Hitch Hiking? Is it common anymore?

[Jspafford]

Peoria is a rough looking place--though I've only seen it around the interstate exits.

Columbus, Ohio--you'll be killed by a car if you tried to stop for anyone. The traffic isn't excessive (I commuted for a year there) but the traffic patterns were designed by a blind penguin that tripped over an inkwell.

The worst is around St. Louis. There is normally a car on fire and three or four on blocks on the side of the interstate when I pass through there.

Ah yes, my favorite, and REAL close to my house... the I-70/I-71 Split.

Talk about an engineer on refer.

 

[milje]

I do help people that are broken down when it seems they are in actual distress and not meerly inconvienienced.

I don't normally stop to help people (I'll give you a jump in the parking lot, that's about as far as I go though), but last week I was coming home from work. Go to turn onto my road, and this older lady flags me down. She's kind of standing in front of me, so I can't just pass them up, so I stop, she says they're out of gas. She hands me a one gallon gas can and 5 bucks, I go to town and fill it.

Come back, and their car is gone. Never saw them when I was on my way back out to their car from the station, and there's only one road leading into town from where they were.

And that's the story about how I got my newest gas can for the lawn mower, complete with a gallon of gas

 

[c_note]

late one nite i was pumpin gas near a hotel and some black chick came running to me askin if i would jump her car. she said she just got off of her shift at the hotel and was just trying to get home( i was thinking in the back of my head that she was tryin to get me out of my truck and her home boys would jump me and take my truck). i did have cables and i told her i didnt have n e with me. i drove off and when i made it around the block i turned around and thought, "what the hell, i can scrap". so i pulled up and believe it or not. she did need a jump and she was so thankful. i felt bad for profiling her but i was just trying to stay safe.

the other nite i was driving and some 16/17 year old chick was trying to hitch hike next to a gas station. i didnt even bother. she was way too young to be caught in someones truck that late at nite. trouble waitin to happen. she looked like she ran away.

 

[Jspafford]

I don't normally stop to help people (I'll give you a jump in the parking lot, that's about as far as I go though), but last week I was coming home from work. Go to turn onto my road, and this older lady flags me down. She's kind of standing in front of me, so I can't just pass them up, so I stop, she says they're out of gas. She hands me a one gallon gas can and 5 bucks, I go to town and fill it.

Come back, and their car is gone. Never saw them when I was on my way back out to their car from the station, and there's only one road leading into town from where they were.

And that's the story about how I got my newest gas can for the lawn mower, complete with a gallon of gas

That's weird.... Do you think she normally carries a gas can in her car with her? How many old ladies think like that? I bet it was a scam and you lucked out.

 

[Redneckryder]

i pick people up. i have broken down and i know what its like to walk down a freeway cause nobody stops. if they want to rob me, i will give them the 3 bucks i usually got, and if they steal my truck, they will get scared and give it back. this retarded lady actually flipped me off for not picking her up---with my motorcycle--with my wife on the back---in front of the police station. no lie.

 

[MAKG]

I haven't seen a hitchhiker in the US in some time. I'll offer rides to people I know -- which happens more often than you might expect in a town of 3000 people (and 80,000,000 tourists).

I got sick of it REAL fast in college when the Grateful Dead came to town. But that was 1986.

Now, I saw a LOT of hitchhikers in New Zealand when I was there last fall, and they used to be common in Europe (though it's been a few years since I went there). But nothing compares to the "taxis" in Vietnam.

 

[Mark_88]

I used to HH when I didn't have a car...one town (Newmarket) I could not get a ride through no matter how pretty I looked (and I did look pretty back then) so I always walked from one end to the other before even trying to thumb a ride...

Nowadays if I see someone and I know I can give them a decent lift I pick them up...

When my Ranger was acting up I was a~phuckin~mazed by the number of people that stopped to help...and I was stopped in some pretty far out of the way places...never really needed help except for one time and I paid the guy to tow me that night...

So I try to give back when I can...

There is a saying...Don't forget to be kind to strangers...for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it...Hebrews 13:2

 

[baddis]

Fixed it for ya! Though it is no columbus, we have traditionally had the second highest murder rate in IL..........next to East St. Louis. You were spot on in your last statement. I've driven my fare share of the bad parts of Peoria and its not that bad. Just don't walk it at night, or if you do better put on some dark makeup. I can't wait to get out of this city.

don't forget serial killers of hookers also

 

[Southern3.0]

I was getting gas at the Hess station right around the corner from my house, there was a guy with his famly and there Nissan Van had a flat and the guy had no clue what to do. So I went home and got my good jack and 4 way and changed it for him.

Then a few months ago at the same gas station I was getting a soda at 2 in the morning on my way home, Some old hippie looking dude with a bad ass shark tooth necklace and a cool pony tail said he Just got outta Jail (The jail is about 2 miles up the road from my house) and was looking for a ride to Clearwater (45 mins away)


Of course I said No.


Then he asked if I had $3 so he could get a beer and offered me his sweet Necklace, again I said no. If he woulda offered his Pony tail he might have had a deal.

 

[koda6966]

That's weird.... Do you think she normally carries a gas can in her car with her? How many old ladies think like that? I bet it was a scam and you lucked out.

My aunt keeps a little one in the trunk of her car, same with my brother in his truck. My dad usually has 2 or three full size gas cans in his. Haha.

 

[Simple_serf]

Nope...

I Will NOT give anyone in my area a ride unless I know them. We had some incidents a couple of years ago. Add to that that I usually work nights.

I do laugh every time I am near the Warren State Hospital (Pshych ward) down in Warren PA...they have signs all over the road saying not to pick up hich hikers...

 

[rboyer]

Most of the hitchhikers in my area are dirtbags trying to hitch a ride to the other side of town and you see the same faces doing it all of the time. I've never picked one up before, but if one of them asked me I may let them sit in the bed of my truck. As for seeing someone stranded I normally keep a jump box and battery impact gun in whatever vehicle i'm driving and sometimes a can of gas, so if I see someone on the side of the road who is in need of help and looks harmless then I usually stop and give them a hand. I loan my tools to total strangers at the junkyard all of the time, but I do keep a close eye on them. It does work to your favor eventually. I have probably made about $100 so far just by stopping and helping change tires and that's only because the people made me take money.

 

[Hahnsb2]

I see a hitchhiker every once in a while, I'll never pick one up though. I have stopped and pulled a couple cars out of ditches but I don't typically stop and help people.

 

[mud_bogger]

I live near a junction of 2 hi-ways. One goes through town the other is a 70 mile stretch to the next town.

See alot of hitchhikers on that hiway.

I have only picked up a couple of hikers, an was nervouse the whole time. I dont do that anymore.

Now when Im up fartin around the woods an backroads its a lil different mentality for me. Found more than a few folks that were either stuck or broke down.

I have been picked up at the end of a long day of hunting an given a ride to my truck enough times that I try an return that favor. I picked up a bow hunter last year. Drove him all over the countryside tryin to find the group he was huntin with. He had slept on the way over an had never been in the area an had gotten lost when I picked him up lol hate it when that happens.

 

[koda6966]

Until they made the law that you cant have a passenger sit in the bed of your truck my dad used to just tell em to climb on back. Some would, if they needed a ride bad enough.