Picking up hitch hikers

I

IanC-II

Joined
Jul 6, 2023
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30
I used to thumb a ride to another town quite often when I was in college so I often pick people up. I picked up this kid one day looks kind of nerdy like me, mid 20s so figured it was alright. We start chatting about the normal things, he is a little nervous and starts talking about how he never hitch hikes and the dangers of it. He asks you don't have any knives in the car do you? So I say ha ha sure do but don't worry there is one on your side of the car too. I think this is sort of funny in my head but can see the kid is just about ready to cry. I guess I sound a bit rough when I talk and things aren't as funny to others as they are to me.

My favorite one, thumbing rides can be dangerous are you not afraid of picking up a serial killer? Just imagine the odds of two serial killers in the same car... that's pretty far out!
 
And I found a place, it's dark and it's rotted
It's a cool, sweet kinda place
Where the coppers won't spot it
And I destroyed the map that I'd carefully dotted
However, everyday I'm dumping the body
It'd be better for us if you don't understand
It'd be better for us if you don't understand
It'd be better for me if you don't understand
Let me out
Let me out
Let me out
Let me out
Let me out
Let me out
Let me out
 
I haven't seen real hitchhikers recently. However my wife recently picked up some kids who hiked out to the wrong trailhead. They repelled down a cliff face and ended up in the wrong canyon. She drove them back to their car/campsite which was about 50 miles driving but 10 as the crow flies.

When you see kids walking out of the trail carrying helmets and gear, you don't think serial killer.
 
I grew up in a small town in central WA state, and used to give rides to everyone I happened across when I was in my early 20’s. They were always nice people and I drove early ‘70’s Celica coupes that I wasn’t too worried about.

But then I picked up a guy that started having drug withdrawals right there in my car, crying out for Jesus, and alternating between wanting to be taken to the local hospital for detox, and his little downtown church ministry. Ended up driving in circles before dropping him at a random trailer park address that he wanted. I talked religion with him because that’s what he wanted, and I was worried he’d turn violent. That was the last time. Never again. I was lucky until I wasn’t. Now I’m married and mortgaged and I have things to lose so I don’t mess around with that kind of thing.
 
Pretty common here.

There is a very famous hitchiker called campbell the swaggie. Who just roams around telling stories.


He is in Victoria somewhere here. I saw him a couple of weeks ago in Queensland 6,000 odd km away. So he gets around.
 
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Saw this guy hitchhiking in southwest California. We didn't stop for him.

hitcher.jpg
 
I've never hitchhiked myself and only picked up 1 hitchhiker in my life.

The guy was a Navajo whose truck broke down in Monument Valley. I was driving by in my FJ Cruiser (I was on a grand tour of the southwest in it) and figured it was low risk.

So, I picked him up, took him to his house (where he got someone to go get his truck) and then he gave me a private tour in my FJ on what he said was his family's lands (thru a variety of those sketchy mesquite/barbed wire fences that you see in the southwest) to a secluded spot on a river (don't recall which) were we had some beer and snacks before heading back.

This was before I carried a camera &/or a cell phone w/me everywhrere I went on trips. So, unfortunately, I don't have any pics but it was the BEST side trip ever. However, I've never picked up another hitchhiker since. :cool:
 
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I do pick up the occasional hitchhiker, in and around Zion N.P. All have been hikers that were spotting a car and wanted a ride to the trailhead. Have met some nice people that way and have remained friends with a couple.
 
Before the pandemic, you would see people frequent 2 spots in my area where they were looking for rides. I think they were try to get cross country or something like that. Usually the person had a backpack, sometimes a dog, and a beat up cardboard sign with a note that they were looking for a ride. They would wait in the same spot for hours.

Have not seen one of them in a long time. They were mostly college age people in dressed in a ragged Bohemian style.
 
Had a bad experience with a hitchhiker in New York about 30 years ago.

Picked up a young Native American fellow on the side of the interstate who seemed rather distraught. He got in, and I asked where he was going, and he said "I DON'T CARE! JUST GET ME THE F*** OUTTA NEW YORK!" I found that rather odd, but since I was heading across the border into Pennsylvania did not feel that was an unreasonable request.

He proceeded to get rather agitated, then began rummaging in his backpack, grabbed something, and tried yanking it out but it got stuck. It looked like a hammer of some sort. He yanked on it futilely, but it was stuck good. I do believe he intended to pummel me upon the head with that hammer before absconding with my vehicle.

So I chuckled a bit. "Ballpein hammer is a good weapon... all my friends like those... I got one right here in my armrest." He turned to look, and I had it in my hand, just playfully waving it back and forth a little. It was like he deflated... all the energy just drained outta him. I put it back in the armrest.

"So, why you need to get outta New York?"

He told me he had spent 10 years in prison and was just released on parole, which he intended to violate.

I glared at him. "YER NOT A CHOMO, ARE YOU???" His eyes got wide and he assured me no, he only murdered someone. I asked him about that, and he claimed it was some guy who had been stalking his girlfriend and showed up one night to do her harm, and I considered that and thought that seemed reasonable enough. He was very polite for the rest of the ride, even was calling me "sir," and an hour later when we got to Scranton and I dropped him off, I tried to give him $20 which he refused and thanked me profusely.

Anyhow, that was the third bad experience I had with a hitchhiker in New York, so I decided to stop picking up hitchhikers after that. I mean, if I see a gal alone on the side of the road I'd probably stop if she doesn't look like a gangbanger or a tweaker, because nowadays the gals shoot you too, you can't trust no-one out there, it's spooky.
 
I don’t mind picking them up depending on location and if they look like trouble or not. I picked up this gal back in January in the middle of the night, middle of nowhere. Probably 15 degrees that night. I pulled the rig over and asked if she was okay and wanted a ride to town or somewhere. She climbed in the Peterbilt and I cranked the heat up to thaw her out. She didn’t have a phone or any money at all. Turned out she was 17 and ran away from where she was living and headed to her grandparents place. So I got her within about 20 miles of their place at a restaurant that was just opening up for the day. Had her order herself a big breakfast and had her call her people from my phone and told them to come get her and she’d be here waiting on them. I left her a couple $20’s to pay for her meal and she started crying telling me she was afraid I was a serial killer when she got in the truck with me cause she’d heard that some truckers are killers and stuff but was so relieved that I wasnt and she was thankful for the help. I said then why the hell did you go with me?! She said well it was real cold and you seemed friendly enough. Boy that was a head scratcher. I asked the waitress to please kinda watch over her till her grandparents got there and give her a nice tip for it.

I picked up some drunk dude carrying a 12 pack at the edge of a town once and he rode with me to the other end of town. Just needed a ride home from the bar he said. He was nice enough to leave me a beer for my troubles. Can’t have alcohol in the truck so I left the beer on the diesel pump when I filled up in the next town. Wasn’t a kind I much like anyway.

I don’t run interstates much anymore but two lane highways most often. Once in the mountains where there’s no phone signal for about 20 miles, I seen a jeep broke down in my favorite pull over spot for bathroom breaks. So I pull in and set the brakes and walk over to the jeep and when I was about 50 foot away this lady hollers “I I I I have a gun and I’ll use it!!” I looked at her annoyed and says “Good. Hope the Indians don’t attack while I’m trying to help you get this POS going again”. And then “now, you gonna tell me what this thing is doing or what, there Annie Oakley?” I filled the radiator up with spare antifreeze from my truck and followed her to the next town. She made it there, Sitting Bull didn’t scalp us, and all was good.
 
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