[oldE]

Trying to get home in my university days,one of my first rides was with a guy who didn't seem to be paying attention to his driving on the highway. When he said he was taking a cross country road, I had a moment or two of concern, as he couldn't seem to keep within his lane on the main road. Turns out he was just bored with the main highway. When he got on the secondary route, his driving was precise and noteworthy in its smoothness.

A year or two later, I was about half way home on the same 220 mile trip and got picked up by a couple of guys in an old AMC Ambassador. As we got rolling on the highway, the first thing I noticed was the 1/3 empty 24 of beer on the back seat beside me. The second thing was the pavement visible through the holes in the floor at my feet.
I had them let me off at the next exit, where I got a ride almost all the way home with neighbors who just happened by.

Along that same stretch of road some years later, I picked up a guy with a huge backpack. Turned out he had his little dog in the pack and was hiking out west. Cool dude.
Again, some years after that one day I picked up a guy hiking out of the next town from home and this LLPOS starts telling me how he's on his way to pick up weed to sell to the school kids in town. The local RCMP detachment got a report of our conversation and his description. No surprise, he "was known to them".

Then there was the guy who tried to sell me tapes. He had a half dozen copies of the same Elvis tape, still in their shrink wrap. Obviously a very low overhead operation.
I just don't pick up hikers any more.

Best
Les