How about some good, positive hitchhiking stories from the days when that was acceptable?

Great story.

The Summer of 1953. My best friend and I and a group from my hometown - worked at The Old Faithful Lodge at Yellowstone Park.

We also worked with a group of kid’s our same age - from Michigan.

On Saturday - we would hitch hike to West Yellowstone for a little night life and hitch hick back.

It was a no no. The matron would sit in the front foyer each night to check us back into our room.

Because we were most always out past our curfew - we had to pull down the fire escape - to sneak back inside.

One fun Summer - I must say and we never got caught.

We felt safe hitch hiking. Everybody did it.

Something I would never tell my grandchildren.

They would never approve of their Nana doing such a thing.

DeeJay.

The only time I ever hitchhiked was in the early 70's, went to visit a sib in Champagne-Urbana. I can't remember how we got out there but we ended up among corn fields (or wheat field, some agricultural field growing stuff) on this road, it was hot and we couldn't see past the fields because it was so flat and the plants were so tall. I'm not sure if we even knew where we were going or if we were walking in the right direction. I was just visiting so I left all that stuff in the hands of those who were living there during the school semester. Oh, yea, there were like 5 very nubile, skimpily dressed young co-eds with me (including my sib). It was fun, we were smoking some plant matter and suddenly we hear this sound coming down the road--was a convertible Morgan so we all put our thumbs out....and the guy stopped. We all climbed in, some kind of sat on the thing where the canvas (or whatever) roof collapsed into) and he drove us back to campus with the silliest grin I've ever seen, these young women waving at everyone from his car. It was fun.

My first husband and I used to pick up hitchhikers all the time, it was fun meeting and greeting strangers and making friends if only for a short while. We lived on a college campus and there was nothing unusual about it; this was in 1970 or so. But one time, I was alone and picked up a male hitchhiker on one of the back roads of the campus. Well-paved, well-lit, but traveled infrequently. I took him a few miles and dropped him off in front of the student union. At that point, he very politely said something like, lady, I appreciate the ride and all, but please promise me never to do that again while you're alone. I could have very easily taken advantage of you or hurt you in some way if I were so inclined. It really made me stop and think. You feel so invulnerable when you're that young. I never picked up another one. Maybe that guy saved my life, you never know.

I did a lot of hitch-hicking as a young Marine back in the early 1950's. My home was in Reading PA and when I was stationed at Camp LeJeune, NC I would hitch-hike home every chance I got, a distance of 504 miles. People were wonderful back then and would even go out of their way to make certain I would get a good lift after they'd taken me as far as they were going. I could tell y'all many a tale about some of those good people but I'd probably get reported for chatting. The people in the south were the best at helping out a young guy in a Marine uniform. One weekend I didn't even make it home, I spent it in the great little town of Rock Hill, NC. I've never forgotten that family that made me feel so welcome. About a month later I shipped out to Korea. No hitch-hiking there

At age 16 a friend and I set out to hitchhike from Colorado to the coast of California. The first car to come down our rural county road picked us up. He was a nice guy who drove us half way through Utah and then let us out at Soldier's Summit, after buying us a nice lunch. We got out in the road and stuck our thumbs out again. As before, the first car to come stopped and let us in. He asked where we were headed. We said Long Beach California, we are going to the beach. He replied: "you guys are in luck, I am going all the way to Sacramento, California, you will be almost to Long Beach."

He took us to a nice restaurant that evening and bought our dinners, then drove through the night arriving in Sacramento in time for morning breakfast, which he also insisted on buying for us. He said we helped him stay a wake so he could drive all night, which he appreciated.

One more short ride provided by two elderly ladies and we were on the beautiful sunny sand at Long Beach. The trip didn't cost us a dime and we had made four new friends. That's how it was in 1952. People were wonderful back then.

When I was 17, my 21 year old friend and I hitched from Hollywood, Calif. to SF, Calif.( around 1973)

We only had 4 cents between us.

We got great rides all the way to Frisco, people enjoyed our company and everyone bought us lunch and made sure we got dropped off in good spots where we could catch another ride.

We stopped off in Santa Cruz for a few days on our way up. We had friends who had a home there.

In SF, we stayed with friends again and we had a great vacation and never even spent our 4 cents.

Well, mine is from the early 80's. I'm going to have to leave some details out but...

... there was this fine young female (I was young too at that time) whom I used to see here and there, sometimes taking the bus and sometimes just around town (and surrounding towns). For some reason, I just kept running into her, to the point we eventually recognized each other. Well, one time my friend and I were joyfully cruising around in my car, crankin' tunes (Sparks "In Outer Space", to be exact) on my HOME stereo, which I had hooked up in my car with enormous speakers (15" woofers) using a power inverter (this was well before the booming car stereos of today), and there she was, hitch-hiking near my house. My friend said "Let's pick her up" and I said "OMG, I know her, kind of". So we picked her up and she sat between us. I dropped my friend off at his house. The rest I'm going to have to leave out. I moved away not long after that (only about 12 miles). I didn't see her again for about a year, when, by coincidence, we met on a bus on the way to a "thing". I was already on the bus and she came and sat by me (not in that order). That evening, there was a repeat performance of the part I left out from earlier. Never saw her after that. Good times.

While in the marines I was hitchhiking home for Christmas and not having any luck. I actually gave up on being home Christmas morning when a truck driver stopped in eastern Oklahoma on I 40. He would not go through Kansas but offered to get me closer, he needed to stay awake to make it somewhere in Colorado by daylight Christmas day. He very firmly stated he could not go out of his way. I fell asleep. I was awakened by him pushing on my shoulder and asking "where does your mother live" He dropped me at the front door and said Merry Christmas. He was late getting home himself so I could be home.

I used to hitch hike with my friends in the 60's and 70's. About 8 years ago I saw a young black woman hitchhiking and I started to pray for her. Mind you, I don't pick anyone up, but I sensed that God wanted me too. I drove past her and then the feeling got stronger. So, I turned around and picked her up. She told me that she was on her way to a not so reputable part of town. I was going out of my way, but I knew that I had to take her. We began to talk and she shared with me that she was going to a half way house. She'd been on drugs and was trying hard to keep clean. I shared Christ with her and told her that He would be her strength if she needed Him to be. I told her that He loved her and that He cared for her so much that He'd sent me to give her that message. I don't know where she is at now, but she did tell me that she knew now that God did love her.

In 1942 I was 4, my Dad worked @ Mare Island Naval shipyard, We had just moved to Vallejo from Berkley due to the commute and gas rationing. My mom was in late pregnancy and she kept her Dr. in Berkley..that meant every so often she and I had to drive about 35 miles for her Dr's appt. There were always sailors from Mare Island hitching rides, she would pick them up, gave us company and them a ride.