange.

So he says "that's the wierdest dog I've ever seen. What's that big pink thing around his neck?"

"Oh that's his arse-hole, he isn't used to them sudden stops".

While riding with the same guy who's VW broke down in Wyoming, he stops to pick up a normal looking guy standing in a driveway in front of a house. The guy asks us to wait while he goes in the house and brings out an ancient looking man. Looked like he was an extra from a Popeye movie. Blue dungarees, T shirt, a captain style sailor cap and deck shoes. His arms were all scared up as well as his face and he was missing one eye. No patch, just an empty socket. He was all hunched over and with the help of his friend hobbled out to the car. I got out and held the passenger door and offered to let the old guy sit in front. But he insisted in climbing behind the folded seatback and into the back. Only problem was my friend had removed the seat back to make more room for hauling junk around in his Beetle the day before and forgot to put it back in. The old guy slid in, leaned back and kept going till he hit his head against the back of the compartment in front of the firewall. We thought he broke his neck. His friend got in and propped him back up. Fortunately he was fine. "OK, where you folks going?" "Can you drop us off at the Beacon Lounge?" ( A seedy, local dive about a mile away.) We get there and help in out and make sure he gets in and onto his favorite bar stool before we continue on in the car. The car starts and we turn up the radio. The song playing is Elton John's Razor Face "Has anybody here seen Razor Face, I Heard he's back looking for a place to lay down, Must be getting on, Needs a man who's young to walk him round." We about died laughing.

Mid 60's...my dad was here for a short stint around that time, too (recovering from getting shot in Vietnam). Back then, it was still Fry Town on one side of Fry Blvd, and Sierra Vista on the other. It's changed A LOT since then--you likely wouldn't recognize it. I first came here in 1997, and spent 4 years, then went away on my next assignment. Came back in 2005, and it had gotten pretty big. It's HUGE now compared to when I first got here, but still a "small town."