Hey friends, well I stayed with Jim another night, and Saturday morning we drove together to Arcata, which is just north of Eureka. The drive was great, the roads are lined with redwoods and the hills are covered in trees. I tried to take some pictures but again the limits of my camera dampen the impact of the images.
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| Mountain road |
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| Mighty Red Woods |
As we drove through the country side we stopped in a small town or two on the way, just to look around and once to grab food. While driving around we saw a handful of hitch hikers. I was pretty excited at this because besides a few off hand experiences, I hadn't seen any other hitch hikers. This sentiment is often repeated by people who pick me up, remarking "you don't really see any hitch hikers these days" with such frequency that I have started responding, "yea, not many of us left around these days". I was wondering if the last of us hitch hikers were some kind of lost unicorns of the American Spirit.
Turns out there are still hitch hikers around, and they are all in northern California. As we drove up through Eureka, Arcata, and then McKinleyville the next day, we saw bunches of hitch hikers, of all ages and genders and beard types. Arcata had a plaza in the middle of town where I saw at least 15, they gathered there and hung out all night. I guess I am not as alone as I thought, but I now realize how unique I am.
I have kept clean shaven pretty religiously these days, due to having a better chance getting rides if you don't have facial hair. Also among other things, I try not to smell bad, wear innocuous clothes, stand in open friendly areas, smile at drivers, wave at drives, and just try to be generally pleasant. Turns out that my fellow vagabonds do not commiserate with my philosophy of ride getting. I don't think I ever saw a guy without some facial hair, and most had long scraggly hair and dirty clothes. The ones I saw on the roads were just sitting behind their signs, not participating in the hitching at all. I also didn't see any of them in good hitch hiking spots, one group being less than 50 feet away from a spot that would have netted them much better results.
I am somewhat worried that getting rides in this area will be harder for me, due to the higher supply of hitch hikers, I am worried they will inflate the market. But I also know that among all the other hitch hikers, I have a destinguishing mannor that will help set me aside from the others. I will make sure to note how these conditions impact my ride getting.
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| Cool Eureka bar |
Me and Jim stayed a short time in Eureka, went to a bar and relaxed. We then drove just up the road to Arcata, where we walked the plaza, visited a bar, and a very cool bookstore where I browsed some crimethinc books. I decided I wouldn't get much out of buying them so I left empty handed. Jim ended up grabbing a motel and offered to let me crash there. We cleaned up and unwound a bit before we headed back down to the plaza to meet Jims friend Chuck. Chuck was a nice guy, and we all sat around shooting the shit for a few hours, and headed back to our respective domiciles. The next morning Jim drove me up to McKinleyville and dropped me off. The hitching was bad due to the lack of traffic, so I mozzied into town, checked out a thrift shop and a yard sale, grabbed some lunch, and sat down to update.
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| On the road in McKinleyville |
My plans seem to be heading north, I have been toying with the idea of going to Vancouver and Montana. I am pretty much the definition of Aimless Wanderer right now, so don't be surprised if my next update is from Vermont.
Wandering thoughts
List of things I miss:
1. Video Games
2. Q Tips
3. Friends
4. Music
5. Thermostats
6. Magic the Gathering
7. Spendable Income
8. Q Tips
in no specific order
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