You gotta get out of New York! Everything is illegal there. In most of the West, hitching isn't illegal unless you are near a prison. I lived in Upstate NY for some 20 years (around Albany). I don't miss it.
The easiest way to get a ride in Upstate NY that I found was to stand next to a highway and wait for a cop...then play dumb and say I live where I'm going. It worked several times when I was younger
Holy shit! are you Sissy Hankshaw from "Even cowgirls get the blues?" =P