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Monday Hitchhikers

sdhoosier

All-Big Ten
Dec 21, 2001
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So Calif
Anyone have any interesting hitchhiking stories from back in the day?
















































































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did my share of hitch hiking back in the day.

guessing these girls get picked up a lot quicker than i did, though i always got where i was going.

was a good way to get around if you needed to, and driving yourself wasn't an option.

haven't seen anyone with a thumb out in quite awhile though.
 
did my share of hitch hiking back in the day.

guessing these girls get picked up a lot quicker than i did, though i always got where i was going.

was a good way to get around if you needed to, and driving yourself wasn't an option.

haven't seen anyone with a thumb out in quite awhile though.

I used to do it on a lark now and then. Did it several times to get to and from Btown back to Indy's southside and one time I hitchhiked with a buddy to his home in Chicago. He didn't tell his parents. I probably never needed to do it, but it was a fun adventure at the time. I'd probably skin my kids if they did it now, but back in the day, well, it was a different time it seems to me. Although I still believe in the overall decency of people, I just think the views of hitchhiking has changed.
 
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I used to do it on a lark now and then. Did it several times to get to and from Btown back to Indy's southside and one time I hitchhiked with a buddy to his home in Chicago. He didn't tell his parents. I probably never needed to do it, but it was a fun adventure at the time. I'd probably skin my kids if they did it now, but back in the day, well, it was a different time it seems to me. Although I still believe in the overall decency of people, I just think the views of hitchhiking has changed.

in summer of 81 i hitched from near Bryan Park in Btown to Poplar Creek amphitheater, (now closed), in Chicago area, (Hoffman Estates), for a concert, with a stop in between at a cheap non downtown motel i'd reserved to change and take a shower.

started 10 am day of show, made the show, and scored great seats during the trip to a probably sold out show.

got to downtown Chicago about as quick as i could have driven.

got a ride to the north Btown McDonalds fairly quick.

stood at the exit of the north Btown McDonalds maybe 15 min holding a piece of cardboard that said "Chicago" on it, and a car full of girls picked me up and took me to downtown Chicago.

once in downtown Chicago, getting to my north west side motel, then to Poplar Creek, was more of a challenge.

after the show a cop picked me up hitching, and took me to my motel. (still had part of a joint in my pocket, but that was pre Reagan).
 
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in summer of 81 i hitched from near Bryan Park in Btown to Poplar Creek amphitheater, (now closed), in Chicago area, (Hoffman Estates), for a concert, with a stop in between at a cheap non downtown motel i'd reserved to change and take a shower.

started 10 am day of show, made the show, and scored great seats during the trip to a probably sold out show.

got to downtown Chicago about as quick as i could have driven.

got a ride to the north Btown McDonalds fairly quick.

stood at the exit of the north Btown McDonalds maybe 15 min holding a piece of cardboard that said "Chicago" on it, and a car full of girls picked me up and took me to downtown Chicago.

once in downtown Chicago, getting to my north west side motel, then to Poplar Creek, was more of a challenge.

after the show, a cop picked me up hitching, and took me to my motel. (still had part of a joint in my pocket, but that was pre Reagan).

Yeah, I had some really good rides. Usually involved sharing of a personal stash, one way or the other and never had a bad experience. One quirky dude on the Chicago trip, but lots of cool people. Surprisingly a couple single girls picked me up, but I guess I didn't look threatening.
 
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This is not really the kind of response you're looking for but when my dad went back to work after his heart attack, Mom would drop him off on the edge of town so he could walk the rest of the way. Everybody and their brother would stop and offer him a ride. But the time his truck broke down, nobody stopped.
 
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There's an older white-haired hippy-looking dude that hitches every day into Bloomington from the west. Don't know where he lives, but when I was still working in the office pre-Corona, I saw him out there all the time.

I've never hitched. My dad used to tell about hitching to Indy every weekend to listen to live music.

My uncle back in the 40s hitched to Florida with virtually no money. He had 50 cents left by the time he got to Miami. Got a job as a night clerk in a hotel, and went on to have a full career in the hotel industry, eventually managing multiple large resort hotels in Daytona Beach.
 
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In reality its probably way safer to do it today then "back in the day" but I'd still advise against it. Something romantic about it though...
 
when the NCAA swimming and diving championships were held at Royer Pool in the HPER at IU back in 69 during the Spitz era, i picked up a Southern Cal swimmer hitching on campus.

USC was a perennial power back then, so the guy was probably a world class swimmer.
 
When I was at the University of Wisconsin, a buddy of mine on my Dorm Floor had a good friend of his who was at IU. I wanted to see IU some way in case I decided to attend Professional School there. We found a ride from Madison to West Lafayette, with a stop in Chicago to drop off another Rider. We got to Lafayette at about 4:30 on Friday Afternoon and we were dropped off on the Big Bridge Downtown. 231 was the primary connection from Lafayette to Spencer and then on to Bloomington. After about 15 Minutes this car pulls up driven by a young guy with longer hair offering us a ride. He is headed to Bloomington for the weekend to see his girlfriend , and he's glad to have some extra gas money for something he was doing anyway. About 15 miles out he pulls out a Joint and asks us if we want to join him. It was a very pleasurable trip.
At about 6:45 p.m. he drops us off at Briscoe exactly where we were headed. Couldn't have worked out better.
 
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