The Surprising Reason We Don't Hitchhike Anymore - Cheddar Explains 

I never pick people up because i am scared they might be a serial killer...although the odds of having two serial killers in the same car are pretty unlikely.

Now we have an app for that.

Two years ago I moved from Pakistan to Pittsburgh PA. It was my first week and I had gotten on the wrong bus. I had two suitcases and must have looked lost. An older lady asked where I wanted to go and drove me there. She said she never picked up strangers because it's not safe but she didn't feel right leaving without helping. She drove me a few blocks to where I had to be. The 3 minute drive would have taken me 30 minutes on foot because of the luggage I had and my lack of knowledge of the neighborhood. I am really grateful for her help because at the time I was really in need of the assistance. I guess it helped that it was early in the day, we were in a safe part of town and that I was probably looking pretty helpless and confused since it was my first week in a new country. Anyway i really appreciated the lady's act of kindness. May God bless her where ever she is.

i had the weirdest hitchhiking encounter back in 1977, i was getting on the interstate ramp on my way to work when i felt something crawling from my work boot and up my leg unto my thigh. i quickly pulled over to the side of the ramp and crushed it with my hand through my pants. i pulled down my pants and grabbed a napkin out the glove box and was wiping off my thigh of a crushed palmetto bug. There was a guy and a girl hitchhiking at the bottom of the ramp and they started running up to my car thinking i had pulled over to give them a ride, when they came up to my car and saw me with my pants down wiping my thigh with a napkin they took off running back down the ramp. They wouldnt even give me a chance to explain what happened.

The US is the country with the most "stranger danger" mentality I've ever seen.

I tried to hitch a ride once. But Hitler was already in the passenger seat.

I was born because my hippie mom was hitchhiking and the hippie sperm donor picked her up. They made a date for later, drugs were involved, she never saw him again. Viola! Here I am.

The last time I needed a hitchhike, I started from a gas station where I could chat with everyone who needed gas. I offered to share the gas expense. This worked fine and I would do it again if I needed to.

Media in 1960’s: Hitchhiking is dangerous, avoid at all costs! Media today: Need extra money? Have strangers pay you to drive them around in your car!

I don't want to ride alone with Hitler's ghost. Better go around asking who wants to get in my van.

I think the decline in hitchhiking is just another symptom of the social siloing we've witnessed in recent decades, along with overuse of technology and neighbors not even knowing each other. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and neighborhoods were like family back then. We all knew each other and looked out for one another, and everyone seemed to be more authentic back then. Now people seem like zombies. It's sad to see this social and cultural morass.

In 1971 I began my adult life by leaving my parent's home in Houston by walking a block to the highway and sticking my thumb out. Four days later I was in California. I worked that summer. Later that year I hitchhiked back home. The next year I hitchhiked to the east coast and worked all summer and then hitchhiked back to Houston. So in those two years I hitchhiked all the way across the United States and back.

Narrator: “People really enjoyed the good conversations.” Hitchhiker: Immediately opens newspaper.

They used to say "Don't get in to cars with strangers". Later they said don't "Don't give your personal information to strangers on the internet". Nowadays you give strangers you personal info on line so yo can go take a ride in a strangers car. Times have indeed changed.

Driver: "Yes.. a hitchhiker.. I shall pick him up.. the perfect victim" Hitchhiker: "Yes.. a good Samaritan has fallen for my trap.. the perfect victim"

About 10 years ago we picked up a young guy in the Great Smokies who looked lost. Turned out he was a German tourist, we went hiking with him together and had a good time

In South Africa, when someone needs a lift somewhere, to a specific city or even a suburb within a metro, special hand gestures have formed to inform the oncoming driver where the hitchhiker wants to go. Hand gestures have formed for places like; Germiston, Durban, Umhlanga, In the area or a local place.

Uber. "Why would I *give* someone a ride when I can _charge them_ instead?"

We were encouraged to pick up soldiers in Vietnam. "He may be from your hometown" was what the ad said on Armed Forces Radio Vietnam.

I hitchhiked all through the 80s and some of the 90s. Never had an incident.

Remember kids, always get in stangers cars to lessen your carbon footprint

Lmao one time my grandfather let a random guy drive him from Miami to Tampa while he slept in the back of the car in the 90s 😂 it was his own car and he asked the hitch hiker guy to drive him to Tampa. 😂 My grandpa didn’t speak English and the white guy obliged. It was hilarious when my family in Tampa were like “who is that?! He drove you all the way here from Miami?!” They took him in and fed him and he had a great time. It was a hilarious story.

In that movie clip, he stuck his thumb out right as the car drove by. It's a wonder he didn't stop.

When I was a teenager in the 80's I would hitchhike often. I never went far from my house, like accross country, but usually between 15-30 miles from home. Usually during the day, unless I was with someone and we did it at night. One of the last times I did it I was with a friend and we were drunk, coming home from the bar. This guy picked us up and it got really weird, the driver was asking us if we ever had gay sex and things like that. My friend was in the back seat, and after the driver failed to stop after we asked him, the friend pulled a knife on the guy and put it up to his face and told him to stop immediately, which of course he complied. We got out and laughed about what just happened as we walked the rest of the way home.

When I was a little kid in the late 70's, My family was on a road trip. I can remember my dad pulling over at a random spot on the road and some guy just got in the car in the back seat with me. My 4 year-old mind was like "who is this guy? and why are you in our car?" I was scared of him. I crawled over the seat and sat between my parents, and the guy just giggled. He was going to the same place we were headed. Dodge City, Kansas. It was about a 3 hour ride. I don't remember a lot from my early childhood, but this hitchhiker l did remember. His name was Jake, and he was just some nice older guy, probably in his 50's who smiled and laughed and seemed very happy and upbeat. He told stories about his family, and of places he'd been. He was coming back from Branson Missouri where he tried to get in to the country music scene. He was almost broke, had to sell his car and guitar to pay rent, and was trying to get back home. I eventually opened up, and got over my shyness. He treated me like I was one of his own family. I eventually crawled back over the seat and into the back with him and sat right beside him, showing him my coloring book and my toys. He even colored a picture with me. He sang songs and taught me how to play the license plate game. He talked bout seeing various country music stars that came through. We even stopped off at a little mom & pop restaurant in some small town and he had lunch with us. By the time we dropped him off he seemed like an old friend. When we got to his destination he said his thank yous and goodbyes and I cried and held on to his arm wanting him to stay. The look in his eyes was heartbreaking. "Aww honey. Don't you worry." As I could see him getting teary-eyed too. "If the good lord's willin' and the creeks don't rise, We'll all meet up again." As he got out of the car, and we drove off, I bawled my little heart out, staring out of the back window of the car, waving my hand and watched him wave back until he was too far away to see. I cried for like 20 minutes, begging for my dad to turn around and go back to get him, And that it was mean to leave him behind. According to my Mom, for months after, I would ask when we were going to see Jake again. I guess it wasn't meant to be, because we never heard or seen anything of him again. Despite taking several trips to Dodge City in the following years. I sometimes wonder what ever happened to the sweet old guy. Still breaks my heart thinking about him. I do hope he lived happily. Darn, I'm sitting here about to cry again..

I always offer rides in my van. I even offer candy like a good host.

..what??!! ive hitchhiked for roughly half my life and ill always be grateful to those who help in the most desperate times of horrible weather or getting stuck in one place for days or more, while slowly running out of food/water/dry clothing/etc.. i can honestly say that hitchhiking made me a better & stronger person, & changed my life in more positive ways than i could ever entirely go through..; plus the memories you store and amazing people you meet along the way, are incomparable to just staring at a screen wishing you could AFFORD to travel.. :) NOTE: ..obviously there are risks when it comes to hitchhiking(like many other things in life), so in no way am i recommending people just 'stick their thumb in the road' or anything..

As someone who has hitchhiked (in the last decade), I can say, it is indeed a rather fun thing to do. You do actually have very interesting conversations doing it.

We also used to let kids walk a mile to the grocery store in the dark to pick up a pack of smokes for mom or dad...

I was there and I can guarantee that nobody knew or cared about their carbon footprint in the 60s and 70s. People were focused on recycling, wildlife preserves, not littering, more visible and personal kinds of environmentalism.

I remember when I was a kid, me and my dad went out of town to get a Christmas tree from up in the mountains, and his truck broke down. We had to hitchhike to get back, and after an hour we were picked up by a wonderful lady. She really saved us and I got nothing but gratitude for her.

I hitchhiked pretty extensively across North America, and it's still works, but it's not easy. I've also picked up hitchhikers whenever it would be my turn to drive. Those were great experiences, and it shows that people are good. I really think that most people deserve a chance, and that while people can be wrong about things, it's usually not because they have a bad heart. I think that more people should be hitchhiking.

The real reason hitchhiker: what if the driver is a killer driver: what if this hippie is a killer

When I was 8 years old, upstairs from me was a young man that hitchhiked all over the country in the summers. He seemed so cool, so wise, and so old and mature. I idolized him. He was 14 years old.

Up until 2012, I had traveled tens of thousands of miles by thumb and foot. Most dangerous experience was in 2001 when I was a teen and some stoners picked me up on a gravel road. They were speeding, lost control and almost flipped. Dinner tasted really good.

When I was in high school, I was at the grocery store a few miles from home with my mom when I locked her keys in her car, it began raining as we made the walk of shame back home, a class mate of mine who I didn't know well but did recognize, and his dad spotted us and helped us out driving us home and back to the store with the spare car keys

When I was a teen in the 80's, I hitch-hiked fairly often on weekend trips to Toronto. I never had any issues, and met a lot of interesting people that way. I also learned that a surprising lot of people who pick up hitch hikers also drink and drive. I'm probably lucky I didn't end up dead from that.

"Hitch hiking is dangerous!" *Uber and Lyft exits*

I hitchhiked to work a few years ago after I missed the bus. It went surprisingly well.

Reminds me of the bumper sticker “Gas, grass or ass, nobody rides for free”

Family story. My uncle. During ww2. He was 12. He hitchhiked from Olympia Washington, to Los Angeles, then all the way across the country to Florida. He was picked up by the police hitching his way back in Mississippi. The Mississippi town police called my grandfather, asked what they should do with my 12 year old uncle. Typical of my family, my grandfather responded, “he got his ass out there, he can get his ass back”

Yeeeeaaaaaa, the whole Ted Bundy thing killed the vibe for a lot of people

I have some incredible hitchhiking stories and my own theory why it went out of style. I was born in 1965 and the first time I stuck out my thumb on the side of the road was when I was four years old. I don't remember WHY I did it, just that I DID, and that somebody actually pulled over, but I wasn't really trying to go anywhere so I waved them on. When I was 15 I began doing it frequently, usually to pass the time while waiting for a bus, or hoping for a lift when I had to walk outside of any bus routes. There were certain spots where I could usually get picked up, and other spots that were notoriously impossible to get anyone to pull over for you. In 1981 I was walking home from a friend's house along a street with no bus routes that was notoriously impossible because there was barely a shoulder to pull over to, and as I crossed the street at a three way intersection I kept my thumb out anyhow because why not? And much to my surprise, as the light changed someone pulled over. They were actually blocking the cars behind them so I hurried and got in so the car could get moving, and the driver was talking on his mobile phone, which was a very rare thing to see in 1981. He didn't finish his call until we were nearly at my destination, so I didn't have much chance to chat with the dude, but I did ask him what he did, and he replied that he was an actor. I noted that he must be a rather successful actor, given the mobile phone, and asked him his name. Folks, this is the honest to God truth: It was John Candy that picked me up hitchhiking back in 1981.

The last hitchhiker I picked up was an old man. It was 1977--see my photo to the left--and I was driving on SR 30 from Fort Wayne to Warsaw, Indiana. Just finished shopping for new clothes at the mall. Anyway, picked him up and he crawled into the car. Older man, looked to be in his sixties, which is what I am now, and he did nothing but preach to me about God. I listened, respectfully. Got to Warsaw and I had to take the exit on SR 15, so he wanted out. I let him out. As I pulled away, I checked the mirrors. No one was there. He just disappeared. There was nowhere for him to go, he didn't get picked up, and it was pretty open. He was gone. True story.

I loughed out loud when the car hit a pothole and transformed into a heap of crap!

There’s a road by the local mental hospital near me that says, “Don’t pick up hitchhikers.”

After driving for a few minutes, the hitch hiker asks, "Hey, aren't you worried that I might be a serial killer?" Jason chuckles lightly and replies, "The odds of two serial killers being in the same car are very slim."

In the early 70's I saw most of the lower 48 on my thumb, those were good times. On the road, rarely did I ever lack for a place to sleep or a quick meal - folks were just more neighborly. Had one or two "weird" pickups, nothing ever happened (tho I'd might suddenly "realize" that I needed to get off at the next exit). Mostly met wonderful people and enjoyed learning about others.

Government says. Driving alone is driving with Hitler Me in the bed alone. Ö

I still see hitch hikers in the US every so often

"Ooh I wonder which one of us is the murderer!"

Craigslist used to (?) have a section for ride sharing so that drivers can pick up passengers so that they can use the carpool lane or avoid toll booths.

As someone who did a lot of hitchhiking in my youth, I can tell you what killed it. People. People killed it. Being people.

I'm from the U.S. and I've both hitchhiked and picked up hitchhikers. Not super common, but when I lived out west it was definitely a lot more common than where I live now.

In Colorado on our way up to the ski resorts, we pick up back country skiers and snowboarders all the time. They ski and snowboard down the mountain out of bounds and we'll givem a ride back up the mountain.

I've hitchhiked for two years here in Europe. It was the best experience I ever had, that I will pass on to my grandchildren. Biggest thing I've learned that people aren't that bad, but you should always watch out and trust your guts.

If you're riding with Hitler, then you're not alone.

Well now we’re paying for hitchhiking like UBER pool

I used to hitchhike from state to state just for the adventure. Had many great experiences and a couple of bad ones but I don't regret it at all.

When I was in college in Australia in 2011, I hitchhiked in Tasmania. Some woman in a white pickup truck stopped and all hopped in the back and got a ride to our trailhead. Amazing experience

Why would a cop arrest you for picking up hitchhikers? How on earth can it not be legal?

I tried riding with Hitler, i wouldn’t recommend it. His gas is killer.

The term "hitch-hike" came from the way two men could share one horse. You would start out at the same time... one rode and the other walked. A couple of miles down the road the rider would stop and hitch the horse to a tree and start walking himself. The person that started out walking would arrive at the horse, mount and ride past his friend a couple of miles. Then they would switch again and again and again...hitch-hiking.

When I was in High School here in Southern California, circa 1975, we used to hitch hike to Huntington Beach from Whittier and Hacienda Heights. Good times!

When I was a young soldier in the 1970’s and 80’s, I hitchhiked a lot, but never in uniform. All you needed was your issued kitbag or backpack which people could recognize. I had some awesome conversations with WW2 and Korea Vets, truckers, farmers and all round decent folks. The only bad experience I had was being preached to by an evangelical born-again Christian, and that really wasn’t that bad. It was a great way to get around, and it saved my meagre pay for more important things like pizza and beer. Admittedly, I have to say that I don’t pick up hitchhikers anymore out of fear. Guess the propaganda worked.

They must pay: gas, grass or ass.

I remember my mom picking up a young man when I was a child. He was a very nice person. People rarely do it anymore, but the hysteria was definitely undue.

I guess I better tell my story even though this is an old video. In the early 70's I began my trucking career after serving four years in the Navy. One day I got a load of dynamite going to New Mexico. The load delivered and since there were no cell phones or Qualcomm I had to call in at intervals as I headed back east to find a new load. My dispatcher told me to hit the I40 freeway east and head for the terminal in Missouri with my empty trailer. I started seeing lots of hitchhikers along the freeway and thought, "Why not". So I started loading up with hitchhikers. After about 20 and two in the cab for company I stopped for fuel at a truck stop and thought I better let the folks out for a bathroom break. Unbeknown to me someone saw all those hikers get out of the truck, saw the name of the company on the side and knew we often hauled explosives, and got the wrong idea. He thought he better alert the authorities that there was a truckload of hippies with dynamite heading for trouble. So it wasn't long before I got pulled over and the cop saw the two guys in the cab and asked if they were authorized passengers. I couldn't lie because I would have had to show a paper from the company to prove it. So he told me to follow him back to Tucumcari New Mexico. He never opened the doors to the trailer so didn't know about the other folks in the trailer. The hippies knew about him though, they heard the siren when the cop pulled me over. So they somehow jammed a crack in the back door and started unloading pills and pot as fast as they could. Well this didn't work out so well as the pills were bouncing off the cop's window and plastic bags of pot were swirling all over the place. Lights and siren went back on and this time the cop was not in a friendly mood. He opened the door to the trailer and then quickly slammed it shut and bolted it. He threw the cuffs on me and tossed me into the cop car, called for backup and someone else drove my truck back to the port of entry where the hippies were searched. They found nothing on them so let them go. Me on the other hand they tossed in jail downtown Tucumcari. I spent two weeks in jail where one of the inmates in a private cell used his sheets to hang himself. By the time the jailers got to him he was dead. My day in court finally came and I didn't lie to the Judge, tossed the hippies under the bus, (They were gone so he couldn't arrest them.) and begged for mercy. He decided to clear my good name cause he liked my story. I called my company and had to take the bus to Joplin, Missouri where they gave me a truck and sent me on my way. Needless to say I don't pick up hitchhikers today., HAHA

I met the man I’m with today, 12 years later because I missed a grayhound bus and he was on a motorcycle. I was gonna be stranded if I didn’t get a ride to a bigger town to catch a bus further down to manhattan from upstate. 1:25pm was the last bus leaving this small town! Pretty early. It’s a long story but yeah, still with him 13 1/2 years later living with him now bless his heart! My best friend and love of my life to this day! All because I missed a bus in a small town visiting my father and left while he was at work and tried to take a bus but missed it but still determined to at least get to the next big town where more busses would leave and take me downstate. I met the man of my dreams that got me there. Yeah the next morning after we tried but had a long layover and chose to hang with him till the 1st bus out the next morning. I left well fed well rested well showered and a friend and future mate for life I’m still with today. So grateful!

When I taught English in a village in Ukraine a few years ago, hitchhiking was often the only way for me to go anywhere.

I'm not a 57 year old woman, and was a teen back in the mid 1970's...and hitch hiking was pretty common, I've done it as well as my 3 siblings. As for picking up hitch hikers...only picked up 2, and both incidents were pre-cell phone era. One of them, I thought was a guy that lived next door to me. He Wasn't !!! I lived 10 miles out of town, it was getting dark, and I saw a fit, looking guy with a cowboy hat on, 'lumber jack' shirt, with an opened fur lined suede coat and his blue jeans tucked into suede leather boots that laced up to the knee -- which was almost exactly how my neighbor dressed! It was the boots that made me think it was him. It was kind of cold outside and I'm about a mile outside of town headed home...and stopped because otherwise he would have had a 9 mile walk. He got in and I realized I had no clue as to who the guy was. He said he was headed to a little spot up the highway 25 to a 'town' that only had 1 store that was also the post office and houses that were scattered thinly around the area. Traffic on this road was almost nill....itty bitty town in and isolated Idaho valley. I told him I couldn't give him a ride all the way to the other town but I could get a lot closer....and he said he was fine with that. So I drove him about 5 miles past my place...as I didn't want him to know where I lived...and let him off...then I turned and drove back to my home. I also once drove by a broke down truck...it looked like it hit a rock and took out the oil pan. Middle of nowhere too...on a mountain pass with little traffic. An hour later I came up on a young couple, and ended up giving them a ride to a 'trading post' type store about 30 miles up the highway, that campers would get supplies from...they told me about 6 vehicles drove by them and wouldn't stop. Turned out she was 5 months pregnant.

When I was living in Washington DC about a decade ago, I saw people in suits and ties line up on certain spots along the road in my neighborhood to hitchhike. I thought it was pretty weird at the time, but apparently it was so that people could ride the hov lane on the highway. I think they called it something else, but it really was just hitchhiking.

“We don’t trust getting in cars/picking up people we don’t know.” Oh really? Well then explain Uber/Lift.

When I was in University in the late 80's I hitched the 2 hour ride from school to home and back every weekend. Usually getting picked up by businessmen/salesmen that were on the road alone... I always kept an 8" Rambo knife on my hip, so I wasn't real worried about the danger... Never did I walk more than an hour to get picked up and was always dropped minutes from home or school as both were close enough to the highway it was always a convenient drop for the driver... Just last summer I picked up several hitchers... as I always have... and if i needed to do it, I most certainly would... but today I would use the truckstop method... You go to a local truckstop, flash a sign where you are headed, and most truckers will take you along for the ride, just for the company to break the monotony of solo driving. Glad I live in Canada and not the fearmongering USA

My mom used to hitch hike when she was young. She said that back then they assumed that if someone could afford a car, they were probably respectable people.

I live in Sweden, and I would absolutely hitchhike in Northern Sweden, but only if absolutely necessary in Central or Southern Sweden. The reasons are that in Northern Sweden things are farther apart, there is less public transport, people are more open to picking up hickhikers, and people act in a more open way with strangers, compared to Central and Southern Sweden.

Remember folks, when you're riding alone, you're riding with *Hitler*

Staring at a newspaper was the old timey equivalent of staring at the phone

As a young, lone woman, I hitchhiked all up and down the west coast of the United States in the 1970s. Long distance hitchhiking could be difficult, but I often got good rides, and for some reason, men would just pour their hearts out to me (usually talking about their girlfriends or wives) I suppose because they realized I’d never see them again. I learned more about how men felt about women in those years than in any other time of my life.

Thank you Unsolved Mysteries in the early 90's for teaching me why hitchhiking was a bad idea. As as kid that shit scared the hell out of me.

No one was trying to reduce their co2 footprint in the 1960's-1970's

I've only ever had positive experiences both hitchhiking and picking up hitchhikers. In fact, I'm still friends with a guy who I first met when I picked him up on the side if the road after his van broke down. The average hitchhiker isn't any more likely to attack you than any other stranger. It could happen, but it's improbable

I worked with a guy that loved hitchhiking it was his favourite way to travel. He has so many good stories about being a hitchhiker and picking them up

When I was in college, I was standing at the Mass Ave entrance to the Mass Turnpike thumbing a ride to Syracuse, NY where my sister lived. A guy picked me up after I had been thumbing for less than 15 minutes. My mouth dropped to the floor when he pulled into a street and drove up to his house, saying I had to walk the rest of the way. I told him, "You won't believe this, but my sister lives two doors from you!" That's a 4 and 1/2 hour drive.

When I was in college in the early/mid-70s my friends and I “hitched” from Kansas City to Minnesota, North Carolina, and Mexico. We could have driven but hitch-hiking seemed more adventurous. 5here was only one ride that felt sketchy. It was fun. It seems completely insane now.

Thumbnail Question: "What Killed Hitchhiking?" Answer: "Probably the same thing that is killing the Hitchhikers..."

As an Uber driver, when I'm not logged into the app, I often see people walking, and I want to pull over and ask them if they need a free ride. Once you drive strangers all the time, you feel bad for the ones who are probably going the same way, and could get there faster (even for a few blocks / miles). But... too much "stranger danger."

Having hitchhiked and picking up hitchhikers I've met some really nice people. I almost always carried a guitar and that helped a lot getting a ride.

I was day trippin', headed to the beach. I think I ditched school. This young girl appeared up ahead, hitching a ride. I stopped, she got in. Not a lot of talk. She was barefoot, shorts... smelled like suntan lotion already... nice. I dropped her off in Laguna Niguel and never saw her again. It was maybe 1977, summer time. Made me think of that Sammy John's song, "Chevy Van". And if it's ever on the satellite radio, I always think of that girl.... sigh....

I remember there being a lot of hitch-hikers when I got my license, in the late 90s By the mid-2000s, they had all disappeared entirely I blame cellphones. People don't remain stranded in need of rides anymore, they can call for someone to pick them up most of the time.

I had been hitch-hiked and traveled in New Zealand in 1987. I met interesting, wonderful, and hospitality people I ever had. One old man picked me up and we had a nice chat. He asked me to take photos of me, and a month later, my mom received the mail from New Zealand. It was the photo of me when the day I met him on the road. Awesome!

One afternoon I was hitchhiking a distance of 66 miles (110km), and an attractive woman pulled over in her pickup truck. After I took my seat she said "I saw you standing there and I thought to myself, I'll give that guy a ride and if he tries any funny business, he's not that big, I can take him on." Lol. She drove me about 30 miles (50km). Then I was back to thumbing and walking and praying for another long ride. I still had 30ish miles to go and it was getting later in the day. After an hour, another lone woman pulled over. This one was older and refined. She was driving to pick up her daughter at a private christian school. I asked her why she would pick up a hitchhiker. She said that she had a feeling that I was safe. I told her that I hoped that feeling would never lead her astray. She took me 10 miles out of her way to the town where I was headed. This was in southeastern Ontario Canada more than 25 years ago.

Hitchhiking most likely stopped because people kept forgetting their towels.

“Hitchhiking is a great way to see America: Bound and gagged in the trunk of a crazy man’s car!” - Dave Attell

In 1986 I was 18 years old and hitchhiked from Northern Arizona to Elizabethtown, outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with my brother in law. He was a fledgling body builder and an amazing fighter so I had no fear. We got picked up by all kinds of interesting people. We were good looking young men with heavy metal hair and didn't look threatening. My brother in law looked like 80's Bon Jovi in the face with straight hair, but a very muscular build. And I was told I looked like a skinny Jan Michael Vincent, or sometimes Keanu Reeves with Bon Jovi's 80's hair. We had a system where we always talked to the person picking us up before we got in. If anything seemed off we didn't get in. Whoever was the sleepiest would sit in the front passenger seat and sleep, while the person sitting in the back seat watched everything to make sure the driver didn't turn off the highway, or do anything else unwanted. Conversation with strangers can only last so long before you run out of things to talk about and the only sound is the road or the radio. We got picked up by an older man in New Mexico driving a nice motorhome. Neither of us had more then $20 for the entire trip. The man in the motorhome made us dinner and drinks, let us sleep the night in his motorhome, and drove us all the way to a truck stop outside of St. Louis where he bought us lunch and we parted ways. We got picked up in St. Louis by a head banger they called Wild Bill. He invited us to come stay a couple days at his party pad in South St. Louis. It was a good time. They had a keg party and BBQ at a public park with a huge stereo system blasting metal from K-SHE 95 radio station. The Pride of St. Louis. Wild Bill's sister gave me a T-shirt from K-SHE 95. It had a cartoon pig on it wearing headphones and a joint sticking out of his mouth. After 2 days at Wild Bill's it was time to hit the road again. Wild Bill dropped us off in downtown St. Louis at the Greyhound station right across from the St. Louis arch where we had just enough money to each get a cheeseburger from the McDonalds. We were the only 2 white people to be seen. We ate our cheeseburgers and walked out to the road. 2 white girls drove by in a 1979 Formula 400 Firebird. We weren't quite out to the road yet, but they saw us none the less. My brother in law said "when they come back by let's do the thing". I said "what makes you think they'll come back by"? He said "we are the only 2 white guys within miles of here, they'll come back by". The "Thing" is when you see a woman driving towards you, you stick your leg out, pull your pants leg up and stick your thumb out. It's what ladies supposedly used to do back in the 50's through the 70's to get men to pick them up hitchhiking. We thought it was funny and when the women came back by we did it. They laughed and stopped and picked us up. They were Coast Guard cadets and took us across the bridge into Illinois to the Coast Guard dorms where they made us dinner and drinks. We spent the night on their couches and headed back to the highway first thing in the morning. I was really hung over and don't remember anything about Indianapolis or Ohio. We ended up on the Pennsylvania turnpike at about 10:00 P.M. on a very foggy night. The danger was real. To our surprise we got picked up by an attractive woman in her 60's wearing a nightgown and an overcoat. She was in a hurry to get to her son's house but was having trouble staying awake, so she picked us up for the company. When I asked her why she felt comfortable picking up 2 strange men on a foggy night in the middle of nowhere, she said we looked like nice guys and she hoped if her son were hitchhiking on a foggy night, someone would stop and pick him up. She set the cruise control at 80 and we sped through the night. We made it to Elizabethtown, PA. which was my brother in laws home town in just 6 days. We met all kinds of kind people and had a great time on the road. We went to truck stops along the way to freshen up in the bathroom sinks, and even though we ran out of money after St. Louis we managed to survive until we made it to PA by panhandling a few dollars here and there. I stayed in PA. for about 3 months then hitchhiked back on my own to AZ, making the return trip in only 3 days. But that's another story. Over the following years I hitchhiked all over between AZ. and CA. I lived on Oahu in Hawaii for about a year in 1992 and hitchhiked all over that island too. I have around 5,000 miles on my thumb and am 52 years old now. The last time I hitchhiked was in 1996 when I hitchhiked from Palm Springs, CA. to Tucson, AZ. I picked up a few hitchhikers since then, but haven't seen a hitchhiker in 20 years. If the situation presented itself, I wouldn't think twice about hitchhiking today. It really is a fantastic way to get around the country...

I hitchhike all the time. When I'm thru hiking the only way to get into towns is to walk or hitchhike. Most areas are too remote for a rideshare. You meet amazing people and have great conversation. I've never had a bad experience. It's also common among the backcountry skiing community.

Maybe all the horror movies that came out.

When I was in Hawaii, on the big island, there was a lot of hitchhiking. I participated in both sides regularly!

I hitchhiked from Santa Rosa, California (60 miles north of San Francisco) to Seattle, Washington in July of 1970. I was 25. Stayed with friends for a week. Then I hitchhiked back to Santa Rosa. I had a great time! The times and attitudes back then were really different than today (2021). People really wanted to help you out by giving you a ride. They loved that you were on an adventure! I wish everybody could have shared the experience of living in the 1960's - 1970's.

After graduating high school in 1997, me and a friend hitchhiked around California for a couple weeks. We had a great time, met a lot of weird & friendly people. Nothing bad happened. We were two teenage girls, and sure, we knew there was a risk, and maybe we were just lucky, but it was the greatest road trip I've ever been on to this day. Also, hitching one time in Great Lakes, Michigan, at 4am, an empty limo picked me up & took me all the way back to the Naval base in time for class.