Have you picked up a hitchhiker?

Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker? Or would you ever? I saw one today. My first instinct is always to pick them up.. but safety, right? And I have my kids.
Got any stories?

 

I picked one up once. He needed a ride to a city like sixty miles away. I dropped him off, but then didn't know my way home. I ran out of gas. A man picked me up on the side of the road. He started telling me how they were all gay in Vietnam and started stroking my leg. He asked if he could measure my penis. I remembered I had a dream where I was attacked by this man the night before. I said I was going to go to sleep and went back to my car. He did let me call my parents and gave me stale Chips Ahoy, though. He was also listening to disco the whole time.

 

Once, but I was in a group. We were young (16?) and it was the wee hours of the morning. We picked up a middle aged woman who looked very hard on her luck. She had a smoker voice, and she asked us for a cigarette, and when we said that we did not have any, she said: "Good for you kids. You must be good kids. Stay away from them, they are evil."

We dropped her off at her destination: a dumpy house on a dark side street in a shitty neighborhood, and then we drove to a 24 hour Applebees and I didn't get any food because I had no money.

Yep.

 

24 hour applebees?!

But as far as hitchhikers, I would never.
I took a couple of hitchikers some food once though, they were hanging at a gas station and had a sign explaining they were hitchhiking across the country and they were hungry. They were young, 19 or 20, just a couple of guys on an adventure. So I went home and heated up some leftovers and took the food back to them.

 

back in the day when i had cars, whenever i had one i generally would.
i know there was some risk, but statistically in those days it was very small.
as often as not they offered to pay for gas, and the thing is, when i would pick someone up it would be when i was looking for new places to see.
of course the thing is, even when i did have a vehicle, i avoided cities, so people i picked up would be somebody who lived within ten fifteen miles on their way home or to work or the store, who missed their bus or their car broke down or whatever. or, just like i was, off on an adventure.

i guess, most people now weren't born yet in those days, so this might sound like i was on some alien planet or something.

 

I pick up any and all hitchhikers. Lots of interesting stories.

 

yeah that's clearly not real.


i haven't picked up a hitchhiker yet. i've only seen a few, and it's always been a situation where by the time i see them i'm already long gone and can't easily turn back because i'm on the highway or something.

 

Yeah I picked up some hitch hikers before. Once on my way down from a ski mountain one night after twilight skiing. They were stranded and their ski bus took off without them.

Another time I was leaving a nude beach and picked up a couple who needed a ride back into the city. They lived in the same neighborhood as me. Good peopl, good times.

My first time ever picking up a gang of hitch hikers was at a gas station and they were a group of drunk red necks. I was 16, and driving a GMC suburban work 9 seats. They offered me a 6-pack if I shuttled them all back to their trailer park. I was a bit sketched out by them because a few had meth mouth. But I got a free case of beer out of it

 

People going to the same shows as me sometimes just to be nice. Sometimes for extra tickets or goods. Never a random person outside this.

 

I frequently pick up hitchikers.

Worst case scenario is they make my seats stink and they smell bad

I do it because I have been the one walking and needed a ride.

I drove an elderly hispanic woman and her cans around to 4 different gas stations once on the 4 corners of a busy freeway.

She didnt speak any english, wore a cross on her left wrist, draped in what looked like a burka without the face cover.

She was at least 75 out there all by herself being pushed down by the wind.

 

lol

 

I've done a lot of hitch-hiking myself. I ran away from home twice in my teens. The first time I hitched from Norman, OK, to Galveston, TX. The second time I hitched from Norman to Reynosa, Mexico. And, the night I graduated high school, a friend and I hitched to Acapulco. And there have been many shorter trips over the years. It's always interesting to get to know folks that way.

I've picked up hitch-hikers many times too. The most interesting was a guy who, as we talked I found out, had escaped from a jail. I went quite a bit out of my way to give him a ride to his destination.

 

Sure. Never ran into any problems, but no really wild stories either. Usually just normal people who needed a ride. I do remember once that I stopped for some guy who was walking and had his thumb out, and then told me to keep driving. I drove off, but I was more offended than I should have been rationally... I got turned down by a hitchhiker.

I've been hitchhiking a few time too. In my 20's I had a Ford Taurus with a broken gas gauge and It took me a bit to dial in using the odometer. Actually Ford Taurus should be enough said.

 

He was clearly waiting on a particular victim to murder. Every serial killer has a type and you werent it

 

LOL. I think there are 24/hour Applebees. I could be wrong about Applebees in my story though, maybe it was Denny's? I could have sworn it was Applebees though and it was late at night/early in the morning. Either way, we picked up a hitchhiker and then went to some shitty chain restaurant.

 

*sigh* I guess there are other fish in the sea.

 

Haven't seen any for quite some time...

 

Never

 

I was in my 20's in the 1970's and it was common for me to pick up hitchhikers. I lived in or near Ithaca NY. I often lived 10 - 15 miles out of town in the country and I would offer rides to people walking along the 2 lane highways into town whether they were hitching or not.

I am not sure I would do that these days but I also have not seen anyone hitching a ride in a long time.