Have you ever...

Yorky said:
I spent 4 months of my life hitch-hiking around Europe and North Africa in the early 70s. Not my most favourite holiday, but I'd do it again without hesitation!
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There were three of us on that holiday (we hitch hiked separately meeting up at some specific landmark at the next designated destination).

However, during our journey home, we were queuing for tickets for the Ceuta - Algeciras ferry when a guy came into the booking hall and asked if anyone wanted a lift to Plymouth. He was the "captain" of a 42' Norwegian 1913 built ketch! We thought "well, we're never going to get an opportunity like this again" so we took him up on it. And there starts the story of another saga.
 
Yes, I've hitch-hiked both with the man who is now my husband and also alone.
I can remember one year (on new years day) we were on top of Buachaille Etive Mòr in very icy conditions (it was ice axes and crampons time) and it was snowing hard with the light fading... We needed off the mountain by a much easier route than the one we had planned so we had no option but to take our escape route which lead us off the mountain quickly and easily but in the wrong direction,. We were heading away from our car! But it lead us to a road, though single track and not very busy. It didn't matter another group where also heading off the mountain by that route and commented that they had seen us having down another way. We explained the situation and they agreed to drop us off at the main road (A82). From there we were able to get a lift back to where our car was from another motorist, not that there were many on new years day but I have found it easier to get a lift on significant holiday dates (Christmas day, St Stephens day, new years day) than some others.

I've also picked up hitch-hikers as well, the last one being last summer (back in February when we were having record temperatures). I was driving over to a friends place and I had only just set out when I turned off the roundabout leading out of town and spotted an older gentleman at the side of the road with some large parcels. I thought what the chickens (thanks auto correct that was meant to be dickens) and thought well despite the wheelchair in the boot, I'd be able to fit them in to the car without a problem and pulled over onto the rough grass to the side of the road. It was all over 35C already that day and he had no shade... I felt awful leaving him where our routes apparently parted and where he wanted (it was the middle of nowhere literally) but he was happy I had taken him as far as I had and I didn't know the area very well... 6 months on and I now know I could have taken him to his destination with only a 20-30km diversion for me :( bit I didn't know that then. It turned out he was a local artist (rough dirty clothes to go with the occupation) and couldn't drive because of being profoundly deaf. He had an exhibition coming up and was moving his painting 4 or 5 at a time to the exhibition.

Others we have picked up over the years have been from youth hostels where they have advertised on noticeboards, which is how we have usually hitch-hiked and one from the side of the sliproad off the A3 onto the M25 on new years day...

We've never felt threatened by any of them.

As for acting on stage, this may surprise you all, but yes I have. Many years ago both at school (where it was compulsory) and after being randomly approached by a man who turned out to be the director of the play who was searching for a red headed teenage girl for the lead role! That was the last time i acted. It's not my cup of tea but began my friend who was very jealous (and with me at the time) and the director, I got talked into it...

Lynne Guinne said:
You DO signal before driving, don't you
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No, not always. I only signal where there is something to signal to (vehicle, bike or pedestrian). If there is nothing around to signal to, I don't bother. Roads here are quite quiet and roos don't comprehend vehicles let alone indicators... But the one that redesigned the front passenger side of my car did destroy my indicator assembly completely which flashed my car up for a mandatory recall it had not had with its only other owner so we had that bit replaced free of charge!....
 
@Elawin, that is a haunting story about the young girls that you rescued from the bus stop, the rain...and who knows what else. :eek:

@SatNavSaysStraightOn, you just jogged my memory about picking up hitchhikers! I was driving alone across three states, about 400 miles distance across a very flat, boring interstate road. I was on the return part to my starting point, and I knew what lay ahead. The idea of human companionship, rather than just the sound of the radio, was what sold me. He was interesting, engaging, and totally harmless! The funny thing was, when I finally let him off before continuing on away from his destination, he advised me to not pick up hitchhikers because I didn't know what I would get.

My comment about signaling - I figure it counts only when it's meaningful. Someone behind you, or across the intersection, perhaps. It doesn't count when the only other, um, driver(?) on the road is "Joey". :wink:
 
Lynne Guinne said:
My comment about signaling - I figure it counts only when it's meaningful. Someone behind you, or across the intersection, perhaps. It doesn't count when the only other, um, driver(?) on the road is "Joey". :wink:
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I always signal, I can't help it. I would have to make a conscious effort not to. I taught my wife the same although she does occasionally forget. In my opinion it's not just the drivers of other vehicles who need to be considered but also pedestrians.

[Unfortunately I am one of the few who signals up here in Nakhorn Nowhere]
 
Lynne Guinne said:
@Yorky, I've been known to signal when I'm pulling out of my driveway and no one is on the road! :laugh: Habit, I guess. I also buckle up by habit, even if I'm just backing the car out of the garage.
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I know what you mean. And I also have an unconscious (good) habit of buckling up before I start the truck. However, I've never been really confident of reversing using wing mirrors for reversing (when I learnt to drive they were about 2" square and 6' away on the end of the wing) so I need to turn to look backwards, a manoeuvre not easy at my age with the belt fastened. I usually need to unbuckle and then re-buckle after the reverse.
 
In '79 or '80 I picked up a hitch hiker on I 10 West driving home from Baton Rouge. I was not alone. My best friend and her boyfriend drove me to BR to pick up a new car. Like a big dummy I never considered that my new car had a standard transmission which I did not know how to drive! :oops:

Friend's BF rode home with me to coach me through the learning curve. I would not have picked up the hitch hiker if I had been alone or with another woman.

In '91 I attempted a cross country drive to San Diego, CA. I was in the USN Reserve. I was going to San Diego for my 2 week summer training.. The plan was for me to drive George's 18 month old La Sabre to San Diego. He would fly to meet me at the end of my 2 weeks and we would spend another 2 weeks on a mid west, south west driving trip.

I was 150 miles East of El Paso, TX. on I 10 West and desperately needed to stop. The last option was 50 miles behind me and I had no idea how far I was from the next town. I puled over and did my business behind a rock out cropping. When I returned to the car steam was billowing from under the hood and water was puddled on the ground. :hyper:

It was mid day on a Friday in August. The heat was blistering. No such thing as shade in that part of Texas and of course this was pre cell phone days.

Over the next 10 minutes (it felt like an hour) a couple of dozen vehicles drove by and did not stop. Then an 18 wheeler pulled over. In spite of the heat I was trembling with both relief and trepidation. God is good. The driver was a prince. He already had another hitch hiker in the cab. The passenger spoke only Spanish but was able to let the driver know he wanted to get to El Paso. Talk about a small world. The driver was from Baton Rouge. He was delivering a load of frozen chickens to El Paso. The next town was 35 miles west of my location. There was one tow truck in town. I rode with the tow truck driver 35 miles east to pick up the car then 150 miles west to a Buick dealership in El Paso. It was nearly 5 pm on Friday. I had to get a room for the night. The next morning I learned that the head gasket on the car had blown and they did not have the part. I HAD to get to San Diego! So - an unplanned flight from El Paso to San Diego.

I was so undone by the entire situation that I never got the truck driver's name. I did get on my knees and thank God for sending that kind man to rescue me.
 
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Lynne Guinne said:
Looks like it's time to do a "board flip" and change the topic...

Back then ALL truck drivers used C.B. radios, so I figured he could call for a tow truck.
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This has reminded me of when we used to have a C.B. in the car. One night some 30 odd years ago, I was driving down what was then a country lane on my way home from an evening's work. My daughter was with me. Up ahead there was a very nasty accident at a T-junction. There were no houses nearby and certain no phone boxes - there weren't even any street lights. I pulled up OK but I was so shocked by the accident I could not summon help even on the C.B. Luckily my daughter did, although it took a bit of convincing to the person that heard our call that there had actually been an accident, although he did call the police and the ambulance service promptly. A man from one of the cars came over to me and asked if I could take his injured, heavily pregnant wife to hospital (which was a couple of miles back down the road), but I could not - I was in no fit state to drive me anywhere, let alone anyone else. The ambulances soon arrived (they sent 2), closely followed by the police. One of the policeman asked me to move my car over to the side of the road - I couldn't even start it, let alone drive it. I can't even remember how we later got home, but we did eventually. It was a very rural area in those days with hardly any traffic, and without the C.B. who knows how long we all would have been stuck there waiting for help.
 
CB was a thing of it's time - it became a bit of has been when mobile phones [cell phones to you guys in the states] came in. Years ago we had a CB radio shop next door - it's long gone now, disappeared before we moved away.
 
sidevalve said:
CB was a thing of it's time - it became a bit of has been when mobile phones [cell phones to you guys in the states] came in. Years ago we had a CB radio shop next door - it's long gone now, disappeared before we moved away.
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I've still got my old C.B. We resurrected it about 5 years ago and were surprised how many were still using it.
 
As a child we travelled interstate by car a lot & often had to accept lifts to the nearest petrol/service station because of break downs, flat tyres or running out of fuel. This was the 1970's and 1980's and we never thought anything about it.

As a teen and now an adult I would never ever contemplate it. Google "Ivan Milat" or "Anita Cobby" to understand exactly why.

I drive through one of the busiest highway intersections in my state, that has the busiest McDonald's in the state on one corner and I see people with their thumbs out every day, but there's just no way I would stop. I feel a little guilt about it but I just can't take the risk.

There are a few non drivers in my little village to whom I have offered lifts when I have seen them walking in hot or wet weather but they are familiar if not friends.
 
Looks like we've run out of hitchhiking stories, so time to flip the script again. BTW, you guys DO know that you can jump in with a topic, right? No need to be shy... :shy:

Have you ever skinny-dipped?

Nope. And especially not now, since I hardly fall under the category of "skinny". :giggle:

Anyone, anytime, do this?
 
Skinny dipping :meh: A few years ago when we were on a motorcycle rally in the scottish highlands my wife and one of the other girls disappeared from the camp and did just that in a highland stream in the early morning :eek:. As for me - I just snuggled deeper into my sleeping bag until breakfast time :okay:
 
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