Would you hitch hike to conserve your car?

sylvie

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This is a "what if" question.
If your car had to last you for from now until you could no longer legally drive, would you hitch hike to conserve it?
Would you hitch hike if no gas were available?
Would you hitch hike if no public transportation were available or friends/relatives in close proximity?

I have done my fair share of hitch hiking in my younger days. I also hitched all over Great Britain.
If many began this practice again would you be more comfortable trying it?
It may or may not be something we need to consider in our self sufficient plans. I hope not.
 
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If I didn't have a family at home I might. With 5 kids I try not to take chances. Too many crazies out there. I hitched a lot in the 70's though. If I was desperate I would get a bicycle or a scooter.
 

keljonma

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On some of the rural roads we have lived on, you'd have to be pretty far from home to get a ride. It seems the only place I see hitchhikers anymore near our place is on I-90.

I think I would take up bicycling everywhere again.
 

Farmfresh

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I vote bring back the horse! Or at least the bike.

I would never hitch ... unless I was feeling suicidal.
 

FarmerChick

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Absolutely not.
Never have and never will.
I did accept rides from friends if they found me walking along a road to a destination. As long as I knew them very well......

I would never let my daughter hitch hike either. I will tell her from Day 1 to stay out of a strangers car, regardless of her age.

This is a no go for me!
 

freemotion

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Absolutely not. I would just have to plan better, and carpool with friends when needed. Also, as I already do, I check with friends who have to go to certain towns regularly and see if they can pick up ABC or XYZ while there, and I do the same for them. Whenever we find a great sale on something, we pick up the phone and ask each other if we should pick up extra for them.

It is fun when the checkout clerk says, "Wow, you must REALLY like {fill in the blank} a LOT!!" :D
 

MorelCabin

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I used to hitch alot as a kid, and had a couple of very frightening experiences...like once I got picked up by a guy who I saw on America's most wanted about a year later. Luckily for me, that time, the police were watching him I guess because he didn't stop where I asked him to and all of a sudden out of nowhere there were three cop cars pulling us over...it was creepy...I left in one of the copcars as they were prying the guys trunk with a crowbar... :th

Another time I got stuck in a horrible rainstorm at a campground. DH was at work and the tent got totally rained out. Here I was with a 2 year old and a four year old, hitching in the middle of no where to get back to town...I got a ride with a really nice elderly couple.

And my last hitching experience was actually this summer...had to get into town to get my car...and I hitched a ride...
So no, hitching doesn't scare me, I carefully screen who I get in the car with though. (now that I'm older and wiser:>)
I will pick up hitchers too, depending. I will never pick up a teenager, they are usually on some drug or another and I won't take the risk. But I do pick up older people, all the time
 

xpc

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Hitch hiked only a few times back in the late 70's and would never do it again - San Diego to Milwaukee almost got me killed in 78', details are not family friendly. I will be building a street legal electric 3 wheel bicycle when moved into new cabin to save on car registration and insurance.
 

Quail_Antwerp

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I don't think I'd ever hitch hike, but I won't say never, because once you say Never, that's when you find yourself doing just that. I s'pose if it was a life/death type thing, then yes, I would, but I'd be picky about the car I got into and I'd trust my gut.

Now, kind of OT but still relating to hitch hiking....

Several years ago E was driving home and his dad was with him. They were in an old Ford Bronco. It was pitch black out and raining. Apparantly some guy was hitch hiking and had his thumb out along the edge of the road. The idiot was dressed in ALL BLACK! So of course, E couldn't see him! The Bronco's passenger side mirror collided with said Hitcher's thumb....at 55 MPH. That was when E realized there was a guy out there thumbing for a ride! FIL said, "Are ya going to stop?" E said, "Nope!"

I've always wondered how that guys thumb felt, and if he ever tried hitch hiking again!
 
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