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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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In this day and age I have to admit that I would do some profiling before I would stop.
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Everybody fears the worst situation.....when in fact that only happens in the movies.
That's right, crime doesn't happen to people in real life, just in the movies.
Same with bad falls rockclimbing, cancer, and other bad things--they're just made up to scare people.
Just go through life with a big ol' smile on your face and do whatever you feel like, don't worry about consequences, and everything will work out great!
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John Moosie
climber
Beautiful California
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That statistic is probably more about the cars that do get hit. It probably doesn't take into account all the cars that aren't hit. Those classes are designed to scare you into certain actions. The side of the freeway is very dangerous and shouldn't be treated lightly, but my guess is that statistic is misleading.
I pick up hitchhikers. I live in Yosemite, so it is fairly common. Since a bad experience I had with a guy who scared the crap out of me while on a road trip, I am a lot more careful about who I pick up. I usually just roll my window down a tiny bit and ask questions before I let them into my car. If that pisses them off, then I'm out of there.
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WBraun
climber
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In the 60's and 70's I hitched hike a lot, just about everywhere.
One time I got a ride from the director of the Napa mental institute.
After our destinations arrived and we parted he was ready to admit me to his institution ......
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seth kovar
climber
Reno, NV
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Picked a guy up on the on ramp outside of Jackson MI...
Turned out that he had just gotten out of jail and had no one to pick him up...
Nice enough guy, ended up driving him about 70 miles out of my way to his mom's house...
Offered to tat me up for free, I declined... :)
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zeta
Trad climber
Berkeley
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I sometimes pick up people hitching, usually around ski resorts and national parks. But I check them out--if I get any bad vibe, I'm out of there.
It's funny, as a woman I feel much safer hitching overseas than I do in the US...I hitched in the Scottish highlands, Argentina, in north India by myself and never had a problem. Hitched all around Alaska w/ another friend of mine--and with 2 outdoorsy girls on the side of the road in Alaska, our waits were short! Fastest hitch-hiking!
that said, hitching on a freeway, I'm pretty wary of...if the car has broken down, it's one thing; if someone is just walking, not looking up/looks mean, I definitely drive past them!
be careful people
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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When I was a young man, with no financial means, "thumbing" was my main mode of transportation. "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" was my Bible (wish I'd had her thumbs).
Nowadays, the Charles Manson spawn that often traverse the highways and biways keeps me from pickin up most hitchers. Although a young, pretty sociopath might coax me into trouble. Ahhhh...where did the summer of love go?
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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I had minor VW van difficulties about 70 miles out of Needles. My ride from the van into Needles for parts was a friendly but sketchy guy, ex-con, worried about cops, and I had the impression he maybe had stuff in the trunk. The ride back to the van was in the front seat of a CHP cruiser who did about 90 all the way. I'm pretty sure the officer had scoped me out going into the parts store and knew what the story was before I even set up out on the ramp heading west. I was still a somewhat scruffy but amiable long hair at the time.
Some CHP are not so nice though, but that's a different breakdown on the side of the road story.
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WBraun
climber
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Needs to take meds ^^^^ they are wearing off again ......
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John Moosie
climber
Beautiful California
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Alex, I thought you agreed you weren't going to post here anymore. You scared a few people the last time.
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
New York, NY
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I have only seen 1 hitch hiker between the cliffs and New Paltz when I had a car so far. Picked him up, even though he didn't look like a climber. I figured he was just a local gone up for a walk.
He was an avid - and I mean avid! - rappeller. He excitedly told me about how he had all the gear(cams, hexes, webbing etc.) and build bomber 3-point anchors. He liked the free-=hanging raps best.....
It was rather interesting to hear someone wax on about rappelling as an end in itself. If climbers are Conquistadors of the Useless, what the heck is a rappeller?
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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My high school didn't have many college-bound students and insufficient college prep classes, so the last year I hitch-hiked to community college instead. It was pretty casual on the daily 20-mile corridor.
Except this one time... I'm at entrance of a long onramp, dude from the freeway pulls over and drives a few hundred yards backward to pick me up. Freaky vibe, gothic jittery chain-smoker with uncomfortably intense eyes. His boss gave him 90 minutes to drive from LA to San Francisco. Why is he picking me up?
I see a stack of papers, and ask "What is Ordo Salamandarius?"
He gives me a death-penetrating stare, and offers coldly:
"The object is not to use a knife. The object is to be a knife."
He saw another dude to pick up, and fortunately this guy was my buddy. I liked not being alone with creepy driver man. When it was time to drop me off, I was satisfied with the freeway offramp. I didn't want him knowing where I lived!
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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Within the last month or two I have picked up someone in the middle of nowhere (I was with another climber buddy), and I didn't stop for another because I was with my lady.
I love the hitch-hiker scene from Something About Mary.
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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Groovy man. Go with it, don't fight the acid brah.
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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Last few I've picked up were obvious fellow-traveler outdoorsy folk...guy with a snowboard who'd surely just ripped a run through the trees down to Govt Camp and was headed back uphill for another run or home or something. Dude with a fly rod at the end of a long fishable section of the river, obviously headed back to the car, guy decked out in full road racing regalia pushing his bike with a flat.
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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^ ^ ^
Glad to know such a cool guy is out picking up such cool hitchers--that's really cool!
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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Your first responsibility it to yourself and your family. Almost everytime I've been screwed it's because I put myself out there to help someone or listened to someone when I should have listened to myself. So now I'm very careful and trust my instincts.
Some lessons learned:
1. I gave a woman a ride who was pretty disheveled looking. Down on her luck. I'm thankful I had vinyl seats at the time because she stunk like piss.
2. I gave a couple underacheivers a ride. Later found out my sunglasses were missing.
3. My wife a gave a white trash woman a ride who promised to pay for gas and extra if she'd take her home about 1/2 hr out of the way. They stopped at a pay phone (pre cell phone time as well) and my wife overheard her telling the person on the phone how easy it would be to knock her out and take her purse, my wife tossed the woman's purse onto the ground and sped off.
I do stop and help stranded people when I can tell it's legit. And when I've needed help (e.g. a breakdown on the Alaska Canada Highway at -60F with windchill) I've got it.
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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Is "alexander-solzhenitsyn" somebody's undergrad LISP project?
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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It's an advanced Lorem Ipsum project...
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DanaB
climber
Philadelphia
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Easrly '80s, I was coming back from North Carolina, it was almost midnight and pouring rain: could hardly find the road. I see a car pulled over and the driver is standing next to it. It's nowheresville Virginia, no one else around, no one else going to be around, so I pull over. The guy walks up to my window as says he has driven from southern Florida, he's going to Alexandria, Virginia, but he can't read or write. All I could think of was to write Alexandria in big block letters on a piece of paper, then I told him, "When you a sign that looks like that, go that way."
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