I was listening to Sirius/XM satellite radio the other day. My favorite station is Deep Tracks. The station format is like FM Radio at it’s time of birth in the late 1960’s, early 1970’s. The DJ’s played what they wanted, long songs, album tracks, themes – no top forty format.
A Bob Dylan track had just finished and the announcer was chatting about hitch-hiking in the 60’s, there was a reference to hitch-hiking in the Dylan tune. He commented on how it was quite common and popular at the time. Then added a little aside about a ride he had one-time where the driver casually stroked the announcer’s leg. The announcer described how he just declined; the driver dropped him off. Then our intrepid announcer just readied himself by the side of the road, stuck out his thumb and carried on seeking his next ride. The story really struck home as I traveled that way frequently during my early teens up to the time I was sixteen and bought a car. Interestingly (to me anyway) I had an almost identical experience.
Anyway, this got me to thinking this was a cool topic for a blog. You don’t see much hitch-hiking today and I guess people could really wonder about it – or not.
What is it?
Simply put, “A thumb goes up, a car goes by” ……… (Listen to the tune Hitchin a Ride by Vanity Fair from 1970 – the song was popular just as hitchin was getting a bad name)
A driver stops, you hop in, chat amiably, go as far toward your destination as the driver is going, get out and go for the next ride.
So how do I get started?
Up until the beginning of the 70’s decade hitch-hiking was a safe, cheap and relatively reliable form of transportation. For me anyway, I traveled this way for 100’s of rides (so safe), never paid (so free) and often got to my destination ahead of what the bus would have taken me (reliable and effective).
I would not actually suggest you try it today, so “NO” to getting started, but here’s another huge song on the theme from Credence Clearwater Revival released in 1971 that hit #6 on the billboard top 100. While it lasted as a viable practice, like the man say’s, it was SWEET
Coincidentally was listening to a podcast on the very topic, though one interesting thought was how uber is now kind of the modern hitch hiking. So maybe just skipped a generation !