Reply #8: I pick them up all the time

[skygazer]

I hitched across the country alone in '78 when I was 17 - did it again in '98. Met a lot of nice people, had a lot of cool adventures.

It's very difficult for me to drive by a hitchhiker. I know what it's like to stand there with your thumb out. I know what it feels like to have every driver wondering if you're an axe murderer or something.

I don't pick up everybody - I do discriminate a bit. It worries the hell out of my boyfriend. So be it. You know, there are better ways to find someone to rape, kill, dismember and torture than to stand out on a fucking highway with your thumb out. Pretty arbitrary, don't you think?

I've never met a hitchhiker who scared me.