# First time Hitchhiking: Portland to Coast



## Nicomata (May 3, 2012)

For the last two years, I've had an unfathomable fascination with the transient lifestyle... never rooting down, traveling by train and hitchhiking, etc... The few people I have met have had incredible wisdom, and even better stories. Anyways, I come from an upper-middle class family in the wealthiest part of Portland Oregon, and the school-job-family-kids-retire routine is what has always been expected of me. But something's just not right when my parents come home hating their jobs and all they can think of is their next vacation. This lifestyle I dream of is a complete opposite of what I've been taught, and what is expected. But hey, who can scan through a couple of the forums on here and not get inspired? I have to find out for myself if this dull life i'm expected to go through is really the only option to achieve "happiness"
After a looong time of dreaming and planning, I decided I was gonna go to the coast. I hit up an old friend, a beautiful free spirit who has a similar restless drive for adventure. After taking the bus to forest grove, the farthest you can get West on the portland public transit, we got ready to hit the road. I figured I'd make a sign, cause thats what we're supposed to do right? In my anxious excitement, I replaced the "k" at the end of Tillamook with an "m" (hence the title of the thread) and we didn't realize it till late that night. I dont know, i thought it was pretty funny, and it kinda showed how nervous I was.
There's something about the first time you stick your thumb out on a highway. Kinda like jumping off a cliff into water, you gather all your guts and your heart rate shoots, you whisper "here goes" under your breath and WHOOSH! Here we go! From now on, the rollercoaster of fate is in control, and you damn well hope you'll be able to hold on. Well, that initial feeling kinda melts when cars speed up and get as far away from you as they can while going by, but then it doesn't even compare to the feeling when someone finally pulls over.
Barely 10 minutes with our thumbs out, and a lady in a nice Subaru stops for us. Awkwardly shuffling with our packs, we take a second that feels like a year to find a way to throw ourselves in the car. And off we go! This lady turned out to be a ex-hitcher from the 70's, now married and with kids, but from the way she spoke she just brimmed with life and excitement. The way she spoke about her past, you could tell she'd had a good time. Everything going well so far!
Our next two rides that day consisted of a married business man in a suit and tie who admired our willpower to hitchhike (hell, we could barely believe we were doing it!), and the next man was a recovering alcoholic who'd been in treatment for a year.
After an intense spiritual conversation where we all confessed a sin or two, we felt we were sure this guy picked us up for a reason. He'd been suffering from depression for a long time now, but our encounter inspired him, as well as us, with a great deal of hope. Man, it felt so good getting dropped off and feeling like we made a positive change in someones life.
In the darkness, we hiked out onto the beach and searched until we found a little nook in between large driftwood. What a spot! the ocean was like 30 feet away, we were protected from the wind, and completely out of sight. After building a fire and eating a dinner of chicken noodle soup, we danced around our fire screaming and yelling, wild in ecstasy at our good fortune.
Later that night as we stared up at the stars, we suddenly realized that we could hear ocean water splashing around when we couldn't hear it before. A few seconds later, panic set in as we realized the tide was getting higher and the water was quickly approaching our camp! In a frenzy with a broken flashlight, we stuffed our packs with what we could and ran out of there. in the darkness, we searched and searched the adjacent forest for another small nook or something, but after a couple hours we ran into a dead end. Sitting their in dismay, I suddenly realized that I had left my pot and pan at our first campsite, and after a long and painful debate, we went back to where we started.
Oh man! when we arrived, we saw the the water level had actually started to go down and our campsite never even got touched by the ocean. Gahh! But still what a relief. I found my pot and pan, said my thanks to the stars and passed the hell out.
The rest of the trip consisted of more awesome rides, sleeping out on a bluff over the ocean, and endless hours of sun-soakin on the beach. What a trip. I couldn't have asked for more for my first one ever, and even though nothing too exciting really happened, I'm super stoked to have had a good time and I definitelly plan on going farther and longer the next chance I get.
Let me know what you think, this is my first post sooooo i'd love to hear some tips, ideas, whatever!


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## Winston Smith (May 3, 2012)

Hey! It's nice to see another new person like me on here. I'm from tucson, AZ and just got to LA via Amtrak and am staying with some friends right now, but I'll be leaving to go down to San Diego and back and then up the coast to SF, Portland and Seattle. I'll be going across the US after that and my goal is to hit New York by October. I will probably be in Portland around the end of May or June, I would love to meet up with a fellow nomad and do a trip if you're down! Or even just someone to show me around, as I don't know anyone in Portland. Let me know here or email me at [email protected]. Thanks!


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## Nicomata (May 7, 2012)

Hey man, sounds like some sweet travels. I can definitely show you around portland while you're here, and actually Im planning on heading east early june no real specific plan but hey maybe if you're headed that way we can do a trip. I'm tryin to make it to rainbow.


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## Hillbilly Castro (May 23, 2012)

Awesome post, man! I'm about to head out for the first time by thumb myself in a couple weeks, and I couldn't be happier. I'm coming from the other coast, though, from New York. I'm going to Portland to meet my sister - I've never met her before. 
If you're heading east in June, I was thinking about doing the ol "raft down the mississipi" journey between coasts, taking my damn time! If you wanna meet up in the mid-west or in Portland/west coast, shoot me a PM!


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## Nicomata (May 24, 2012)

damn! goin cross-country your first time? you've got balls man! My mind still gets filled with doubts when I think of doing it this summer, but It's gonna go down. Yeah man, when are you going to be traveling?


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## Hillbilly Castro (May 24, 2012)

haha, doesn't seem too bad too me. After a hundred, what's a thousand!
I'm gonna leave within the month.


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## Nicomata (May 30, 2012)

sounds good man, I'm hittin the road in 2 weeks, and rafting the mississippi sounds freakin awesome! let me know whatchu end up doin and maybe we can cross paths.


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