You take a leap of faith when you get on a commercial airline, a ferry, or a train.
And so too on the road, when you're hitch-hiking, you are hoping the driver picking you up is unarmed, sober, rational and not too weird. Bob & I, had a perfected a team method in our hitch-hiking process. We decided before we got in the car, who was going to sit in the front seat. That guy would have to talk with the driver, and the guy in the back could sack out. We had this set before each ride. "I got the back!" "OK".
If you have a friend hitching with you, you have a second opportunity to "connect" with the driver. If there's two people in the front, conversation opportunities increase. We also had a "third person" hitching with us on every ride, even if we were hitching solo. The "Third man in"' a hockey expression, was in effect, and that third man was Dale Carnegie.
Dale Carnegie wrote a book called "How to Win Friends and Influence People" My younger sister gave me a hard copy of this book, and I am sure it was a joke. Just a joy to read, this book is truly a classic. With its timeless stories the author uses to illustrate the principles of getting along with others, and we read it, and tested it on the road. It flat our worked. and it made such an impact on me years ago that I still recommend it to people to this day.
His book is not just a set of instructions - it's an art form, and using it was a feat. My favorite question to ask the driver was if they were in the Armed service, and or, what was their first automobile. Then sit back, and listen for an hour. The stories that came out were classics.
Another issue when hitchhiking over a thousand miles, is how well can you sleep in a moving car. My mom used to say, since I was a baby, that it only took one revolution of the car wheel for me to fall sound asleep. To this day, if I am not driving, I can sleep for hours in a car. It is refreshing to get 3-4 hours of sleep, especially if you will be the next guy driving, or trying to keep an obstinate driver awake, who refuses to let you drive.
My hitchhiking partner was just too amped, he refused to sleep in the car, and would ramble with the driver, or lean forward in the back of the car to participate in conversations. Bob arrived exhausted on all of our trips. The ying and the yang of our personalities was in play.
We never offered to pay for gas, nor were we ever asked to chip in to pay a toll or buy gas. If someone wanted to buy us a meal, and they did, we always accepted. We never carried drugs or alcohol on us, fearing for a police shakedown. We never had a lot of money either, I think I had 115 dollars for this California trip. We also never carried any food or water.
We had typical haircuts for the time. We didn't wear our hair really long, but it was over our ears. Farley had blue jeans and a blue denim jacket. I had a lifeguard windbreaker and a pair of brown corduroys. Farley had a blue dufflebag, a sleeping bag in the bottom. I had an extra shirt or two, in a BSA Yucca back, and a dusty old sleeping bag lashed to the top of it. I was near-sighted and wore glasses, and Bob had 20/20 eyesight.
As we jumped in this old VW bug, the door slamming like a garbage can cover, the driver roared out on the Ohio blacktop, and we headed into a steady rain and then thuderstorms.
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