dude, fuck hitchhiking.

[maus]

straight up. or at least fuck how crappy it is anyway. fuck how many people pick you up that are creepy and controlling or preachy and tell you to get a job or just plain fucking nuts. its so not good in most places. a hitchhiking trip in so cal this past winter was the turning point of me saying 'fuck it, i want a pickup truck'.

i imagine the current economic downturn, especially if it gets worse, will lead to more people riding trains, great depression style, thus making it easier - but will it lead to more people picking up hitchhikers?? im guessing the opposite...

 

[Matt Derrick]

i dunno if it will make more ppl pick up hitchhikers... perhaps, but yeah, i feel you on the hitchhiking thing. and it gets worse the older you get. that era has just really passed us by in this new millennium of ours. i say get a bike. my prediction is that bike or bus travel will be the next big thing in the coming years.

 

[macks]

hopefully they won't start doing 6 month work camps for being picked up as a vagrant, depression style.

 

[Dameon]

When hitching is good, it's real good. When it sucks, it really sucks. I like how often rides turn into people giving me money or buying me a meal or is just cool people. I dislike when it's creepy people and you're stuck in a small space with them, or you get dropped off in the middle of nowhere, or that kind of thing.

I think sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad.

 

[wokofshame]

yeah i flipped off some tough guy biker in a pickup this morning after not being picked up for an hour and a half, in rush hour, he stopped and grabbed something from his truck and started walking back. i just skated away but he stayed parked there for 10 minutes until I got a ride. some people???????????

 

[finn]

I've personally never had to pull a knife while hitch hiking, though for that I have a little panic knife, which is a sharp little blade held upside down on a kydex sheath. It's not terribly threatening, but it's meant to be pulled fast to cut up something quick and not look mean. I've had my hand close to it only on one ride from a creepy postal worker when me and a friend were desperate for a ride out of the middle of nowhere. Nothing happened though.

Hey Arrow, I thought you were going to post more stories instead of short teaser summaries...

 

[RandomRaccoon]

hopefully they won't start doing 6 month work camps for being picked up as a vagrant, depression style.

FUck it maan, alot of those cats in the thirties, when they got sent to a work camp would get a new pair of boots and work clothes given and then fuck off, hick the hundred miles back to the nearest cc and take off with good gear...

 

[Mouse]

I feel ya on the wanting a pick up truck. I'm so over hitching. I haven't had that many bad experiences but it jsut gets old. trains aren't really my thing so I'd rather just drive.

 

[Dameon]

Well, there's a certain freedom you can only have without a car or truck, too. Vehicle = responsibilities and necessity for money.

 

[maus]

its funy but i just had an amazing hitchhiking trip from santa cruz to portland. i was with a lady and also this exact corridor is probably the best region to hitch in in the u.s. the last guy who picked us up and drove us from humboldt to pdx was this sculptor in a toyota pickup with a shell, which my friend and i chillaxed in the whole time, and i was like "dude i am so getting one of these in the next year." as fucked up as oil is, i cant wait to be a rubber tramp. in the meantime though i think i am going to hitch the 1 from crescent city to santa cruz!

 

[Speedy]

Maine was the best place i ever hitched. Bunch of really nice old ex hippies that got good stories and good pot

 

[wokofshame]

maine, yeah! a particular ride stands out: Jan and Jim, two ex-felon rednecks cruising around to get away from their wives and get some doctor mcgillicuddy's "we'll be rolling with the Doctor". we go on a side trip to find a wild apple tree, doing U-ies when we pass it several times, so we can produce a apple pipe.

 

[macks]

that's a pretty awesome score on the ride from humboldt to portland. most of the rides i've gotten on the 101 in that region have been short, but people are pretty good about giving hitchhikers a ride on the northern coast in my experience.

 

[Mouse]

I know there's a different degree of responsibility and limits you have to except when you have a vehic. but hey, we all gotta grow up sometime. I'd rather have a comfy place to sleep all the time and pay a lil gas than always be sleeping out and bumming rides.

plus, I plan on working, making art, and being more sane an productive the next time around.

NEVER SPANGE AGAIN!

 

[marc]

spanging sucks thats why i always travel with a instrument. it makes making money alot easier

 

[Dameon]

Spanging does suck, and I always travel with an instrument too so I don't have to spange...But sadly, I see spangers make more than I can busking. It's very depressing to spend an hour busking for $10 then see a friend go spend 10 minutes flying a sign and get a $20 bill.

I don't agree that we all have to grow up sometime. I don't plan to grow up. Ever. EVAR.

 

[elokupa]

its all well and good saying 'fuck hitchhiking, ill get a car' no all of us can afford a car. plus i would never become a slave to an oil giant.

hitchhiking is great no matter what you say. I do it in europe and its fine, you only meet awesome people. never had experiences with weirdos.

 

[Mouse]

growing up doesn't always mean growing lame. maturity is unavoidable. life teaches you shit that you can't ignore. Or you can do the same stupid shit over and over and never progress at all. whatever makes you happy I guess. haha.
-------------------------
anyone can afford a car. get $500 and you can get a car that runs enough to get you someplace. saying you can't afford a car just means you're not willing to work and get the money it takes to get a car.

 

[Beegod Santana]

I've done the rubber tramp thing and feel that packing it is always better. When you have a car on the road money is a constant issue, much more so then when hitchhiking. One bad breakdown or getting impounded in the wrong city can easily be the end of your vechicle. Then there's always gas, tolls, general upkeeep and the dangers of being pulled over. I find myself spanging more when travelling with a car because work isn't always available and you always need gas. Basically, cars are like cell phones, its awesome when everyone but you has one.

 

[Mouse]

I guess my plans are a bit different. I want to stay in one town for a few months at a time and having a car would make it easy to set up a small life in a new town, get a real job, have a place to sleep.

all you gotta do is make friends with someone with a back yard or other chill place to park and there's no worries.