• Hitchhiking (was: Re: Payphones and rides)

    From JOE MACKEY@1:135/392 to GEORGE POPE on Sat Dec 4 07:33:54 2021
    CP wrote --

    About 8, a mate taught me about hitchhiking, & I used that a lot up to &throughout my teens (covered far more ground than I could've by walkng

    I forget when I first hitched a ride, but it a lot of it was in my 20s
    and 30s.
    Never had a problem.
    One time I was hitching home from college (about 200 miles) and about 30 miles from here it was grew dark and cold. A couple in a pick up gave me a ride, in the open back and supplied a blanket.
    I recall being stuck in one spot for over three hours. I pass that place
    and think of that long day when I would drive back to Morgantown.
    One ride I got to here from Morgantown was with a old station wagon full
    of aging hippies. When the door opened smoke rolled out like a Cheech and Chong movie. They were all smoking pot, one joint after another. They were all rather mellow. :)
    I once got a ride in semi and liked the view from way up there.
    Joe
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 www.doccyber.org bbs.docsplace.org (1:135/392)
  • From Daryl Stout@1:2320/33 to JOE MACKEY on Sat Dec 4 14:53:00 2021
    Joe,

    One ride I got to here from Morgantown was with a old station wagon
    full of aging hippies. When the door opened smoke rolled out like a Cheech and Chong movie. They were all smoking pot, one joint after another. They were all rather mellow. :)

    Were they a disjointed group?? <g,d,r>

    Daryl

    ... I'm Droopy of Borg. You know what?? You're about to be assimilated.
    === MultiMail/Win v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (1:2320/33)
  • From George Pope@1:153/757.2 to JOE MACKEY on Sun Dec 5 15:46:26 2021
    I forget when I first hitched a ride, but it a lot of it was in my 20s
    and 30s.
    Never had a problem.

    Same two decades I was hitching -- yup, good times, if you have some common sebse & basic street smarts. . . :)

    One time I was hitching home from college (about 200 miles) and about 30 miles from here it was grew dark and cold. A couple in a pick up gave me a ride, in the open back and supplied a blanket.
    I recall being stuck in one spot for over three hours. I pass that place and think of that long day when I would drive back to Morgantown.

    I never stayed in one place -- I have walked backwards 30+ miles more than once! But those 30+ milers were a long boring wait; I get it; funnything, in thecold winjter, I tended to find a spot with lots of light & within walkng disabce of a 24-hour diner, & just hitch from there, styubbornly, until picked up.

    One sweet waitress, when I was headuing back out to try again, after I drank a half dozen(free refils on a 50c coffee-- remember those?) cups of coffee, to wake up & warm up, said I could comeback in to warm up if Ui hads no lucj & have some more coffee; I pointed out tyhat I'd just used my latr 50c for this cup, & se said, "No problem; refills go all night long!"; I did take her up on the offer in a few hourts of standing in one plce in '40 temps, & rare traffic & none even slowing down to get a better look at me (some of those might stop & reverse to me)

    Third time out hitching was the charm & I got a ride to me next decision point/town, where I decided to heck with winter I'd never seen in my 17 years growing up in southern BC, & stuck it out all the way back to Vancouver.

    i had a fun adventure, for sure. . . not all aspects (e.g. -50 below, catching hypothermia while sitting on the end of a grain train, going 5 days without sleep or food(once only, thankfully))

    One ride I got to here from Morgantown was with a old station wagon full of aging hippies. When the door opened smoke rolled out like a Cheech and Chong movie. They were all smoking pot, one joint after another. They were all rather mellow. :)
    I once got a ride in semi and liked the view from way up there.

    I had my smoker rides, too -- seems those who pick up hitchhikers are in the same Venn intersection as those who indulge while driving & like to freely share with their passengers.

    My best semi ride (those were rare, asd the laws were tight up here, & the companies had computers in the truclks that noted every unauthorised(i.e. pickup or dropoff stop) I had was going through the Rockies in a near blizzard. Visibility was no more than a single car length in front, & we drove steadily up & down through snow-packed hairpin turns in the pass. The snow coming at us looked, to me, like warp speed depictions in scifi movies.

    We steadily drove onward, never slipping. I noticed most cars coming to wards us were in our lane to start with, but he just drove straight, letting them figure out the jneed to get out of theway.

    I asked him why he didn't swerve to avoid them & he said doing so mostly guaranteed the truck would jackknife, if not go off the cliff (half mile down the rocks to the river below) & hwe's not going to risk killing us both because they dn't know where their lane is. He said he'd risk a laydown, only if he saw kids in the car ahead, because no child should die because his daddy's an idiot.

    Seemed a fair philosophy to me.

    I enjoyed it most becaise it was a long single trip, & the driver & I had good cionversation. We discoivered, while playing a game, that if one of us described a person we knew in detail (personality, especially) the other could usually guerss their first name in one or two tries!

    Fits my theory of personality thesis I'm working on. Needs more data, though.


    Your friend,

    <+]:{)}
    Cyberpope, Bishop of ROM
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757.2)
  • From Daryl Stout@1:2320/33 to George Pope on Sun Dec 5 18:42:00 2021
    George,

    We steadily drove onward, never slipping. I noticed most cars coming
    to wards us were in our lane to start with, but he just drove straight, letting them figure out the jneed to get out of theway.

    That's like the old man who's driving down the freeway. His wife calls
    him on the cellphone, telling him to be careful, that "there's an idiot
    driving the wrong way on the freeway!!". He replies "there's not just one, there's hundreds of them!!". It never occured to him that HE was the guilty party. <G>

    Daryl

    ... UPS merging with Federal Express -- new name: Fed-Ups.
    === MultiMail/Win v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (1:2320/33)
  • From George Pope@1:153/757.2 to Daryl Stout on Wed Dec 15 10:36:03 2021
    George,

    We steadily drove onward, never slipping. I noticed most cars coming to wards us were in our lane to start with, but he just drove straight, letting them figure out the jneed to get out of theway.

    That's like the old man who's driving down the freeway. His wife calls
    him on the cellphone, telling him to be careful, that "there's an idiot driving the wrong way on the freeway!!". He replies "there's not just one, there's hundreds of them!!". It never occured to him that HE was the guilty party. <G>

    I think I know that guy! Mr. Magoo?

    Before his music career took off, Daryl Hall worked as a trucker for Quaker.
    He was haulin’ oats.

    A trucker came into a Truck Stop Café and placed his order with the waitress. He said "I want three flat tires, a pair of headlights and a pair of running boards."

    The brand new blonde waitress, not wanting to appear stupid, went to the kitchen and said to the cook, "This guy out there just ordered three flat tires, a pair of headlights and a pair of running boards. What does he think this place is, an auto parts store?"

    "No," the cook said. "'three flat tires' mean three pancakes; 'a pair of headlights' are two eggs sunny side up; and 'a pair of running boards' are 2 slices of crisp bacon!"

    "Oh.. OK!" said the blonde. She thought about it for a moment and then spooned up a bowl of beans and gave it to the customer.

    The trucker asked, "What are the beans for, Blondie?"

    She replied, "I thought while you were waiting for the flat tires, headlights and running boards, you might as well gas up!"

    Your friend,

    <+]:{)}
    Cyberpope, Bishop of ROM
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757.2)