Hope Street: Navigating My Way Through Homelessness (Part 2) ~ Before I was homeless, I had never hitchhiked in my life. I was fearful at first. Gratefully, my best friend, James, had a lot of experience hitching, so he taught me the ropes. We ended up hitchhiking more than 1,013 miles – from Alton, Illinois to Corpus Christi, Texas. You know, you hear so much these days about how selfish people are, how they only care about themselves. Yet, the people we met on the road (literally), renewed my faith in human kindness.
A Dog Is a Hitchhiker’s Best Friend
Let me say this: when you are a man and a woman traveling with a dog, you get just many people who stop just because they love dogs. In some cases, we were incidental. That’s okay by me. When we were on the side of the road with Curious George, cars would pass us and then return an hour later with a bag full of burgers for George – and some extras for us. They would also bring us small bags of dog food, which made me smile.
When hitchhiking, make yourself a good sign like “Going to Oklahoma City.” List the next large city on whatever road or highway you’re on, not the city where you want to end up at the end of your journey. If you stand on the on-ramp to the highway, you usually don’t get bothered by the police. Just don’t be yelling at people or talking with them. Not only is that rude, but it stirs up the ire of the authorities. It’s generally harder to get picked up in large cities than smaller ones because of the police. But, there’s a flip side. When people pick you up and then leave you at an exit with hardly any houses or businesses, it might be hours before you get another ride. At first, this was frustrating. I had little faith.
Maintaining An Expectant Attitude
Remember those juicy candies called Now and Laters? I love them. They gave me the idea for the best attitude to take while waiting for a person to give you a lift. It all has to do with having trust and patience. An expectant attitude of “Just the perfect person is going to come this way. It might be now, it might be later. But, it will happen” is the way to help create miracles.
It was the morning of my birthday, November 19, 2013. We were on Interstate 44 and it was a cold day. We had our hats and gloves on and we could see our breath. I kept thinking, “Boy, would I love some Kentucky Fried Chicken tonight.” We waited near the exit of the small town of Halltown, Missouri for close to four hours, taking turns playing with George and holding the sign. It was just starting to get dark. Out of nowhere it seemed, a young man in a red truck who we’d seen earlier that day, slowed down. He smiled, and then explained that he was going to the next town down the highway to Mount Vernon. He has a friend that owned a family motel where we could stay. We jumped in with George and our gear. Thirteen miles down the road, there was the motel… and sitting right next door was a KFC! Talk about crazy good!
It often seemed that the people who would stop had relatives or friends we had been homeless before or had hitchhiked, or they had been in that position themselves. Most of the rides we received on our 1013-mile trek were from young men in their 20s and 30s, or older gentlemen. Two were in the military near Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Sometimes we’d get a ride for 100 miles, sometimes for 20. We received 17 rides altogether. The key is to go with the flow and have fun. Treat it like the adventure it is.
Our last ride was perhaps the most memorable. After spending Christmas in San Antonio, Texas, unable to find work, in January, we set our sights on Corpus Christi and the beach. We had been standing on the Interstate ramp for hours. It was dusk, about 6:30. James was just about to scout places nearby where we could sleep for the night. We both looked up as a vehicle slowed. A newly-married couple who had just been given a RV offered us a ride all the way to Corpus that night – in one swoop –and shared their food as we talked and laughed all the way. They had a thirteen year old, long haired cat that just sat there the whole time, looking at Curious George ever so hesitantly.
Using Discernment
Some people asked me after the fact, “Susan, weren’t you afraid of who was picking you up?” You know, the old ax murderer scenario. Not to say that hitchhiking is ideal. It isn’t. But, when you must hitchhike, you need to be observant and exercise discernment as with anything involving strangers. There’s just as much possible danger for the person with the vehicle as the hitchers. It’s all about reading people. As with anything, if it feels wrong, wait for the next ride. The people that graced us with a ride got just as much pleasure from the experience as we did. As it turns out, many of the people who stopped were driving alone, and welcomed the company of other travelers. Truly, I’ve seen that whatever goes around, comes around.
(This article was originally published in Spring 2017.)
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