Hitchhiking Quotes

“One of the more tiring aspects of hitchhiking is a need to be sociable and make conversation with whoever is driving you. It would be considered poor form to accept a ride, hop into the passenger seat and then simply to crash out until you reached your destination. How I longed to do just that, but instead I chatted merrily away, energy ebbing from me with each sentence, until Chris dropped me at the address of the lady who had offered me free B&B.
One of the more tiring aspect of accepting an offer of free accommodation is a need to be sociable and make conversation with whoever had offered it to you. It would be considered poor form to turn up, dumb your bags, crawl into your bedroom and order an early morning alarm call. How I longed to do just that, but instead I chatted merrily away to Marjorie, energy ebbing from me with each sentence, until the tea was drunk, the cake was eaten and I finally plucked up the courage to mention just how exhausted I was. I apologised and said that I simply had to grab a couple of hours sleep, and Marjorie understandingly showed me to my room.”
― Tony Hawks, Round Ireland with a Fridge

“Homecomer, hitcher, phantom rider,
White lady wants what’s been denied her,
Gather-grim knows what you fear the most,
But best keep away from the crossroads ghost.

Talk to the poltergeist, talk to the haunt,
Talk to the routewitch if it’s what you want.
Reaper’s in the parlor, seizer’s in a host,
But you’d best keep away from the crossroads ghost.

- common clapping rhyme among the ever-lasters of the twilight”
― Seanan McGuire, The Girl in the Green Silk Gown

“The behaviour of the English people I had run into was making it very difficult to nail down a theory that the reason my trip so far had been such a bizarre success, was that Irish people were crazy. One Englishman had spent a morning on the telephone trying to organise a helicopter to take me out to an island, when a boat was leaving only a few yards away, and here was another, making a two-hour round trip for no reason other than to lend a helping hand. Two of the more eccentric pieces of behaviour hadn't been performed by the Irish, but by my fellow countrymen. However, both Andy and Tony had embraced wholeheartedly a love of the Irish way of living life.”
― Tony Hawks, Round Ireland with a Fridge

“You can’t just ask strangers to drive you up and down the country. This is the twenty first century. Strangers are more dangerous than ever; we’ve never been more dangerous.”
― Ali Smith, Spring

“And yep, here’s yet one more heterosexual man who loves his wife. I’m telling you, it’s a trend! Women I know who are always complaining they can never meet a good straight man—maybe you’re living in the wrong part of the country. Maybe you need to hitchhike. Route 70 West could be the path to a great marriage. Go ahead, stick out your thumb for romance.”
― John Waters

“Are you gay, Cherie?
Me, No… I’m not anything… I-I mean I prefer not to indulge, I stammered.
“Really... how do you mean?”
Well love has been an elusive story, like a fairytale adults tell children but I have never known any of it to be true. In reality it reminds me of religion. I am not sure God is real either, if God is real why do so many innocents suffer?
Innocents suffer because it is their destiny to suffer.
What? What does that mean?” I’m annoyed.
God has nothing to do with it. We are born into this world to experience all that is not God-like, so we can then be inspired to reach for higher spiritual goals.
I have never thought of it that way before. If that is so then I must be preparing for sainthood. Am I to think that all of my suffering as a child has been to prepare me for greatness?”
― Darwun St James, Angel Sins

“Almost Myself
On a twilight road, I met a young man with my face.
A denizen of some distant dust devil in drifter denim.
We stood and eyed each other, then, with a look of mutual disdain, we parted.
Our backward glances were not narcissistic flirtation, but self-conscious reflection and surrender to the formality of the familiar.
Against a backdrop of veined lightning and coyote song, I was alone again.”
― Stewart Stafford

“down unlit ,unmarked & forgotten roads of REASON & PURPOSE”
― L V HALL

“Tale of the Holy Hitchhiker by Stewart Stafford

A motorist drives by the Blue Church,
Of left-handed compliments,
And omnipresent righteous sins,
Where the Holy Hitchhiker dwells.

Waiting for God at the stop sign,
No thumbs, he blesses passing cars,
Chanting his destination's directions,
Then going into silent meditation.

A fated pause at the railway crossing,
Purgatory train takes an eternity to go by,
Time for confessional contemplation,
Swift redemption with the accelerator.

Thankful prayers at the journey's end,
Payment made as alms for the poor,
Then a smile as he vanishes into light,
The driver sees the Blue Church again.

© Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“If I saw you hitchhiking, I’d smile and return your thumb’s up, just for you doing such a great job of being a positive roadside influence.”
― Jarod Kintz, There are Two Typos of People in This World: Those Who Can Edit and Those Who Can't

“You know that I have hitch-hiked around and have been alone in weird cities and places, and waked up in the morning not knowing who I was (particularly one time in Des Moines.)
Neal, what I want is a big home with about twenty people in it, whole families at the same time, something going on all the time, someone leaving, someone coming, someone building a shelf, someone mending a fence, someone sewing, someone cooking, someone reading, someone eating, so on, and on, on, on . . . I want all the Shakespearian gamut of things in one big tumultuous house.

[letter to Neal Cassady, June 27, 1948]”
― Jack Kerouac, Jack Kerouac Selected Letters 1940-1956

“The gallant captain vacated his cabin for her, and Manna changed her role from cook to chaperone. All most correct. But it was hardly the done thing to cadge a lift on a torpedo boat. Yet she did it twice in a lifetime.”
― Mary Allsebrook, Born to Rebel: The Life of Harriet Boyd Hawes

“Je vais bientôt entamer ma cinquième année de stoppeur solitaire; drôle, mais aujourd'hui je n'accepterais pas de compagnon de route. J'ai vaincu la peur de moi-même, de la solitude, je suis libre.”
― André Brugiroux, La terre n'est qu'un seul pays: 400 000 km autour du monde en stop

“Camden in the winter of 1954 was a bleak place. It is difficult to see it this way if you’ve only been there in the summer, but most of Maine can be dismal, especially along the coast, during the long nights and short days. Once the colorful leaves have fallen from the majestic maple trees, and the last tourist has gone home, things become grim. So it was, during that cold January day, when I was on the road hoping to get a ride to New Jersey. On the radio, the weather forecasters predicted an overnight blizzard, but here it was only late afternoon and snow was already accumulating on the road. This would be my last opportunity to get home to see my family and friends, before cruising back on down to the Caribbean. I had really hoped to get an earlier start, to get far enough south to miss the brunt of the storm. Maine is known for this kind of weather, and the snowplows and sanders were ready. In fact, I didn’t see many other vehicles on the road any longer. Schools had let out early and most businesses were closed in anticipation of the storm.
My last ride dropped me off in Belfast, telling me that he was trying to get as far as Augusta, before State Road 3 became impassable. Standing alongside the two-lane coastal highway with darkness not far off, I was half thinking that I should turn back. My mind was made up for me when I stepped back off the road, making room for a big State DOT dump truck with a huge yellow snowplow. His airbrakes wheezed as he braked, coming to a stop, at the same time lifting his plow to keep from burying me. The driver couldn’t believe that I was out hitchhiking in a blizzard. This kind of weather in Maine is no joke! The driver told me that the year before a body had been found under a snow bank during the spring thaw. Never mind, I was invincible and nothing like that could happen to me, or so I thought. He got me as far as Camden and suggested that I get a room. “This storm is only going to get worse,” he cautioned as I got off. I waved as he drove off. Nevertheless, still hoping that things would improve, I was determined to continue…”
― Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater One...."

“I rubbed my eyes. They felt like they were coming loose. Soon they'd slip out of their sockets and I'd be left to wander blind and staggering this land of longing and ache. The
things I would have done for a hit. If that asshole who'd kicked me out onto the side of the road had offered me some dope I would have sucked anything he wanted, would have pleaded on my knees topless, would have let him plunge a hand through my ribs and tear out my heart, anything.”
― Philip Elliott, Hunger & Hallelujahs

“If the fridge did sink, it would also be a considerable inconvenience to bathers who would have to learn the exact position of the wrecked fridge or risk the
agony of their toes ramming into its rusting metal shell. In the future, it might even appear on naval charts of these waters, novitiate navigators baffled by the small white cuboid marked as a hazard just off the shore.”
― Tony Hawks, Round Ireland with a Fridge

“If the fridge did sink, it would also be a considerable inconvenience to bathers who would have to learn the exact position of the wrecked fridge or risk the agony of their toes ramming into its rusting metal shell. In the future, it might even appear on naval charts of these waters, novitiate navigators baffled by the small white cuboid marked as a hazard just off the shore.”
― Tony Hawks, Round Ireland with a Fridge

“It had been done, the fridge had surfed, and what is more I had photographic evidence, provided I didn’t screw up with the film again.”
― Tony Hawks, Round Ireland with a Fridge

“Have you played tennis on that tennis court?’ I asked.
‘Oh, don’t talk to me about tennis,’ he complained, ‘my kids have been dying to
have a game ever since we got here, but they can’t’
‘Why not?’
‘There aren’t any tennis balls on the island.’
‘You’re joking.’
‘I’m not. Not one. The shop’s run out and the guy who was supposed to bring some out from the mainland forgot’

Island life encapsulated.”
― Tony Hawks, Round Ireland with a Fridge

“Hallucination Country by Stewart Stafford

A furious tribe of leaves,
Chased a logging truck,
As forked flames waved,
From a burning backyard tree.

A half-eaten unicorn in a ditch,
A warning from hunters nearby,
Slaughtering fairytale creatures,
Cryptids were their mint targets.

An abandoned Volkswagen car lay,
Half-overturned, underbelly exposed,
The injured driver, now hitchhiking,
With a spree killer or tow-truck driver.

© Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“How many people do you know who have hitchhiked across all Russia, Asia and even India?”
― Martins Ate, Destination: Me: 108 Ascetic Days Across Eurasia

“Constable Watson waived my apology off. He had a better alternative for me. “You seem like a decent young feller. I’m gonna arrange for you to spend the night at my daughter’s house.”
― Jeff Rasley, Jeffrey Rasley, A Hitchhiker’s Big Adventure: On the road from Indiana to Key West and New Orleans for Mardi Gras 1972