As I drive about, I usually listen to “Public Radio”. Recently there have been discussions of recent experiences, pretty much problems and adventures, in hitchhiking. In my hitchhiking years, perhaps 1940-1950, hitchhiking was as comfortable and reliable as train or bus, and infinitely less costly! Some true stories follow!
In late August 1941 I finished a summer job at the Chicago and Great Northern RR freight yard in Proviso, Ill (near Chicago). Mu job as “seal clerk” was to record the “seal number” of every car loaded with grain and open the door so “grain samplers” could enter the cars and take samples for government inspect for moisture content, non-grain ratios etc. The “sampling rods” were metal shafts with holes in them and a solid plunger which sealed the holes until the plunger reached to floor of the car. The plunger was then turned to allow grain from all levels to enter the shaft and be removed, bagged, labeled and sent on for inspection. After the samples were taken, I closed the freight car door, put on a new seal and recorded the new seal number for record purposes.
I finished my assigned time with the RR about two weeks before my senior year of college was scheduled to begin in Northfield, Minn. “Time for a trip” I thought, put $40 cash in my pocket, and got a ride to the a major highway in the western suburbs of Chicago. My itinerary for the two week hitchhiking trip was to see the country and visit friends and relatives (free food and lodging!) along the way. This included Minneapolis, Litchville, N.D., Seattle. Los Angeles, the Grand Canyon in Colorado and back to college in Northfield MN. In time to start school.
On the third day, with overnights in Minneapolis and Litchville, I was picked up by a driver whose assignment was to deliver a new school bus built in Minn. to Seattle. We arranged “round the clock” driving because the school bus seats were OK to sleep on. My only concern as we proceeded was that, as we approached the Rocky Mountains and thunderstorms, my host said. “This is going to be tough driving, we need to stop so I can get a drink for the road!” Late the next day, taking shifts at driving we reached Seattle where I was dropped off to find my “hitchhiking way” to visit my friends and greet them from the friends and family they had left the year before in N.D. They had happily left the drought and grasshopper “plague” in N.D. for the good weather and good jobs available in Seattle!
The next “leg” of my trip was 1 ½ days from Seattle to Los Angeles. The wait for a “routine” 50-100 mile ride was seldom, if ever, more than an hour. A notable part of this ride was with a family transporting their college age daughter to a destination a half-day’s trip along the way. They insisted in paying for my food (against my hitchhiking principles), checked my biography and made sure that she and I exchanged addresses and “hoped” that we could figure out how to see each other again!
In Los Angeles hitchhiking was open so walking or local busing were not a factor. My college classmate had a date on the night of my visit but, as I remember, he had congenial parents, a comfortable bed, and a great dinner and breakfast!
Heading to the Grand Canyon took me through Las Vegas and the first place on my trip where I faced an overnight bill. After wandering around and finding the “right part of the town” I found what we might now call a “flop house”, for $3 I had a bed to myself, reasonably clean, and a bargain breakfast in the morning.
Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon was with a delightful middle-aged couple who were visiting the Grand Canyon as I was. We shared visiting the attractions, ate together (I paid for myself) and when night came they asked me where I planned to sleep. They next said that there was no room in their motel room but I was welcome to sleep in their car and they would provide a spare blanket – it was a good night! I did suffer a “financial shock” in Colorado -- the price of an ice cream cone, compared to every other place I had been, was DOUBLE the 5 cents I was accustomed to!
I had planned to hike from the South rim to the North of the Grand Canyon on the return trip but a look at the walk, with my “carry bag”, and my schedule to get back to Minn. suggested a faster hitch-hike.
The final several days yielded the needed 300+ miles per day, first to visit my N.D. relatives again, then to Fargo, N.D. to visit a girl friend from High School days – my finances still allowed a canoe ride on the Red River, a dinner and even an economy, but respectable, hotel room in Fargo. Hitchhiking in friendly Minnesota back to college in Northfield, and my dormitory room there, was comfortable and uneventful!