The Hitch Hiker

This past weekend I drove up to my brother's house in McKinleyville, CA. It's almost a 7 hour trip. I was really dreading making the trip alone so I posted on MySpace and Facebook that if anyone wanted to ride up with me to visit family or friends I could take them. A few people responded saying they wish they could go but no one was really serious. So then I got brave and checked Craigslist to see if anyone needed a ride and I found one girl that listed her number so I gave her a call. No answer so I left a message, but she never called before I left so I'm guessing she found a ride. So I made the trip alone thinking I would check Craigslist while I was up there to see if anyone wanted to ride back with me to San Francisco. Well as usual, I got busy and totally spaced checking Craigslist so every time I passed a hitch hiker I felt this impending doom for not helping someone out. But hey, I didn't feel like taking a risk. You might not think about it but there are quite a few people hitching on the 101 between Humboldt County and San Francisco.

On my way back to the city I stopped in Willits to purchase some gasoline and then headed South out of town when I spotted this little hippie girl with a cardboard sign that said San Francisco on it. My head was swimming with thoughts on whether I should stop or not, so by the time I decided to stop it was too late to pull over so I just kept on going. Then I started feeling bad for her, thinking, what if some weirdo picks her up, so about 5 miles out of town I turned around and headed back to pick her up. My thoughts within the few minutes it took to go get her were...well if it's not meant to be she'll be gone which is my way of convincing myself that it will all be okay and I'll get through this and we will both be better off from the experience. When I stopped to pick her up the smile on her face made me realize I did the right thing. The two hours or so that I spent with her went by super fast compared to the first four. I guess we both did each other a favor. Now normally I would never pick up a hitch hiker and believe me I passed a few yesterday without so much as a second glance, but I felt like this one girl was in need of my assistance, so heck I did it.

I wish we didn't live in a time where we have to be cautious of helping one another out. Otherwise I'd have had a whole truck load of people yesterday. Well if you ever feel like trying this please be careful. I don't suggest that you go out and pick up any hitch hikers, I'm just telling my story which has a happy ending.