Over in the Karma Bank thread, a few posts discuss hitch-hiking, with a few people mentioning giving a ride to a stranger on occasion. I thought this would be an interesting topic - so, have you ever given a ride to a stranger, or taken one from a stranger? What were the circumstances?
I have accepted a ride only once. Was hiking in the mountains of northern Italy many years ago, was tired and hungry, so descended to the road that was roughly parallel to the trail I was on, and just stuck out my thumb. A few minutes later a man drove up in his Mercedes and I stated the town I wanted to get to, which was a few miles a way, and he opened the door, I hopped in, and a few minutes later I was where I wanted to be.
I do not recall ever giving a ride to someone, tho.
Actually lots when I lived in the ‘burbs of DC. People line up in “slug lines” to ride with strangers so that they can use the HOV lines, usually to the Pentagon.
It happened when I attended High School. The school was in a town about 12km far from my town. Some days I arrived late at the bus stop, so I had to run to the main street and doing “Autostop”.
I went to school taking rides almost one day a week!
I gave a stranger a ride once. I was driving home, it was about 10 miles to the town. It was hot. I passed a woman carrying a gas can. She was probably late 50s or so. She looked kind of freaked out. I stopped, she said her husband was in the car. They had run out of gas, she took off on foot because he couldn’t walk due to health concerns. She was frantic to get back to him. I offered to go get him, but she just wanted to go to the gas station and get fuel. I took her there and back to her car.
I’ve given, gotten rides many times. Never any problems. Two examples from the top of my head.
I watched a gal lock herself out of her car just as the skies opened up to pour rain down upon her; stopped, drove her home about 5 miles away to pick up her spare key, brought her back to her vehicle.
My daughter and I hiked down the Sleeping Bear Dune, decided hiking back up was unwise due to heat and cardiac issues. We walked a mile to a road, thumbed a ride with a family in a mini van who detoured about 5 miles to take us back to our car.
Yeah, these exist in San Francisco as well. For the same reason, Casual Carpool. I have not used it, but people I work with in the city use it regularly. I had not thought about these.
Accepted a ride from a guy wearing a funny hat and driving a white panel van. To make it even stupider, it was along Highway 1 south of San Francisco, a place with plenty of lonely turnoffs just right for mayhem. Turns out he was taking the day off from serial killing.
I pulled off the highway to help a guy with a flat tire. Took him and his spare to the nearest gas station. On the way back to his car, he told me he was on the way to a town south of there to preach on Sunday morning. Naturally he had to take the opportunity to witness for the Lord. I asked him if he planned on mentioning the Good Samaritan.
When I lived in Jakarta, they had HOV lanes and there were people who you’d pay to get in the car to ride with you. A woman with a baby was a bonus because two people for the price of one.
Routinely in the 70’s and 80’s, first hitching when I had no car, then picking up hitchhikers after I got one. Less commonly since then, partly because hitchhikers became rarer and rarer. I think the last time I picked somebody up was maybe around ten years ago, a frazzled looking woman who, when I stopped for her, said she was trying to get to a job interview but her car had broken down (no public transport around here) so she was trying to get there on foot but she was afraid she was going to be late. She had several miles left to go; I took her where she was going. Some months later I stopped at the place to buy something and she was working there. (I’m partly faceblind and wouldn’t have known her, but she had distinctive tattoos, I’ve now forgotten the details.)
Actually, I just remembered another time I got a ride from someone, more recently. I started a backpacking trip with a buddy, but the weather was cold and I was not really prepared for snow, so I baled-out and left the trip via a different trailhead, creating a partial loop. At the end trailhead I flagged down a nice woman who was just out for a walk on the trail I had just come down, who gave me a ride about a mile down the road to a lake with a small store. No cell service, so I waited for another ride, but she came by again, this time with her boyfriend who was fishing at the lake, and offered to take me all the way into town, about 5 miles away. I got dropped-off and was able to call for a ride home, and thanked them both profusely.
Between jobs, some 30 years ago. I was a volunteer counselor for a summer camp run by the county, alternating one week in a county high school and one week in Prince William Forest. Camp had closed for the day so I was on my way from the high school to the county mental health program I participated in, a work rehab sort of place. The walk was only about a mile but it was pouring rain.
I was walking along, minding my own business, and this black sports car pulled up behind me; something like a 300ZX with 2+2 seats. Two young ladies were inside and invited me out of the rain. We dithered for a bit then the passenger slid into the back so I got in; I told them where I was headed but they weren’t sure where that was. So I had them drop me at the post office straight up the road, that was around the corner and a couple of blocks from the mental health place.
I’ve been mistaken for a cop a few times when wearing my raincoat. The young ladies probably thought I was one at first.
Summer after high school I went camping with a buddy of mine. We drove way out into a state forest and then hiked in and camped for a few days. When we got back to the car, it wouldn’t start. This was pre-cell phone. We were about 10 miles from any road with serious traffic.
We started walking and made it about 7 miles before we saw a pickup truck. We flagged it down and the elderly couple gave us a ride. I could tell they were nervous about us, but we rode in the back of the truck with their dogs. They took us back to their house, we called our parents to tell them we were going to be very late, but just got answering machines, and then the man drove us back to the car to jump it, then it died again while we were driving out and he came back to jump it again and then followed us out until we got to a service station.
That’s when we finally connected with my friend’s parents (whose car it was) who said “didn’t we tell you about the fuse that comes loose sometimes?”
I’ve hitched a bunch, mostly to get back to my car after a hike or to get to the trailhead before the start. To keep my karma I would often give rides to other hikers that I saw in the mountains.
In New Zealand we met some folks in a hut while hiking who actually gave us their car and told us to go stay in their house when we came out earlier than them. Kiwis are super nice.
Once, many years ago, was filling up at a gas station and a woman came up and asked for a ride. I’d always said no to such requests, but she looked especially pitiful, and I thought, ‘if I say no, maybe the next guy she asks will be a creep’. So we get in the car, and a minute later she offers sex. I suppose there would have been $ involved. For several reasons, I said no, and we finished the ride in silence.
