I love hitchhiking. It's one of the most amazing experiences I can say I've had. July of '05, I hitched across the island, and as far as Montreal, before coming back and exploring Nova Scotia for a while. It was pretty awesome. I got to see a good portion of the Annapolis Valley area, met Harold Horwood, a fairly prolific local writer and hippie environmentalist extraordinaire. Stayed in Halifax for a few weeks, saw the sights, did some entheogens, it was awesome.
One trucker brought me and my companion all the way from Cape Breton to Montreal. Once he dropped off his load, he lucked into another one that was headed for downtown Halifax, which happened to be our destination. It took three days in all, and it was a pretty amazing section of time. The trucker was really cool, we talked about a lot of random things, saw a good bit of countryside, smoked a few Captain Blacks, and ate lots of truckstop food, which is amazing btw.
I had some really cool experiences along the way. Learned a good bit about life, and saw some really cool and/or fucked up shit. In the Valley, I got picked up by a local weed dealer who was making a run to acquire some product, and he brought us along for the ride. He was gonna charge me rural prices, but after some thought he decided to give me a freebie. It was pretty sweet, but I think I left my grinder in his car.
In Halifax, I busked on the same streets as homeless folk and other hitchers. They were cool people, despite their often debilitating psychological issues. You'd be surprised, you know, how down to earth some of those folks really are, and you get a huge appreciation for the fact that very little seperates you from any given person in the world.
I stayed in a hostel for a few weeks and made some pretty cool connections, and had some really interesting conversations with some very different people while I was there. If you travel a lot, and you can afford it, you should stay in hostels from time to time. Everyone there is traveling just like you, and you meet a lot of kindred spirits that way. It's amazing.
Another ride was a trucker in his thirties, probably. We listened to a lot of Ozzy and it was killer. While we were waiting for the ferry home, we shared a few Alexander Keith's with him. He was cool, and it was fun barreling down highway listening to his various CDs. ^_^
The ride before him was interesting. We get in and they look like that sort of people, so I ask if they'd like to smoke a joint, and when his wife gives the affirmative, I roll one up and smoke it with her. Then they pull out their crack pipe and pass it back and forth between them. I'm no stranger to drug culture, so I shrug it off and enjoy the ride. Then their tiny poodle jumps up on my lap, looks up into my face, and makes this sound that I swear was his attempt at a meow. Funny as hell.
A lot of the people I know are hitchhikers, and they are some of the friendliest, kindest, and most eccentric people on the planet. Of course, I've also met some that are just plain crazy, and would beat the shit out of you for booze (that literally happened to me, but it wasn't on the road, it was in my hometown). It's not for everyone, and I strongly suggest bringing some kinda protection, just to be safe, but if you wanna do it then go for it. It's honestly one of the most life-affirming, invigorating things a person can do, and the only remotely shady ride I had was the crack-smoking owners of cat-dog, and they were actually pretty cool folks, chemicals notwithstanding. Get out there and see the world, before George Bush and his minions destroy it, kids!
What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?