I'm just wondering if anybody on the forums has any general hitchhiking advice. Any would be sincerely appreciated, including the best ways and places to get a ride and how long a trip like that might last. Thanks!

some truckers will give you a ride for bj...others won't

lived the wanderers life from 16 to 24... Its fukin tough and I don't recommend it but I miss it somehow...

have you ever seen into the wild great movie and true story of a wanderer...

truckstops are agood place to get rides and also good place to get assaulted....be careful... And be ready to literaly walnk for days be hungry as **** and end up sleeping outside... Good luck man.... Before you leave you should ask yourself what your looking for..... I found it to be exactly what I had started out running from@......Good luck....
p.s. I hope you know you could end up dead.. I lost afew on the way ...

I'll check the movie out. Thanks for the heads up.
I have family in Florida that I need to go see... so there is a purpose for the whole thing.
I've been homeless before, been jumped. I know what to look for in people, how to tell hostile areas, and all that. There's always risk, though, and I appreciate the warning.

Hitchhiking is illegal.. good luck.

... Thanks.

Much more difficult these days.

I remember, as a kid, in the early 70's, my parents picking up two very large young men, that were hitchhiking on the highway. They were college kids, hippies, very friendly and courteous.

If you asked my parents today if they would do that again, they would both say "No, never." Too many weirdos and psychos have ruined things for the normal people that may be out there hitch-hiking.

Kind, generous people will be much more apt to pass you by, these days, with good reason.

well DUh! but whooptie doo i wouldnt worry about that out of all the years and all the police i saw only one ever stopped and all he did was tell me to stop it and drive off...

id worry ALOT more about your safety from weirdos but you gotta play that by ear and follow your gut....

as far as too many weirdos messing it up theres allways been weirdos and the only real difference is the sensational fear mongering news hacking every story into an epidemic for ratings... The world hasnt gotten any worse all that "These days **** is total baloney" or that in my day we didnt have that Yeah right ... the past was just as bad if not worse Human natiure has not changed and so neither has the depravity of unstable individuals...

Fear mongering or not, by our beloved media, the perception remains. I'm just saying - this isn't the 70's. People are less apt to give someone a ride, thus making it more difficult.

bring a wep,preferrably a knife

You are most definately correct although i did pretty well in the Late 90's .. there are people out there i follow my gut but pick up some... if you use a guitar case as luggage you get picked up more... people like musicians.. it seemed like ALOT of the people that picked me up wanted to preach and thats okay i like talking especially after walking all day with nothing biut my thoughts...

Like i said be prepared to possibly walk all day or possibly days and sleep under bridges untill you can get a ride.. if you ever read Jack Keroaks (spelled wrong) The Road it is his account of hitchhiking all over in the beatnick era and his accounts of the ratio of pickup to walking seemed to fit in with my personal experience..

I admit, it would be interesting, as sort of a social experiment, to try it in different regions and even different countries.

But a little too dangerous, I think, for my liking. I have a sense of adventure and all, but I would have to preview all the concealed weapons laws in every state I was planning on going thru.

Wouldn't want to get caught with my pants down (insert Deliverance reference here).

my uncle had to move in with us for several months when i was younger because he picked up a hitchhiker...who stabbed him in the liver.

i'm sure that goes both ways.

a guy I knew was thrown from a car on the highway by someone who picked him up or at least that's what his family told me he's dead...not sure how you let that happen but sounds painful...

yea if your gonna be checkin laws I wouldn't recommend it.. Its more of a follow your own laws kinda path .. I've had to steal to eat.. And even had to sleep in a very hastily made igloo in colorado w a old friend...as far as adventure yes danger yes good idea NEVER....

I miss it but I'm not that person anymore still I think about it ..couldn't do it again .. There's alot of pain involved...

I talked about itpretty extensively in a thread about a month back....

I've seen things I'll never forget and some tragedies I'll never understand .. Wouldn't change it for the world it was horrible and beautiful...
like 8 years and I survived

Been there ..done that..not fun. MUST you hitch hike? Is it a thing you want to do, or just a means to get there? If you really must get to Fla...to your family...and have no funds...Please try the Salvation Army, local places that help people in your area, or a church. They are all very helpful when it comes to "gettin ya home".
Think twice B-4 you hit the highway.

I hitched in my youth, and took an eccentric 'hitching vacation' just two years ago with my girlfriend. I think it was about 2k miles.

People were good. We had rides from people who gave us a narrated tours of the parts we were driving through, interesting geographic/geologic features, history, etc. Quite a few people offered to put us up for the night, though some of those people seemed shady, several were very cool. You will meet the most amazing people, because 'normal' people don't pick up hitchikers.

I don't think much has changed in the last 10 years, but I believe those who say its changed since the 70s. Saftey-wise, I'm not entirely comfortable hitching in the eastern states; people seem to be more frightened and mistrustful, and to have less care for strangers.

Rides will vary with the region and road. Hitching is not something to do if you really intend to arrive by a particular time; though you can always just switch over to greyhound if you are behind schedule. Hitching anywhere near an urban center is very difficult. It varies with the culture of the city, but is never easy.

I carried mace, once, on my first trip, over 15 years ago. Threw it away halfway through the trip and have never carried anything like it since. I generally don't carry valuables.

If you get stuck in a city, and want to 'hitch' in the sense of 'side of the road, thumb out' (as opposed to chatting it up at gas stations, or using craigslist), I would recommend taking public transit as far out of town as you can before you hitch.



Well, a lot of people do well at truck stops, but I don't. If pedestrians are legal on the road (or enforcement is lax), I will just walk on the side of the road in the direction of my destination, even if its over a thousand miles away. I'll focus on enjoying the walk, and it won't matter if hours pass before I get picked up. I carry gear and supplies so that it truly wouldn't matter if I didn't get picked up for days.

If I can't do the above, I will find a place to sit or stand at an on ramp, with or without a sign showing my destination. Bring a few books. Pick up more on the way. You will have some rides who are looking to proselytize, they always have reading material.

I have had a lot of peaceful interaction with the police, security, and property owners while hitching. I am always completely honest and open with them, and they usually try to help - especially with regional or circumstantial advice.

If this is your first hitch, I would go with someone; preferably someone whose done it before.

There are website dedicated to hitching; you might work on your route, and post questions specifically about those roads.

Thanks for all the help and support.
Weapons, maps, and ready-eat food I figured.
I've done something like this before... but never nearly as far.

I could take a bus down there. I could fly on a plane.
So then you could designate it as something that I want to do, alone.

Kinda like how you say you're going to walk home from the bar because a lot's on your mind.
Enough's on my mind that it might take a walk to Florida.

So, thanks everybody!

i m headed that way tonight if you were in tn you could hitch a ride with me going as far as jacksonville but good luck to you hope we don't see you on the news

I used to hitch hike a lot

I wouldn't now though

one thing that used to work for me, I would buy a six pack of beer and hold it up with my thumb. Always got a ride

EDIT: and I never carried a weapon. If you have a weapon you're more likely to allow yourself to get in a situation where you need one.

Most people bring a knife on a trip like this--my advice--pack a small hog leg--just for the people who are dumb enough to bring a knife to a gun fight!