KaBar Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Texas Madman was severely injured in a derailment years ago And has knee replacements, steel rods, a bunch of screws and bolts and wires and stuff all through his body. He couldn't ride freights for a number of years, so he rode a bicycle, instead, all across the U.S. I knew a couple of runaway kids from North Carolina, back in the early 70's who rode a 125cc dirt bike from North Carolina to California, pretending to be "local kids" the entire way. They rode on the shoulder of secondary highways the entire distance. How about buying a small motorcycle and building yourself a side car? Either that, or just buy a Chevy, Dodge, or GMC van, and live out of it. Stretch and Madman ride freights all the time, and they just about NEVER hit a rolling train or do a flying get-off. If you know enough about the way the railroads work, you board and de-train when the train is STANDING, not when it's ROLLING. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casekonly Posted April 14, 2003 Author Share Posted April 14, 2003 i wasn't..umm...i wasn't tlaking about any of that movie stuff, kabar..heh...it just hurts to jump...i could pull myself up, and i suppose i could lower myself the same way, but i was just saying, it hurts to jump...heh... oh, man...tell us some more hitching stories kabar... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synaps Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 i grew up in south africa ... and for a lot of kids, we took the risk and hitched thats how we got around, it was either that or walk or pay R1.25 for every stop [every mile or so] in a mini-van with like 20 stinky sweating locals [including the infamous 350 lbs lady that so happens to always end up next to you] sometimes you'll luck out n get a ride to where you're going ... one shot other times you'll be stuck forever ... just hanging out during the day try get rides in pick up truck ... tell em you don't mind being in the back this is the time you sleep ... you never know if you'll have a solid place to stay some night, and i don't like the idea of being asleep in the dark in some random spot with everything i own to my name ... open for anyones taking best thing to do is just be cool with the people ... act like you're their new best friend ... babble about pointless bullshit , laugh and smile but be genuine about it i can't tell you how much free shit ... longer rides i've got from people ... just for being real with them the weirdest shit that ever happened to me once, was a friend and i were hitching back to my house from the other side of the city .. we got a ride with some goth/satanic looking dood and his girlfriend in the back of their truck ... without paying much attention, next thing we notice we're going away from the city ... into the middle of fucking nowhere ... and the guy seemed to be driving faster and faster after a whiles we got worried and thought they were going to do some outlandish satanic ritual and eat out our eyeballs or something, so we figured we would jump out the back asap the guy just kept driving faster n faster down this rural road ... then out of nowhere pulls onto this little gravel road ... it was like they "knew" were they where going ... both of us were about pissing on ourselves by this time ... just getting ready to get bucked and 'try' beat em down if we had to the car came to a stop at this little pinic area n shit that looked all beat up the kind of place you wouldn't want to be hanging out in if you were afraid of ghosts or something ... the guy opens his door, gets out real slow like then bam ... pulled out a bowl and asked us if we wanted to smoke turned out he was just taking the long way home and decided to stop n smoke a bowl ... the picnic area was only like 2miles from our house we got done blazing ... just in the back of the pick up and he dropped us off at the corner of my block Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casekonly Posted April 14, 2003 Author Share Posted April 14, 2003 excellent story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synaps Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 i've got SO many nutty stories from hitching this one is pretty quick, but once this seemingly normal looking guy picked me up ... hanging out chatting n shit dood's all listening to like slayer or someshit right ... nuts off stuff after a while he asked me if i believed in the higher power we chatted about religion and shit for a whiles ended up that he was a total bible basher ... the most holy of the rollers boy wouldn't let me out the car until i "accepted" the lkord as my devine saviour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casekonly Posted April 14, 2003 Author Share Posted April 14, 2003 ha ha, and he was listening to slayer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synaps Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 i dunno it might have been some "christian thrash" band or something but that shit was HEAVY what else can i think of quick ah yes ... this was a classic too one time [in band camp] this couple in there mid 30's or so i would say picked my girlfriend and i up we weren't going very far, just to the other side of the beach ... 7 miles or so, down one street that bordered the ocean anyhows, it was night time ... and this couple mentioned something about going to the Spur [a steakhouse] then invited us to come along they were some fun people ... seemed a little tipsy like they had been out on the town drinking or whatever, so we accepted went and ate, drank a few beers ... and just kicked it with this random couple ... mellow as fuck i tell ya before we knew it, it was 11pm already, and the place was closing ... the waiter brought us the bill, and the couple 'insisted' on paying the bill ... at first i thought it was a bit dodgy, but really didn't think anything more of it than "fucking right i just got out of spending $100 at this steakhouse" we go back to their car, start driving down the beach towards my girls house, and said they needed to stop at home to get something quick ... no worries get there and they invited us in for a drink ... they had a wicked fucking house, rich as fuck ... i start off to the bathroom to check their medicne cabinet for killerz :D and when i get back i notice the ladies all like rubbing up on my girl n shit ... getting "real" friendly to skip the details it turns out they wanted to have a 4some with us n shit they were decent looking ... and i probally would of fucked the lady but we were too freaked out about it all, so we bolted out the door and walked the rest of the way to her house i wasn't about to share my girl with some old dood anyhows ... not that i would of shared her anyhows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaBar Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 West Coast Hitching c. 1968 The first year I went out to California to surf during the summer was 1967. I went with some older friends of mine from school who were 18, and preparing to go into military service. We drove a 1961 Chevy panel van out there. Bart, my buddy, convinced them to let me go too. I was sixteen. I thought I was all grown up, of course, but it still freaked me out a little. We settled in Encinitas, and lived with a family up on Neptune Blvd. on the Bluffs, right near Stone Steps (an excellent, but little known break.) We got along very well with the family, the Mom liked us, and there were three sisters. Mom made us promise "no hanky panky" and let us live in the basement. We kept the lawn cut and edged to pay our way. The following summer, I came back, with a different group of guys my own age, in a VW camper van. Again, same deal, but this year I had a certain amount of problems with my friends and we bickered a lot. The oldest of the three sisters, Lynn, was 21 and had fallen in love with my buddy from the previous summer, Graham. Graham was in the Navy, and stationed at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington State. She wanted to drive up and see him, but her mom said "No way." Finally, she convinced her mom to let her go, if I went along. Mom saw me as a harmless 17-year-old, almost like a little kid. We took Lynn's VW bug (complete with hippie flower-power stickers) and drove up there. Just the drive up was pretty cool. I started sort of falling in love (or lust) with Lynn. She was very, very attractive--California surfer girl with long brown hair and beautiful brown eyes. I was smitten. When we got up there, Graham sort of brushed her off. He had met some local girl and was all involved with her. Lynn was heartbroken. On the way back to Seattle, we camped on the beach. It was cold, we wound up sleeping together. She owned me. Good thing she wasn't some cult member, I would have gladly carried out murderous plots just to be with her. When we got to Seattle, where her Dad lived, she told me no more sleeping together, not even a quickie when Dad was at work. Being 17, I was an idiot and got angry and stormed out of the house, headed back to California. I made a sign that said "CA" on one side and "Encinitas" on the other, and started hitching. I didn't have anything but a sleeping bag. No food, very little money, no water, nothing. One of my first rides was down to Eugene, OR, with some wild hippy guy and his 13-year-old girlfriend. They picked me up in a restaurant. Once we got rolling, they broke out the pipe, and we got stoned. I was sitting on a big piece of foam rubber on top of some kind of box in the back of the panel truck, and they were in the front seats. After a while, I noticed the big box had dirt on it. (Imagine a Cheech and Chong conversation.) "Wow, man, what's the dirt on this big fuckin', you know,..box?" "It ain't nothin', man, just karma." "Karma?" "Yeah, like oneness with the universe. You know." "Oneness? With the fucking universe?" "Right." "What about the dirt?" "Well, it was on there when I got it." "The box?" "Right. Or maybe the Oneness. Hell, yeah." "Where'd you get it?" "The Oneness?" "No, the box." "At the cemetary, dude, where else?" I was totally freaking out. I pulled up the foam rubber, and sure as shit, it was a coffin with the dirt still on it. "Man. This is too crazy." "You're tellin' me, man. Want another joint?" It turned out that the coffin was empty (I didn't check) and he was hauling it to a commune outside Eugene to use as a bed. The whole trip, the girl kept asking me "Hey, man, do you wanna ball? "My ol' man don't care. Do you, honey?" "Nah, fuck it, I don't care." "Do you?" "Do I care?" "No, do you want to ball?" "Shit, I don't know, girl. It's too wierd." "You don't care do you honey?" "Nah, fuck it, I don't care. No kissing though." "Ok. No kissing. Do you?" "Kiss?" "NO, man, do you want to ball." "How old are you?" "I told you, thirteen. Almost fourteen." They finally dropped me off at the SDS house in Eugene, and I slept on the floor. In the kitchen, SDS "revolutionaries" were running a mimeograph machine all night, cranking out leaflets for an anti-war protest march. Mimeos are very noisy, ka-WUMP, ka-WUMP, ka-WUMP all night long. It was a very wierd trip. I kept meeting crazy ass people on drugs. When I got back to Encinitas, my friends had just gotten back from Mexico with a pound of weed taped inside the insulation of the icebox in the camper. Most of that summer I am only barely able to remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synaps Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 wow :D i'm guessing you never spoke to lynn again eh ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaBar Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Actually, I talked to her on the phone when I got back (she was worried about me, did I get back okay, etc.) and she was pretty cool. She asked me "Are you sure you wouldn't like to come back up here and stay with me?" but the trip back would have been too obvious (we weren't supposed to be romancin', you see) so I didn't go. She said she was coming back to Encinitas soon, but she didn't show up before I had to go home to Texas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villain Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Hitchhiking sucks these days. Fuck that shit. Unless you want to meet a bunch of wackos which I can't imagine why you would. Rides are rare, and of those rides 9 out of ten are wackos. It aint even worth it. You could take the rails but the frieght lines are in BAD shape. Not only that but you should have a strong working knowledge of how the freights work because often times you could be a long way from civilization between the depot and destination and feeling like your going to die before you see a mofuggin 7-11 humping like 100lbs of gear your going to wish you had if you don't. Naw get a van or something dog. I'm on a homesteading kick. Aint nothing out there for me to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synaps Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Kabar : no chance of going the next summer then ? i'm sure by the next summer you had other things in mind but if that girl was as lush as you say ... may she could have been worth it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suburbian bum Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Its sad that hitchhiking is so dead that only "weird" people will do it. I wonder if it isnt even that dangerous, there was probably only a small amount of murders that happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casekonly Posted April 14, 2003 Author Share Posted April 14, 2003 i dunno, man...those are some inspirational stoires that synaps and kabar have, though. i kinda wanted to bring a camera and take pics of the weird people and shit i encounter. maybe keep a journal for my kids or grandkids (when and if i have those). i really dunno, i'm in my mid twenties and i haven't gone out and had a personal adventure yet...not anything big like cross country hitching, anyway..it seems like it's about time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fondles Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 shit Kabar, you should be a fuckin writer or some shit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casekonly Posted April 15, 2003 Author Share Posted April 15, 2003 agreed. those are some great stories. kabar could hold my ear for many a story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casekonly Posted April 15, 2003 Author Share Posted April 15, 2003 that sucks. stupid racism Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casekonly Posted April 15, 2003 Author Share Posted April 15, 2003 those thirteen hitchikers didn't have my kung fu.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synaps Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 hahahah but it's true man ... i know of as many bad stories about hitching as i do good ones i had my few bad encounters too ... but yet again ... nothing in life is ever going to be 'perfect' you just gotta let the positive outweigh the negative ... and hope nothing really bad happens in between Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casekonly Posted April 15, 2003 Author Share Posted April 15, 2003 http://www.kungfulibrary.com/tiger.gif'> none can defeat my tiger style Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synaps Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 packing the fatal flying fist of fury eh ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casekonly Posted April 15, 2003 Author Share Posted April 15, 2003 nah, i'm a skinny cracker...but no one will mess with me... i'll bring some stink bombs.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xwibxonex Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 shit, i love the thread, good job on the stories kabar i too, am ready to get the fuck out and hitchhike it's like this, i'm 17, i keep a steady job, but I am currently living with my father in bumfuck nowhere, a small town. i used to live with my mom in seattle, but moved here when my graes werent so good, and when my dad talked her into giving me up (shes manic depressive, and its become worse, shes had an anneaurysm) so i move here and get a job, and save up about 800 so far, half of my check each time adds up, heh, only to just recently find out my dad has a gambling problem and that moneys been spent to pay off house debts and bills and shit. much other shit has gone down that i dont want to sit and type through but its like this, im only a sophomore ( i failed 8th grade due to excessive tardiness ) and i am ready to save up two or three checks ( 650 bucks maybe ) and just get the fuck out, not leaving a trace behind. because my mom and dad are all fighting over who gets me, and i see no reason to let either one continue to put me in constant aggravation over their childish, immature bullshit, i've seriously been putting into consideration the idea of just running away, going somewhere with no plan, it'd be great. im thinking of taking a backpack, a sketchbook, markers, and from there i dont know what, but I have this gut feeling, ive been putting so much thought into it, it's got to be right, i've got to get out and just do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synaps Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 don't leave the house because you want to get away from things leave because you want to go somewhere escaping life is great ... but have other reasons to leave other than things around here aren't going well i made that mistake once ... 5years later, i'm still paying for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alure Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 Re: Hitched all over the U.S., Canada and Mexico Originally posted by KaBar A Pat went berserk and started frantically digging and pulling up grass with her teeth, and made a hole in the ground next to the highway, and got in it. I thought it was the storm---maybe there was big hazard from lightning. It sort of freaked us out. I dont know if you know this now but the reason why your dog at the time was doing that was because she knew she was about to have her pups. When any bad storms, natural disasters happen for some reason there is a high chance that animals or woman will go into labor. When i lived in japan and we always had typhoons any women that was over 7 or 8 months pregnant would have to be held in the hospital in case she went into labor..and my neighbor had a dog, during a typhon she had all her pups unfortunatly they were to young and all died. yeah but anyway, i always thought that was interesting.. so some info in case you didnt know. i'm down to do alot of things. hitchhiking as a female however i'am not. Thats asking for a pervert to pick me up, going painting by yourself is bad enough. If i did have to i would definately carry a gun. Seen the movie freeway? freaky. I would just say be alert at all times. Maybe get some travelers checks? that would suck if you lost your money or someone robbed you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinyl junkie Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 Re: West Coast Hitching c. 1968 Originally posted by KaBar I slept on the floor. In the kitchen, SDS "revolutionaries" were running a mimeograph machine all night, cranking out leaflets for an anti-war protest march. Mimeos are very noisy, ka-WUMP, ka-WUMP, ka-WUMP all night long. i spent 2 nights in georgia sleeping under a pool table that was holding a mimeograph and 2 regular xerox machines... they didn't use the mimeograph very often (thank you people) but the xeroxes were going almost 24 hours a day... they also had home made booze, though, so it didn;t end up being that much of an issue... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intangible Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 Freeway is a funny movie... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alure Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 reese witherspoon kicks ass in that movie. i love it when she takes the phone on the payphone and slams it against that girls nose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Trousersnake Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 I used to hitch hike all the time,Ive seen all kinds of people.I have had old men tell me that they wanted to see my cock and balls.I had an old guy tell me how much of a lazy fuck I was for half an hour while he shit his damn pants.I also usually always pick up hitchhikers if I am driving.I like getting the drunk indians that demand a ride all they way home,his name was sneaky pete.Where are you leaving from and where to ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaBar Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 Hitching Today is pretty hazardous It's been a long, long time since I hitched anywhere, but it's pretty wierd. I really don't recommend it these days. Back during the '60s there were thousands of hitchhikers. Today, it's not really like that. The Third summer I went out to Encinitas was the summer of 1969. I did run into Lynn's sister at the beach at Swami's, but Lynn was attending college up in Washington. I had brought my girlfriend with me from Texas, anyway. The three of us hitched up to San Francisco ("The City," like there was only one real city) and crashed with some of her friends. We wound up getting really plastered at a party at somebody's house. Then the people came home and freaked out at all the strangers ("Who ARE all you people? GET OUT OF MY APARTMENT!") and wound up sleeping on the floor at somebody's pad, somebody we barely knew and met at the party. The next day we got up (I was major hung over) and walked down to a cafe on Stanyan Street, on the eastern border of Golden Gate Park. We ordered breakfast, and while we were sitting there, I looked up and my high-school rival for my girl's affections was sitting across from us, drinking coffee and looking at us. He had hitch-hiked out from Texas and had only been in town since daybreak. He found us in San Francisco within three or four hours of his arrival, totally by accident. As much as I wanted him to beat it, she wanted him to stay (she was pissed because I got drunk at the party.) So we wound up playing that same old high-school rivalry game out, only we were in the West. We hitched all over the place--Yosemite National Park, up and down the coast, we hitched a ride with a newlywed couple and their best man to Grand Teton National Park, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in their van. We walked and hitched on the Nacimiento Road from Pacific Coast Highway in Pfieffer Big Sur over the Coast Range to the town of Jolon out in the desert. Finally, when he and I were about ready to kill one another, she suddenly announced she wanted to go back to Houston. The two of us (he and I) kicked in an equal amount and bought her an airplane ticket back to Houston. After her plane took off, he and I parted without a word, and went opposite directions. We were best friends, surf buddies, former fellow Boy Scouts, former adventuring pals, fighting over the same woman. I hitched up to L.A. and found myself on an eastbound on-ramp. A Checker cab pulled up and stopped. I went to the window and said, "Sorry, man, I don't have any money." And he said, "Well, that's okay, because this cab isn't licensed in this state. Get in." His Dad owned a cab company in Buffalo, New York and loaned him a cab in which to drive all over creation for the summer. We went to University of California and stayed at a frat house paying the summer rate of $3 a day per person. They threw a Red Mountain party, and I almost fell off a two-story roof onto a concrete patio, drunk as a skunk. I still love red wine. I drink Carlo Rossi Paisano. We went to Denver, CO, then Boulder. I liked Boulder a lot. We camped for a week or so up on Arapaho Canyon. Finally, I hitched back to Texas, and my girlfriend and I got an apartment together, but it didn't last. My friends from high-school were all headed to University of Texas at Austin that fall. I should have gone too, but I was trying to be a war protestor and a pacifist, and had to go to work at a rehabilitation hospital for two years as my "Alternative Service" from being a conscientious objector. I felt kind of abandoned. She told me she loved me, but faced with a choice of staying in Houston and being with me and going up to UT, she wisely chose college. While they were all up there, my best friend and my girl got married. I fell in love with a beautiful blonde daughter of a Rice University professor. But that's another story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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