Would you pick up a hitchhiker on your way?

Back in high school 3 of picked up a hitch hiker and got him to buy us a 30 pack Lol. Wasn't too worried aboit being robbed since all 3 of us were pretty jacked from weight lifting

 

Only if I was really hungry

 

Better than picking up a hitchhiker: I picked up, repaired, and hauled a random person's dump trailer (with a skid steer in it) about 400mi for $650.

Story: spent the night at an Iowa rest area and the guy driving the pickup next to me kept looking like he wanted to talk. Turns out he had blown a wheel bearing on his trailer and he couldn't get anyone out to fix it. Put his trailer on my RGN and headed for Des Moines for parts. Once trailer was repaired, he asked if I could carry it to Grand Island (where I was headed). We agreed on a price and headed out. I was already getting paid to go to GI, so I didn't see a need to gouge him for transportation.

We have an open invitation to visit him and his wife in ID any time we're passing through.

 

I've picked up one in Idaho. Passed a F-150 and horse trailer about 20 miles from the UT state line. 3 miles further I saw an individual walking and holding their cell phone like they couldn't get signal. Anyways as I got closer I could tell it was a late middle age woman and I pulled to the shoulder. When she got to the truck I told her I'd take her to the J in Snowville. She was friendly, thankful for the ride and I let her use my phone to try making the call. Turns out her phone had signal, she was just frustrated her husband wasn't answering his so she could get a belt brought out for the truck.

 

Breakdown emergency situation, yes.
Hitch a ride, I have in the past. Not now. Too many negative possibilities.
I'm old enough to retire, but I want to do it on my terms.

 

Keep on walking, no passengers.

 

I want to comment on this. I wouldn't pick up a hitchhiker but last week in Washington (state) I was on I-90 at around 9:00pm and I was in the mist of a pretty bad snowstorm up there. It kept going from a mixture of freezing rain and snow to just snow but on this particular stretch it was heavy snowfall. As I was riding up the hill/mountain at the very last minute I saw a light flash at me and turned my head to see someone walking down the shoulder of the road and they had shined what looked to be either flashlight, penlight or phonelight at my truck as I passed.

It freaked me right out because on this stretch it was quite a few miles in between the exits and it wasn't like we were around towns or cities or something. It was pretty rural. A few miles up the road I saw a rental truck on the shoulder with the 4 ways on but nobody in the truck and no lights on in the truck. I figured that it must have been the person who was walking down the interstate a few miles back rental truck and for whatever reason they were being forced to walk in the freezing cold snow to try to get help or something (I mean why else would they choose to start walking the interstate in a bad snow storm at nightfall).

So anyways I pulled into a rest area about 15 minutes down the road from where I saw the SUV. I called the non emergency 911 number and let them know the milemarker and the time I saw the person who shined the light at my truck who was walking down the intersate and what direction they were going in.

I hope they sent a cop or at least sent out a message to all the cop cars in the area to be on the lookout around the milemarker so they could help that person out. That was really bad weather for that person to be walking in, you can die from hypothermia.

I guess the point of my post is that while many of us truckers (including myself) wont' pick up a hitchhiker, as the eyes and ears of America's highways I think in the very least when it's clear that people are in trouble that we at least let the proper authorities know so that they can respond and get the person whose in trouble the help that they need.

 

In the Air Force, another airman and I had a few days left, to get from San Jose, CA to Spokane, WA for survival school and prison camp training at Fairchild AFB.

This is 1971 and we had military haircuts.

We had little problem getting rides though hitch hiking. In northern CA, a logger picked us up in his Pete and asked how much time we had. He took us up into the hills and we got to see the whole operation.

Never even considered being harmed back then. Times sure have changed.

 

You mean these days hitchhikers are less likely to do you any harm I gather? I guess the risk does apply both ways as who knows what kind of person the truck driver is huh?

 

I mean as a general rule hitchikers are no more likely to assault you than your neighbors, probably less depending on your neighbors drinking problem.

The thing that people remember is a pretty horrific but statistically aberrant story that gets national news. Its "stranger danger" but for adults