No, I never hitchhiked. My cousin did at 18 and it was her last trip...never made it to her destination.

No, I never did either. McPeg, that is so sad.
Leslie

Yes it is sad - it was a serial killer. I have told this story before here but it's worth repeating to remind everyone it's not safe. Tell your children - if you need me to tell them the full story look up: Clifford Olsen and my cousin's name was Louise Chartrand. She was raped and stabbed to death.

No, I've never hitchhiked. But, my car actually started to smoke and the engine died in the middle of a busy freeway. (It was an old diesel). I was to scared to sit in the car, because I thought it might burst into flames. I started walking to the gas station I could see 1 mile down the road. I had high heels on, which is very hard to balance on the slanted rocky shoulder. I was loaded down with a brief case and everything I could salvage from my flaming car. (This is before cell phones).

A pick-up truck pulled off to the side of the road. The man rolled down the passenger window. He was about 60'ish. He said "Now Mame, I don't want to scare you, but if you want a ride, I'll take you to the gas station. It's up to you." I was scared to death, but my feet were killing me. With tears in my eyes I got in the truck. I trusted him, more than I trusted not being picked up against my will.

He drove me to the gas station where I called my Husband. I don't go anywhere without my cell phone now days. You never know.

Gayle

Yes I did. We used to do the same when guys were with us. The girls would get the ride.

I did have quite a few odd experiences but nothing absolutely horrible except when I had to fight my way out of a car that happened to have other girls in it. So much for safety by gender. We used to like to catch rides with people who had dogs with them. They were the friendliest.

Now my friend had a hair-raising experience she told me about years later. At the time she didn't know what a really close call she had.

She was hitchhiking from the Monterey Pop Festival back up to the Bay Area. She and another girl caught a ride in a van full of guys and gals. Everybody was high (including her) at the time and she suddenly got very anxious about being in the van.She said one guy kept looking at her in the weirdest way. She asked to be let out and they all tried to convince her to stay. Finally they stopped for a break and she got off.The other girl stayed on the bus.

Two years later she saw the man who freaked her out so much again. On the front page and on the news. His name was Charles Manson.

I'm sorry about your cousin McPeg. I encouraged my own kids to drive early so they wouldn't hitch or depend on other teens to drive them.

No.

Lori

That's terrible McPeg.

I never hitchhiked, but got into cars with people I didn't know a lot of times after I'd had a car break down (no cell phones back then).

No. I can remember those movies-of-the-week that warned against the dangers of hitchhiking.

My co-worker's grandfather picked up a hitchhiker and the hitchhiker stabbed him to death.

I still see guys hitching in our small town every now and then. In fact, I see the same guy in the same exact spot all of the time (at the edge of town). It's a small town so I figure they're waiting for someone they know to happen by.

I was a teen in the very late 50's and early 60's...

It was NOT safe then or anytime.

I think it is extremely foolish to do so.

Those of you that did were lucky nothing happened to you.

patti

No need to slap my wrist, Patti. I agree with youmy friends and I lucked out.

No, I never did. My friend who did hitchhike was murdered. She was 13 at the time.

In the 70's, when I was living in a college dorm, my roommate and I walked to Walmart, about 5 miles,it was a Thursday night. We did our shopping, stopped for an ice cream sundae, and started walking back to our dorm. We were tired, it was getting late, when a car with a young male driver drove by and offered us a lift. We got in and started making small talk. We asked where he had been going "Uh, nowhere, I was just driving along with nothing to do." That scared us. He took us back to our dorm, we were so happy to get there safe. I don't know about my roomie, but I NEVER hitchhiked again after that!

yes, I did. Probably was carried hundreds of miles.
I was young and dumb, and had no other transport.
My folks knew that was my way of getting around. Looking back that really bothers me.
The worst case scenerio was a gentleman who had too much to drink and was driving poorly.
I was lucky. Nobody ever bothered me.
It was during the Ted Bundy days, and I was in the Pacific NW. Really scary looking back.

Trin

Whatever makes you think I was slapping your wrist?

Most of the replies here are not supporting hitchhiking.

Why single out mine as a wrist slapper....

I gave my opinion just as the others did.

I hitchhiked all over the country in the mid-70's. I mean, all over, from the east coast to the west coast and all points in between. I only had a few close calls. I was very fortunate. Met some true angels. Bikers and truck drivers were the best. They networked to get me rides further to my destination and "checked out" my next ride before I got in the car with them. I had to jump out of a moving car in the backwoods of Kentucky cos the guy turned all creepy on me. He was a preacher!
A police officer in Pennsylvania pulled over and asked where I was going. I lied and told him some story about I was supposed to be taking a bus to my dad's for visitation but I had spent my bus money. He gave me the three dollars his wife gave him for lunch every day and talked someone at the bus station into putting me onto a bus to wherever I was headed that time.
I was young. And a runaway. I had a couple from Canada traveling the US in their motorhome offer to take me home and put me back in school.
So many people offered me food and shelter.
I got picked up in Reno one time. It took them a while to get through a few fake ID's to figure out who I was and track my wayward mother down. She told them I'd been on my own so long, there was no sense trying to ship me back to her now. They put me on a bus to Boise (the officers all pitched in money for the bus ticket), I had an aunt there, and told me not to come back to Nevada until I was 21. LOL
Yep, indeed, there are still angels walking among us.
And I surely realize now how fortunate I was.
And probably the reason I still bring home every stray I run across. Two and four legged!

I guess you could say I interpreted the following

I was a teen in the very late 50's and early 60's...

It was NOT safe then or anytime.

I think it is extremely foolish to do so.

to mean that I was suggesting hitchhiking was a safe practice back then. If I was wrong in that interpretation, I apologize.

Sure, we were foolish. And that was only one of many foolish things we did. Fortunately, they make good stories today.

For those who are wondering, by the way, Rockaway Beach is in New York City.

Susan

Susan,

We are all lucky to be alive with some of the "stupid" things we did in our younger day.

That is why I worried so about my own kids when they were teenagers. I remember the stupid stuff I did.

Gayle

I have never hitchhiked but when I was in my 20s, one Sunday morning in San Francisco I was on my way to work and just missed my connecting bus. A man pulled over and asked me if I wanted a ride since I missed my bus. He had a Bible lying on the front seat next to him so I figured he was on his way to church. I rode with him.
Also, when I was in my 20s and had a car, I was driving home for Christmas and a roommate needed a ride. Since I dropped her off, it meant driving across a lonely stretch of desert and I was afraid my car might break down. I saw two soldiers from Fort Ord hitchhiking (this was in the mid 60s) so I gave them a ride. They were very nice but later I thought of how dangerous that was. Just because they were soldiers didn't mean anything.

Bummed a ride with an acquaintence - yes; hitchhiked - NEVER! Get in a car with a stranger - NEVER! My Mama didn't raise no fool, and I'm still alive to prove it!

No, I was always cautious.

So sorry Mcpeg & Paula-

Yes, I did one time in the 50's when I was in 8th grade! The man who picked my GF & I up told my parents!!! Boy, I was grounded forever! I know, how DUMB could I be?

Donna (^_^)

I didn't have a car 'til I was 21, so I hitchhiked a whole lot. My girlfriend and I would hitch to the beach.
Lived to tell the tale too.

Angelaid that was some adventure. You are right. Bikers and truckers were the best. The worst were the "suits". When a guy started to talk about how he had a daughter your age that could very well be the hint that it was time to make a break if you didn't want to be groped. LOL

Cops were different back in the sixties when I did most of my hitching also. They would often me up and give me a ride to where I was going. A pair of them in the front and me in the back. Can even you imagine that happening today? I even asked a couple of times to be dropped off a block away so my friends wouldn't see "the fuzz" giving me a lift. ;-)

Not exactly...didn't stick my thumb out, but I did accept three rides when I ran out of gas at various times. One time was with a guy driving a propane delivery truck, one time on the back of a motorcycle and one time a state representative picked me up. Yes. Very stupid. They were all very nice...no funny business.

Oh...just remembered another one. Going to Louisiana, the water pump went out on my car and a nice Cajun man gave me a ride into town.

All of these incidents happened over 30 years ago.

I have, many times.

A couple of years ago I hitch-hiked to a village about 25 miles or so away, and it took about 3 hours, if I remember well.

I was to pick up son's recently purchased van in a field near the edge of the village and (unlicensed) have it towed home. Son, no driver's licence, couldn't have driven my vehicle home.

I goofed.

Didn't start watching for the location in time (began a couple of hundred feet beyond the right place) ... so walked about three miles out of town, becoming more surprised that the van hadn't appeared. Including stopping to talk to a Mennonite man selling veggies and eggs.

Retraced my steps ... to find the van ... a couple of hundred feet closer to town than I'd started looking.

Did

I

feel

*stupid*!!

(In addition to being tired, as I'd had to do quite a bit of walking in and near a city along the route).

Got the van towed home without further incident. The tow-truck driver used to work for the guy who owned the garbage dump near here - said that the base of the place had been well sealed, so wouldn't leak.

About three weeks ago I wanted to go to a church near the edge of the city, near where I was minister over 35 years ago, that I attend, on Easter, so left home about 7, for early service at 8. A young (40s) aboriginal guy (there's a settlement nearby) picked me up, as he was bound for the city for a 17 km. run ... said he's lost some weight, feels great, and it's better than sitting drinking with friends and relatives. His route was near the church and he was about to return home about when I would be, so dropped me at the church. I'd brought a couple of 4-litre (just over gal.) jugs for water, to see how I'd like hauling my water. So he picked me up after the second (regular) service (and we'd had pot-luck breakfast in between - I'd taken some goodies). I think that was the morning that I learned that one of the choir members is a driving instructor ... and he gave me a couple of lessons, since.

The man, who works at what used to be GM Diesel (where they built locomotives) and now is General Dynamics (they also build those Light Armoured Vehicles that the armies use), said that he often goes for a run on Sunday morning, and that if I were on the road about 7:15, he'd gladly give me a ride ... early service isn't till 9.

On the following Sunday, my landlord rode with me to church, and his son followed to drive him home, so that I could have a session with the driving instructor after church. The aboriginal guy was going to Hamilton that week, to participate in their marathon.

Last Thursday morning, going sort of stir-crazy, I guess, though the landlord or his workers come almost every day, I decided to attend what used to be the Senior Men's Coffee Hour, then they changed the name to the "ROMEO"s ("Retired Old Men Eating Out"), which I said should be "ROMDO" (Retired Old Men Drinking Out" - it's coffee, isn't it?).

As that church, prior to joining with most of the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists in Canada, back in 1925 (four years before my birth) to form The United Church of Canada ... was Methodist ... that suggestion of the drinking out went over like lead bricks!

I took a couple of jugs with me for water and drove a mile or so up to park in a relative's yard, as a substantial road comes out near there and hitching would be much easier there.

As I walked, I saw a lot of aluminum cans along the ditch (grass not growing yet) and I went up a day or so later, picking up about 95 pop cans (about 2 cents each at scrap dealers, some distance away) and about 65 beer cans and bottles and a couple of liquor bottles (they're 10 cents at the beer store to recycle) in about a mile.

Several cars and vans and some garbage trucks (I have a garbage dump a couple of miles away, remember?) passed, and I don't thumb trucks, then a young aboriginal lady with a babe doing a bit of fussing in the car seat in the back, picked me up and dropped me in the village, a couple of hundred feet from the church.

Filled my jugs after the meeting, after we'd washed the cups, then left them stashed near the church while I visited the library (first time in a few weeks) and walked to the far end of the village for 4 litrres of milk (and 1 litre cream) as I was almost out (the major reason for the trip).

Picking up the water at the main corner, I walked out past the west end of the village, carrying my 8 litres of water (just over 2 gal.) and 5 litres of dairy ... and a man soon picked me up.

He was very nice - drove me about 5 miles along his route, then about 4 more off-track to my relative's where my car was.

The week before, another man had done the same, driving me home.

For which I was thankful.

But - I haven't yet had the experience of walking some distance with the jugs of water and bag of milk, perhaps having to get two or three rides before I got home.

When it comes to hitch-hiking ... it sure helps if the weather's reasonably warm ... and dry.

So ... I guess that, even though I now have my licence reinstated (and don't require a licensed driver to ride beside me) ...

... I'll have to hitch-hike some more, in order to find out just how difficult that hauling water (plus groceries) may be, if/when I give up my licence (or have it given up for me by the authorities).

I've often picked up hitch-hikers, also ... and have never had any trouble to speak of, so far.

Some years ago, when I was minister 55 miles north of London, I think, one late November night when it was raining and cold there was a guy on the north edge of London hitch-hiking. I gave him a ride to a town about 20 miles north.

He wondered whether I'd mind if he smoked a joint ... and offered me some.

I wasn't interested, I said.

He offered some sexual services, as well ... same response.

A couple of weeks later, coming down through that village, I picked up a hitch-hiker ...

... same guy.

He apologized for the joint offer ... was it after he learned what I did?

Didn't mention the other offer, and when I referred to it, he didn't allow as how he remembered that part of it.

When it comes to hitch-hiking (don't tell anybody, now, promise?) ...

... I'm glad that I'm not female.

I hope that you're all enjoying this lovely spring week.

ole joyful

Wildchild - your Charles Manson story made me catch my breath!!! Holy smokes!!

No, never hitchhiked, never picked up one. I have and always will be a big ol' coward.

No I never did. I was one of those kids who always worried that someone would find out and I'd get in trouble. Maybe I spent too many years in Catholic school or it could be that my neighborhood was small and every one knew every body in town. If I did something wrong my folks would quickly hear about it.