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I've never hitched to my memory... maybe some dinky shit on one of those islands in the harbor of Portland, Me.

But I have picked up hitchers a number of times.  Usually it is just a sad sack caught in a rainstorm who I can expedite a mile and a half to the shopping center or town.  Oh, I also did a little free-for-all cabbying during the Phila. transit strike when I had a car but no job, just cruised the main El and bus routes at peak hours for a few bucks each; very safe and sedate working people.

One in Vermont was real drunk, fresh out of the joint, and on his way to present an ultimatum to his ex-girlfriend ('leave with me for Georgia or I will kill myself') at the sleazy motel where she was lodging. :hmm:  We had a nice 45-minute talk therapy session (C. Mihali, J.D., M.S.W. :swiss:) about not getting fixated on the idealized past and not using her as a crutch to avoid self-actualization, before I left him in the Michael's parking lot with a Diet Dr. Pepper, my best regards, and a $175 bill for my psychoanalytic services.  Didn't read about any murder or suicide the next day, so all's well that ends well.

Hitchiking doesn't exist in Hong Kong. 

Elsewhere, my policy is never.  I never pick up those people.  I was also offered a ride by complete strangers on occasions (like when I failed to catch a departing bus in Vancouver).  I always refuse. 

Quote from: Capetan Mihali on December 08, 2014, 07:47:04 PM
I've never hitched to my memory... maybe some dinky shit on one of those islands in the harbor of Portland, Me.

But I have picked up hitchers a number of times.  Usually it is just a sad sack caught in a rainstorm who I can expedite a mile and a half to the shopping center or town.  Oh, I also did a little free-for-all cabbying during the Phila. transit strike when I had a car but no job, just cruised the main El and bus routes at peak hours for a few bucks each; very safe and sedate working people.

One in Vermont was real drunk, fresh out of the joint, and on his way to present an ultimatum to his ex-girlfriend ('leave with me for Georgia or I will kill myself') at the sleazy motel where she was lodging. :hmm:  We had a nice 45-minute talk therapy session (C. Mihali, J.D., M.S.W. :swiss:) about not getting fixated on the idealized past and not using her as a crutch to avoid self-actualization, before I left him in the Michael's parking lot with a Diet Dr. Pepper, my best regards, and a $175 bill for my psychoanalytic services.  Didn't read about any murder or suicide the next day, so all's well that ends well.

So what do you think are the pros and cons of hitch-hiking?

No. There was a hot guy that I almost picked up once. I say almost because I couldn't figure out what he was doing until I was already many yards further down the road. -_-

I used to give hottie defendants rides home from detention centers out in the sticks if they agreed to...stuff.  But hitchiking?  Too many sex weirdos out there, man.

Quote from: CountDeMoney on December 08, 2014, 07:55:22 PM
I used to give hottie defendants rides home from detention centers out in the sticks if they agreed to...stuff.  But hitchiking?  Too many sex weirdos out there, man.

It's like a scene out of Bad Lieutenant.

Quote from: CountDeMoney on December 08, 2014, 07:55:22 PM
But hitchiking?  Too many sex weirdos out there, man.

Pot, kettle?

Quote from: garbon on December 08, 2014, 07:58:13 PM

Quote from: CountDeMoney on December 08, 2014, 07:55:22 PM
But hitchiking?  Too many sex weirdos out there, man.

Pot, kettle?

Hey, those breasts weren't going to get home by themselves, you know.

Used to hitchhike all the time on Vancouver Island.  Up and down the island as a highschooler and adult.  Have hitched in various places across Canada over the years as well.  Don't really do it anymore but it was a good way to get around back in the day.

Quote from: CountDeMoney on December 08, 2014, 07:59:49 PM

Quote from: garbon on December 08, 2014, 07:58:13 PM

Quote from: CountDeMoney on December 08, 2014, 07:55:22 PM
But hitchiking?  Too many sex weirdos out there, man.

Pot, kettle?

Hey, those breasts weren't going to get home by themselves, you know.

I have no idea what breasts will do or not do. -_-

Quote from: garbon on December 08, 2014, 07:51:48 PM
I say almost because I couldn't figure out what he was doing until I was already many yards further down the road. -_-

A lot easier(mentally) to stop for someone ahead of you than to stop and turn around or back up. :yes: The one time I picked up a hitcher it was on the on-ramp.

Quote from: mongers on December 08, 2014, 07:50:56 PM
So what do you think are the pros and cons of hitch-hiking?

If we (in the US) lived in a society that 1) wasn't prone to a relatively high amount random violence, and more importantly 2) wasn't prone to hysterical overreaction to perceived threats, I think the pros of hitchiking would be too numerous to be worth counting.

As is, the pros are mainly helping somebody out of a pretty serious jam when there's no public transportation available, and meeting some interesting characters.  The cons of course are the specter of danger (even if it isn't backed out) or getting the hard-sell to take someone somewhere out of the way and parting on bad terms, or like my drunk guy, getting peripherally involved in a sad, unpleasant, and possibly violent situation.

The pros and cons of actually hitchiking, I don't know.  Free or very cheap.  Gets you the 1.5 miles to the supermarket in a dry 7 minutes rather than a wet 20.  Meet somewhat less interesting people than the other way around.  Hard to get a ride if you're a male-female couple

Quote from: Capetan Mihali on December 08, 2014, 08:11:38 PM
Hard to get a ride if you're a male-female couple

lol, depends on which side of the equation you're on.

Quote from: Capetan Mihali on December 08, 2014, 07:47:04 PM
I've never hitched to my memory... maybe some dinky shit on one of those islands in the harbor of Portland, Me.

But I have picked up hitchers a number of times.  Usually it is just a sad sack caught in a rainstorm who I can expedite a mile and a half to the shopping center or town.  Oh, I also did a little free-for-all cabbying during the Phila. transit strike when I had a car but no job, just cruised the main El and bus routes at peak hours for a few bucks each; very safe and sedate working people.

So you scabbed and violated the law? :hmm:

QuoteOne in Vermont was real drunk, fresh out of the joint, and on his way to present an ultimatum to his ex-girlfriend ('leave with me for Georgia or I will kill myself') at the sleazy motel where she was lodging. :hmm:  We had a nice 45-minute talk therapy session (C. Mihali, J.D., M.S.W. :swiss:) about not getting fixated on the idealized past and not using her as a crutch to avoid self-actualization, before I left him in the Michael's parking lot with a Diet Dr. Pepper, my best regards, and a $175 bill for my psychoanalytic services.  Didn't read about any murder or suicide the next day, so all's well that ends well.

But hanks for the soda, man. :hug:

Anyway, I pick up folks from time to time.  I took a homeless guy a couple miles to the bus station a year or so ago.  I frisked him first.

I've never taken anybody particularly far.  I think the most was 20 miles down highway 25.  He didn't look like Rutger Hauer.

Weirdo

I gave a middle aged lady "who had run out of gas and needed to meet up with her friends downtown who could help her" a ride a couple weeks back.  Other than that, neither given nor taken.

I've heard horror stories that in some places it is illegal not to give hitchikers a ride.  I think they are some places in Europe and Western Australia. 

Quote from: Capetan Mihali on December 08, 2014, 08:11:38 PM

Quote from: mongers on December 08, 2014, 07:50:56 PM
So what do you think are the pros and cons of hitch-hiking?

If we (in the US) lived in a society that 1) wasn't prone to a relatively high amount random violence, and more importantly 2) wasn't prone to hysterical overreaction to perceived threats, I think the pros of hitchiking would be too numerous to be worth counting.

As is, the pros are mainly helping somebody out of a pretty serious jam when there's no public transportation available, and meeting some interesting characters.  The cons of course are the specter of danger (even if it isn't backed out) or getting the hard-sell to take someone somewhere out of the way and parting on bad terms, or like my drunk guy, getting peripherally involved in a sad, unpleasant, and possibly violent situation.

The pros and cons of actually hitchiking, I don't know.  Free or very cheap.  Gets you the 1.5 miles to the supermarket in a dry 7 minutes rather than a wet 20.  Meet somewhat less interesting people than the other way around.  Hard to get a ride if you're a male-female couple

Thanks for the Capt. though in part I was 'channeling' a Roger Walter's album called 'The Pros and Cons of Hitch-hiking'.  :blush:

Had some memorable times hitching in England/Scotland and out of West Berlin back in the day.

Good times. :)

Quote from: mongers on December 08, 2014, 09:32:22 PM

Thanks for the Capt. though in part I was 'channeling' a Roger Walter's album called 'The Pros and Cons of Hitch-hiking'.  :blush:

Sadly, I don't have a clue about your and Josephus' prog-rock in-jokes.  Can't stand Floyd, if the cruel truth must be told. :Embarrass: Or Rush.  I do like Richard and Linda Thompson quite a lot, though.  Not that those 3 groups have hardly anything in common except 'virtuoso' guitar work.  I really can't stand Led Zeppelin, though, not even for 20 seconds on the radio; not sure why, since it's not bad hard rock objectively.

Quote from: Capetan Mihali on December 08, 2014, 09:46:38 PM
Sadly, I don't have a clue about your and Josephus' prog-rock in-jokes.  Can't stand Floyd, if the cruel truth must be told. :Embarrass: Or Rush.  I do like Richard and Linda Thompson quite a lot, though.  Not that those 3 groups have hardly anything in common except 'virtuoso' guitar work.  I really can't stand Led Zeppelin, though, not even for 20 seconds on the radio; not sure why, since it's not bad hard rock objectively.

Good man.  For somebody that knows their pharmacology, at least you never bought into bullshit beer and stoner rock.  Rush.  Rush to puke, maybe.  And Led Zeppelin sucks redneck ass.

Quote from: CountDeMoney on December 08, 2014, 09:49:08 PM
Good man.  For somebody that knows their pharmacology, at least you never bought into bullshit beer and stoner rock.  Rush.  Rush to puke, maybe.  And Led Zeppelin sucks redneck ass.

:hug:  Once you're a practicing PharmD, you've got to find the right music for the right the cocktail.  Miles Davis almost always works; Kind of Blue for your tranquility, Bitches Brew for your other planet, On The Corner for your grinding stimulation.  :smoke:

I like Tom Sawyer and Subdivisions. Because they played them in the arcades.

Eat me.

Quote from: Ed Anger on December 08, 2014, 10:08:10 PM
I like Tom Sawyer and Subdivisions. Because they played them in the arcades.

Eat me.

Don't forget to bring that extra butane for that 18 minute version of "Freebird." 

Quote from: Ideologue on December 08, 2014, 08:28:45 PM
So you scabbed and violated the law? :hmm:

I didn't cross no picket line. :mad:  The transit strike was so fucked from the outset -- they gave up their biggest bargaining chip by agreeing not to start the strike until all the playoffs/World Series fans down at the stadium were returned to the central commuter rail stations, rather than engaging brinksmanship over the possibility of stranding thousands of drunk suburban Phillies fans in a packed station near nothing at the edge of town. 

And then the commuter rail union didn't join the strike, and you can hit a bunch of the city that way, so everyone crammed on that.  The strike was not very popular, even by transit strike standards; one of the demands was for bus drivers to be allowed to talk on their cell phones while driving. :mellow:

So I was just softening the pain of my fellow workers while this doomed adventure played out over 9 days.

Quote from: CountDeMoney on December 08, 2014, 10:09:58 PM

Quote from: Ed Anger on December 08, 2014, 10:08:10 PM
I like Tom Sawyer and Subdivisions. Because they played them in the arcades.

Eat me.

Don't forget to bring that extra butane for that 18 minute version of "Freebird."

I only play Skynard to annoy Liberuls.

Quote from: Capetan Mihali on December 08, 2014, 10:16:18 PM
And then the commuter rail union didn't join the strike, and you can hit a bunch of the city that way, so everyone crammed on that.  The strike was not very popular, even by transit strike standards; one of the demands was for bus drivers to be allowed to talk on their cell phones while driving. :mellow:

Goofing off on the phone is the cardinal right of the worker, man.

Quote from: Ed Anger on December 08, 2014, 10:17:17 PM

Quote from: CountDeMoney on December 08, 2014, 10:09:58 PM

Quote from: Ed Anger on December 08, 2014, 10:08:10 PM
I like Tom Sawyer and Subdivisions. Because they played them in the arcades.

Eat me.

Don't forget to bring that extra butane for that 18 minute version of "Freebird."

I only play Skynard to annoy Liberuls.

I like Skynyrd.

I've hitchhiked a bit in the US, Canada, Germany, and Ireland in my younger years.

I bet after riding for ten minutes you were freaked out you hadn't seen either the shore or a German.

Quote from: Jacob on December 08, 2014, 10:58:26 PM
I've hitchhiked a bit in the US, Canada, Germany, and Ireland in my younger years.

How was it?  Do you ever pick up hitchers these days?

I'm surprised there isn't bits of Jacob scattered around North America.

Not sure if it is considered hitchhiking, but there are websites in Germany where you can offer to take people with you if you drive somewhere and they pay you a bit for that. It may not be commercial in that you may only cover your own costs. I both offered and joined others with that system. Often had interesting conversations.

Quote from: Zanza on December 09, 2014, 01:33:09 AM
Not sure if it is considered hitchhiking,

It's not.

Quotebut there are websites in Germany where you can offer to take people with you if you drive somewhere and they pay you a bit for that. It may not be commercial in that you may only cover your own costs. I both offered and joined others with that system. Often had interesting conversations.

But these rideshare things do sound pretty cool.

No. Have money. Do not have death wish.

I've seen movies about hitchhiking, it seemed nice.

Quote from: The Brain on December 09, 2014, 03:00:32 AM
I've seen movies about hitchhiking, it seemed nice.

Yeah but you are probably looking at it from the perspective of the serial killer/rapist kidnapper.

Never hitchhiked myself.

Only ever picked up two hitchhikers, both the last time in Alaska.

#1: Within the first few months I was here.  Was a fellow carrying a big box not far from Costco.  He was a German tourist looking for a ride back to his hotel after buying a brand new PS3 (apparently it was a big deal, because at the time, while it was $500 here, it was 500 euro back there  :P).  He talked about how he just got back from climbing Denali the day before.

#2: Driving up to Denali, picked up a hippie-ish seasonal worker headed to the National Park.  It made for conversation and a less boring drive, anyway.

Wonder if he was a "trimmigrant."

Heard a story on NPR about people who follow the ganja harvest around to trim the buds.  14 hour days during harvest season, $300-$500 a day.

I picked up a guy once, but he was 50 kilometers from the nearest human being outside in the australian summer with his car lying totaled by the side of the road. I offered to drive him to the hospital, but he just wanted to go to the nearest gas station so he could call the RACA (Royal Automobile Club Australia). I agreed once I'd checked to see if he was concussed. 

I only hitchhiked once in my life, when I was 17 or so and with a couple other friends, and it was inside my hometown, from the beach to the city center, as the buses were absolutely packed and it'd take us hours to wait for one to take us back home. A guy who was going back into the city alone took the 3 of us.

Not exactly hitchhiking, but I've taken with me unkown people in carpooling efforts for a volunteer beach cleaning campaign and in ride share trips like the ones Zanza mentioned.

I may have picked up a hitch hiker when I was young and with a friend or two, but I've mainly been of the view of not picking anyone up. Never know who it is and what they're up to. I was thinking a while ago though that I can't remember the last time I saw a hitch hiker on the road. It seems like it never happens anymore.

My uncle gave two guys a ride, in Massachusetts. They were at a gas station or store and needed a ride. Turned out that both were escaped cons and they beat up my uncle and left him for dead, took his car. Later on a motorist driving by saw my uncle lying by the road and helped him, called police and such. My uncle at the time was in his 60s or older; was lucky to have survived. The two cons were captured somewhere in a southern state not too long after that.

Quote from: Capetan Mihali on December 08, 2014, 11:12:36 PM

Quote from: Jacob on December 08, 2014, 10:58:26 PM
I've hitchhiked a bit in the US, Canada, Germany, and Ireland in my younger years.

How was it?  Do you ever pick up hitchers these days?

I wasn't a very successful hitchhiker, to be honest.

In Ireland it was mainly short distance trips between rural towns and villages. Mostly it was other tourists doing the picking up; it was very nice chatting with them.

Earlier I'd tried to hitchhike from Denmark - from Ærø - to Ireland. I got as far as the German border and then my luck failed. None of the - not very frequent - Audis or Mercedes even slowed down, fewer yet after it started to get dark. Ooops. I walked for a while until I got to a town, looking for an inn in best adventurer style, but the only place I found was all full of crystal glasses and other fancy tableware... and they had no rooms to let. So I kept walking and eventually just went to sleep under a bush in a slightly damp field (didn't have any gear with me for that either). I woke up to a light drizzle and the sound of (very) nearby cows. It's damn cold at night in Slesvig in September if you're just wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie. Luckily the next morning... maybe 6 or 630... some lady in a very beat up rust bucket picked me up. She was nice, but she didn't speak English and I didn't speak German. She dropped me off in Flensborg and I said fuck it, and took the train to London and from there Dublin.

I had another similar wash trying to get back to Vancouver from California. We'd gone down to an "Anarchist gathering", a bunch of Anarchists, punks, and assorted riff-raff and then the $300 K-Car broke, so we decided to hitch back. We split up at a truck stop near the I-something-or-other. The two skinny lesbian girls found a trucker to take them on fairly quickly, but for some reason me, the fat girl, and her dog had a much harder time of it. After a day or so of sitting at a truck stop, once again I said fuck it and decided to blow my rent money on a plane ticket back (since I was already missing a day or two of classes, and this would likely kill the whole week).

That led to another encounter actually... I made it to LAX, bought a stand by ticket, but the last three flights were all full and then the airport was done for the night. I figured I could've stayed at the airport, but no, it was shutting down and I had to go. I wasn't looking forward to that at all, but as I was walking out one of the air hostess check in crew offered to take me back to her place. I had all kinds of crazy notions about what might happen (partially informed by 90s gang banger movies being my only exposure to any kind of black life in California), but in the end she put me up in her main bedroom at her condo while she slept in the guest room until her husband came back from work (never met him, but apparently he was Norwegian and that was part of why she took pity on me). She even bought my shaving supplies, and she got up at 5:30 in the morning to drive me to the airport. A very nice lady, though unaccountably afraid of cougars coming out of the mountains to kill people and little dogs. BTW, the girl I was with did much better with the hitchhiking once we'd split up, and made it back to Vancouver in a few days.

The Canadian bit was mostly a trip from Ottawa to New York for the 25th Anniversary of Stonewall with a buddy. We did alright, but the US border guys wouldn't let us cross so we hitched back to Ottawa and that was that.

The hitch hiking itself was pretty uneventful. Mostly just small talk, or failing to make small talk due to language differences. It's mostly been the failures in hitchhiking that lead to adventures.

I haven't picked up any hitchers myself, having only driven for about a year now, and primarily in the city. I'm not opposed to it, but it kind of depends on the situation and who's in the car with me at the time etc.

Jacob, you had some pretty cool adventures there!

Back when I was in my early 20s we spent a lot of time at the bars.  I got into a phase where I would be pretty drunk and just decide I had to go home RIGHT NOW, so I would just take off leaving everyone I was with and walk home.  Occasionally I would stick my thumb out just for shits and giggles, but did end up getting a ride a few times.  Never died though.

I don't pick up hitchhikers but I do occasionally stop if someone is broken down on the side of the road and have given a couple of them a ride to a gas station and back or something.

Quote from: sbr on December 09, 2014, 03:21:03 PM
Never died though.

I think you did. :o

cause of death:

(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcore0.staticworld.net%2Fimages%2Farticle%2F2014%2F10%2Fmessages-image271433116-100527871-medium.idge.png&hash=eea6eb807169df7af2658738828361e2da571344)

Can't recall much about hitch-hiking in my youth, most pretty uneventful, I do recall hitch-hiking with someone during a snow flurry in early May, one of us was wearing a gorilla costume, but for the life of me I can't recall whom.

I think the last time I hitched anywhere or tried was on my way up to London to see a girl. Using works vehicles at the time, so some weekends didn't have one, so managed 40-50 miles up the road before striking out on a roundabout above the M3, probably waited an hour, before giving up and walking down into Winchester and getting the train to S'th London. 

Can't think of any since then, so that was a long time ago.  :)

Never tried it. Goes against my personality. And I'm not a hot young girl so probably wouldn't have much luck.
The closest I've come is running into random people in towns and it turning out they're driving to the next place I plan to go so I go with them.

Quote from: KRonn on December 09, 2014, 03:06:44 PM
Jacob, you had some pretty cool adventures there!

They're probably cooler as stories than they were in actual life :)

Quote from: Jacob on December 09, 2014, 04:38:59 PM

Quote from: KRonn on December 09, 2014, 03:06:44 PM
Jacob, you had some pretty cool adventures there!

They're probably cooler as stories than they were in actual life :)

Such is the way with much of life.  :)

Quote from: Ed Anger on December 08, 2014, 10:17:17 PM

Quote from: CountDeMoney on December 08, 2014, 10:09:58 PM

Quote from: Ed Anger on December 08, 2014, 10:08:10 PMI like Tom Sawyer and Subdivisions. Because they played them in the arcades.

Eat me.

Don't forget to bring that extra butane for that 18 minute version of "Freebird."

I only play Skynard to annoy Liberuls.

Searching for 'freebird' on the forum, I came across this post conversation, thought I'd quote it as it's nice classic exchange between two sadly missed posters and another. :P