RIDES
‘No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted’ Aesop
Rides documents my journey hitchhiking over 15,000 miles across the USA and Canada, through the people that picked me up.
View from the back of Chis and Heathers car.
In the back of Chris and Heathers car with their daughter Lyn, Colorado Springs to Limon, CO. They picked me up on their way to court for a traffic violation.
Jeanne picked me up on her way to buy herself a puppy. Snow Shoe, Silver Creek, WV
Johnny and Bobby Fogelman picked me up in Cross City, FL and took me home with them for the night. The next morning they decided to go on a road trip and drove me 200 miles around the Florida panhandle, further than they had been in 13 years.
Jerry Wilkins, Rte 81 Wilkes-Barre PA Picked me up on his weekly route to Harrisburg PA
Rest Stop off Interstate 40
Road kill Rte 52 PA
Mike Williams, Nanty Glo, PA Picked me up on the 2nd pass. He seemed a pretty quiet kid, I did all the talking. 20 mins after dropping me off he picked me back up with a 6 pack, showed me around his town, threw a party and let me camp in his yard
Chris and his Dad Garry picked me up outside of Hamlin, WV and took me back to their home in the backcountry. All was great until Garry, over a beer, informed me that if he was to shoot and bury me out there no one would ever find me.
Chris taking a dip in the lake on their land
Aaron and June picked me up whilst holidaying on the Muskingum river, Ohio. Spent the night camping with them
June
Shane picked me up on his way home in Pexia, AL. He took me a couple of miles up the road to go rabbit hunting and allowed me to crash on his land for the night.
Jordana New Orleans, LA to Slidell, LA. She worked as a stripper at the only bar in town that allowed tattoos. She rescued me after I was abandoned by a drunk oil worker who had driven me into New Orleans, to see the town, on the understanding he would drive me back out.
Allen Human picked me up and drove me into Las Vegas
Truck Stop TN
Charles Lyndell Carrol picked me up on Rte 35 Texas. He was taking his step kids to meet their father.
I slid open the side door of his beige van only to confronted by what looked like an engine in pieces on the back floor. Thomas was going, or flying towards rte 70. He looked like he had been living in the van for the last 20 years. The most worrying side of his appearance was how dirty his glasses were. That mixed with the grime and the circular crack on the windscreen in front of the passenger seat, led me to a very daunting conclusion about the previous occupant.
Diner outside of Indianapolis
Teresa, truck stop outside of Indianapolis. Picked me up on her way to work as a Lot Lizard.
Jesse James Hemingway, picked me up in his rig on his way home to Maysville, Kentucky. He encapsulated the spirit of a lot of the people who picked me up. After 6 hours of riding with him, he had me sleeping on the sofa, in his sitting room, whilst his children slept next door. The next day I was reminded of this trust.
Whilst alone playing with the kids in the yard, his daughter Bridgette started crying incessantly because her bike had a flat tire. Dawn her mother came running out but Brittany wouldn't tell her what was wrong. Jesse was called to a meeting with Dawn and a still blubbing Brittany in the back room, whilst I sat in the sitting room listening to them question her. All I could think of was that Jesse had been put away for Automatic weapons and we were in the middle of nowhere. It reminded me that trust had to go both ways.
Joyce scooped me up off a rancid ramp on Rte 40 outside of Amarillo
Ron Collins, Mill Creek, WV
A smoldering hike along 71 in Arkansas
Tyler, Nanty Glo, PA. Renee and Tyler picked me up on their way to buy tickets to Ozzfest.
Benny Harrison and his wife had been riding trucks together for 23 years. they picked me up outside Effingham, IL
Harold Acmes picked me up at an Amoco gas station in Molino, FL. He took me back to his house for lunch, before dropping me back on the road side.
Truckstop somewhere around the Great Lakes with Erwin
Erwin picked me up by mistake having lost his gears halfway through Spanish, ON and me thinking he was pulling over to pick me up. 2 hours later Erwin was asleep on the bottom bunk, whilst I lay wide awake on the top bunk, in the back of his truck, with a stun gun in one hand and a hunting knife in the other. Wondering how stupid could I be to end up in a sound proof cabin with a man I had only met 2 hrs before lying 4 ft below me.. The wild 4 day ride, moving furniture with Erwin the 'truckers trucker', culminated with me driving the 18 wheeler as the sun rose over the prairies of Saskatchewan, with Erwin snoring in the back.
Roadside, outside of Oklahoma City, OK
My bed side on 84
A bedroom I shared with 3 hobos outside of Columbia, MO
Jim Mead Rte 10, AL to Jacksonville FL. On his way to sit with his dying friend. Rode with him for 2 days in a smoke chamber disguised as a car.
Jake Miller, an army vet, unemployed and angry at America, gave me lift to Lewistown, PA. We ate with his family and went to the local bar.
Butch and Ethel picked me up on their way up to their land. They intended to build their dream house overlooking the Muskingum River, Ohio
Roadside
'Scale Runner' picked me up at a Petro Station on Rte 81. Took me 200 miles then let me sleep on his floor, fed me, then put me back on 81 at Marion VA
Steve Smith, Zanesville to Philo, Ohio. Picked me up on the way back from a club in Columbus.
Linda Cook took time out to show me her favorite spots off rte 271, PA
Ronnie Bishop, Waynesboro MS
Derek picked me up in Hyannis, MA but couldn't promise a destination because he was having trouble with his transmission. Camped with him and his friends on Devils Island off Woodshole before moving on.
Ray Osbourne, somewhere on our journey between Flagstaff AZ and Los Angeles CA
Jeff Ellix, Flying J truck stop outside Dallas
Roadkill, WV
Missy Ward a Wiccan from Kentucky, on her way to the dump. Lectured me on Witchcraft
Holly and her girlfriend Caroline were off to buy liquor in the neighboring county, which wasn't dry. After two hours in the car I spent the couple of days with them in a motel room, where they supposedly dealt drugs. It was 400 meters from where they picked me up. Monroe, AL
Caroline, Monroe AL
Motel room outskirts of Chicago
Duke Nelson, Pensacola, FL. A friend of Joker, a tramp I has befriended. Gave me a ride to the edge of town.
Tom Rte 22, PA Lewistown to Hollidaysberg
Amanda and her boyfriend Nikita gave me a lift along Rte 209 to Port Jervis, NY
Michael Anderson picked me up on his way home for dinner. Knoxville, TN
'Snakeman Putnam' Drove me through Putnam with a slight detour to see his python
A couple from New Zealand on a road trip around the US. Brewster NY to Poughkeepsie NY
Earl picked me up on the way to get supplies, Bonners Ferry, ID
Don and Dorris Elgin, had been driving together for 40 years. They rarely picked up hitchhikers but took pity on me in the TA, Albuquerque, NM
Julius outside his home. Harrisburg, PA. Gave me a lift through town.
Jeff Mcvena's truck Mesquite, Rte15, NV
Sandra Rosie Millard rescued me from a 4hr lift-less spell, on a shoulderless road outside of Torrington CT. She invited me for a swim at her friends place and then proceeded to sell a sachet of heroine to Joe and his Dad, who came out bemoaning that some stranger was dangling his feet in their pool
Ramp sign on I20, Texas
40 miles with a talkative Rob Allen, Squires, MO
Billy Williams, East Stroudsburg, PA to Harlem, NYC. He was on his 2nd night of no sleep, had to stop for more Ephedrine.
Broke down with Warren going along Rte 70 in Kansas
Jen's husband Richard had picked me up the night before in Whitby, ON. I slept on the sofa and Jen put me back on the road the next morning with a packed lunch on the way to school
Dan a Beef Jerky manufacturer picked me up on the way back from work. Took me 10 mins down the road to Deer Lodge, MT
When Gilbert Kirmen picked me up I hesitated getting into the car. Something didn't feel right. After a quiet 10 mins of driving, he told me he had been nervous picking me up. Something about my appearance, the scruffy bearded guy with an enormous rucksack and camera bag didn't ring true.
Brendan picked me up after dropping his family at the greyhound bus station. They were going to live with his parents in Canada whilst he made some money working on a farm. He dropped me at the US/Canada border at Porthill
Fort Walton Beach, FL. James and his family gave me a ride through town.
Steve Balogh, Victorville to Barstow, CA
'Twice Shy' picked me up on his way home to Bayou Cane, LA
Daryll, Lamourie, LA. A quick ride across town and an evening drinking beer with his grandfather.
I climbed into Cheryll's car to be told that people wouldn't have picked me up because there was a psychiatric hospital in the next town, which meant it was illegal to hitchhike. "But Jesus loves you. That's why I picked you up"
Robert W Cooper and Christina, Rte 400, ON. On their way to Swimming lessons
Glen Bueber initially stopped to give me a ride to Cody, an hour up the road from Yellowstone, NP. Instead we spent 5 days touring Montana, Little Big Horn, the Badlands and 2 very awkward nights visiting his old college friends. It had been Glens 1st holiday in 5 years. It then took me 9.5 hours sitting at a wheat field crossing, outside his parents farm in Tripp, South Dakota to get my next lift.
Drenched on the side Rte 12, ON. John pulled over on the way to a moulding trade show.
Local student saved me after 7 hrs standing on the hard shoulder outside Oklahoma City. Took me to Yukon and treated me to a Mac D's
Potential ride Ohio
Gunther picked me up in the middle of nowhere after I had hiked across the Rockies in Canada. Very aware of how much I smelt in his pristine car, I was relieved when he dropped me at Fenwick BC, where I got my 1st coffee in 5 days
Steve Jacklett a 50 year old welder, worked on submarines during the week and cans upon cans of beer at the weekends. The way he stumbled and fumbled for his keys was the first sure hint I got. The next came halfway through the journey when he started to shout midway through his sentences. He ranted so hard about the immigration problem that he took me all the way to Manchester, CT. 30 miles further down the road.
Rides
Conversations from the car