Gas juging. god damn it is fantastic if you can hack it!

[Rail Tye]

Gas judging to me is going up to people at gas bars jug in hand and ask for gas, seams simple and it is if you get to the point and get there at the exact perfect time when they are filling. i have been doing it all summer in Canada and it has been great got kicked out of a few places but in my opinion its easier to ask for forgiveness then permission in this case. i was skeptical when i first started then in less then a hour i had a full tank, no shit friends. I got a good honest pitch i am a traveling musician just ran into bad luck could you spare any gasoline sir or madam i had a crew with me and we would take turns and i would play music outside the van so my friends could point at me and make the story that much more, short and sweet. hope this helps people save a few bucks the best people to ask are company trucks i know most of them get gas cards from there work and in some cases don't give that much of a fuck its not there money. i kind of want to know if any one has any shity story's like getting picked up for soliciting or bullshit like that. I'm going to go to some places i have never been before this winter in the southern states and i don't like surprise laws. snow birding it again folks might see you all in the parking lots and parks

 

[Dreem]

Hi man!

Good to know trucks stops exist here and gusjuging is also done in Canada. I thought it was an U.S. thing.

Past April I traveled many different southern states, mostly caravaning with people I met at a Rainbow gathering in Texas, from TX to another gathering in Arizona. We were about 18 dirty hippies and a three dogs, in two cars and a van, and none on of us spent money on guys, neither many other travelers from the gatherings. Gusjugging is very common down there, you might even run into more people doing the same in little gas stations (it happened to me getting to California).

Anyway, useful info: As you know, the best places are the truck stops, and the best people, truckers. Now there are a few big truck stops companies in the states: Love's, Pilot and Flying J's. Sometimes, after a while without being lucky, we got kicked out of certain spots, since all Love's and Pilot have "No Soliciting" signs and eventually somebody might get pissed off and warn the gas station workers. But everyone says Flying J's are the most friendly towards hitchhikers and gas juggers, so keep that in mind.

The one you'll see the most is Love's, they are aaaall over the country, specially the southern states. Often you'll find there are several truck stops at the same junction, so if you get kicked out of once just switch to the other one.

Another funny thing, police are obliged to help you out with twenty bucks of gas if you ask for their help on their station in each town. They'll make you identify yourself though, and sign a little document, but then they lead you to their private gas place and fill part of your tank. We (the crew in my car) did it once in New Mexico and someone said you can only do this once in each state, but one of the drivers of the caravan claimed to have done it twice, so I am not sure about it. I doubt you can go town by town doing this, eventually they would realize, but even if you can it might be quicker to just gasjug. But this can help you keep going on a desperate quite night in the middle of nowhere.

Be careful when heading from west AZ into Cali, there is a looong fucking way in which there is nothing but desert along the interstate (like 100 or 150 miles) so you want to make sure you fill up your tank before getting into that.
As for laws, I don't think this has even been legislated beyond the usual laws about soliciting and all that. We personally never had any trouble with police regarding gasjuging, but just in case don't do it if their at the spot, they don't like anything that escapes their understanding and lifestyles (hippies, punks, travelers, etc...) and might give you shit just for sake of it. There is a lot of police in the south, and you will most probably be stopped and searched at some point if you are look "different" in any way (we did), so try to be subtle. Speed limits are very enforced some times, so respect the ones getting in and out of town areas. And be careful about weed, specially in Texas, they have very stupid strict laws, and you can be arrested or fined just for having parafernalia (a grinder or rolling paper is enough) even if you don't carry any drug with you at all.

Save travels my friend. Peace.


Carlos Dreem

 

[Rail Tye]

thanks friend, that makes me feel better, i am going to keep a bible on the dash just in case when i'm in the bible belt. In Canada there are flying jays and husky's all threw the prairies and beyond, i have found its hard hitching in Ontario so freight or jugging is your friend going east or west bound down from Winnipeg to Toronto. I have caught long hall truckers lots of times its kind of a cake walk in Canada there is basically one road to go on. BC is my favorite place especially the gulf islands off of Vancouver Island, no cops just a 30-06 and a pick up truck, my dream come true.

i got good at old time music and blues / jazz and make a good living busking so i want to go to the birth place of it, there is not much to do during the winter in Canada except play music most times.

I might see you down there whats your 20?

 

[Dreem]

Thanks for all that useful info.

My plans are actually heading west in either early-mid august or early september, and then definitely north to Yellowknife to see the northern lights in late September.

You mention train hopping, and the truth is that I have been looking for some experienced hopper to do it with me since it would be my first time but I really want to. I feel that after hitching and juging around north america, hopping is the next step. But I don't have a crew change, I don't know where the train yards are, and neither I know any hoppers to get the info here in Montreal, where I currently am.

Do you have experience with trainhopping? Whereabout are you now?

Peace.

 

[daveycrockett]

i find if you are honest, in the long run, you will find the help you really need. lying brings bad karma , a quick fix but bad karma. A man once told me you dont need nine dollars or 90 dollars, or even nine thousand. The same people who are going to help you with a few bucks might be the person(s) to actually HELP you help yourself. maybe i misunderstood the thread but i am speaking from experience, hope it helps.

 

[Earth]

^^I agree, if one is straight up and not too pushy - that goes a long way in securing a good deal....

It kinda also helps too if your ride looks a bit tired.... check this out - I had these two women stop me while out with me dog late one night saying hey, can you help us out??

So, I bring my dog back inside to see what's up, yep... they ran out of gas - brand new car - just past the BP station by me....

Ok, I go get a 5 gal can and say how much money you got and one of them goes TWO DOLLARS

I was like this is a joke right ??
New car, and only two dollars between the both of them??

I felt something was not adding up and lit up on 'em real good - and what's weird was I was going to get them some fuel but they decided to suddenly not accept my not so kind act of kindness...

If she said $10 I would have met them 1/2 way and got them 5 gals of gas but - no... not for two dollars with a new car - sorry !!!

 

[purr]

Some friends and I made it to Washington and back to Illinois by jugging a few years ago. It was pretty awesome, didn't really get hassled, even got kick downs (mostly food and sometimes pot because we looked like degenerates, and I guess stoners in small towns dig that). One thing to note; it's always handy to have a lady along with you. On our way out there we were just dude-ing it up, but on our way back we had a few women with us and that made a huge difference in how fast we got our tank filled up or how people would treat us in general.
Also, I think someone mentioned it above but folks respond well to things like music, hula hooping, and ear-to-ear smiles.

 

[Alice B Goode]

We don't frequent truck stops because a) we have a non-diesel vehicle, and b) we sleep at truck stops in our neon.

My fiance does all the jugging, I do all the driving, and he has gotten it down to about 30 minutes for a 12.5 (that's max according to my neon's book, but I say the tank tops at about 14 gallons) gallon tank.

It's easy as pie and people are usually REALLY nice about it, even kicking down money, huge gift cards, one lady bought us all sorts of food and gave us $40 on a card AND $20 cash, etc. It happens.

Our tips are; don't wear out your welcome, don't hit the same spot too often (if you're staying somewhere for a week or two or three, etc..), leave when asked, ask the person with the CC at the pump, ask people who are leaving the store when you're about ready to head- hit them up for cash they can spare, it almost always works.