the last one

I was the worlds last hitchhiker. From about 1991 to 1994 i hitched about 12,000 miles, cross country, coast to coast, up and down both seaboards, and across parts of Europe. My luck was generally good, most of my rides were nice people; only on two occassions did i have to ask to be let out after just a few minutes. Once a cop gave me about a 30 mile ride, so i could start again in a better location. Often my rides simply needed someone to drive, because they were tired, their back hurt, etc., So about half the time i was behind the wheel. People bought me sandwiches or soda's, and usually gave me a few dollars to help tide me over. Most of my rides were from former hitchhikers. Twice, very elderly couples picked me up. When i tried to make it through Idaho in the winter i nearly froze to death- it was cold ! Outside Philadelphia some weirdos picked me up on a ramp- after just 60 seconds, the driver crashed against the sidewall, and the car began to spin around, crashing into other vehicles (its rush hour) and we all ended up in the hospital (just scrathes,basically, although i still have a piece of metal in my finger). Two days later drug-crazed juveniles gave me a ride down Interstate 95....They were high off of laughing gas and maybe other things, and they were driving about 85 miles per hour, weaving recklessly in and out of traffic. I guess i was showing some obvious concern, because one of them yelled to me "Whats the matter, are you scared?" I replied " YES - I -AM - LET - ME -OUT !!!! " They pulled over, let me out, cursing me. A few days later i read in the newspaper about how they crashed about 30 miles down the road. They were in the intensive care unit with serious injuries, one of them was probably crippled for life.

I never see anybody hitchhiking anymore, it was rare way back then. In Europe it was better, girls would pick me up, something that almost never happened in the states.