Traveling West Coast with my thumb up :)

I was always a big fan of hitch hiking, ride sharing and any kinds of road adventures I can think of. Throughout the years I picked up many random people on side of the roads, in the middle of nowhere, in snowstorms around Tahoe or random places I never thought of seeing people without cars at.. I was never really exposed to a real danger, but definitely met interesting people i would never met otherwise..and that's why I love it..

When i bought my ticket to Europe from Seattle, i knew right away how I'll get up the coast. Even though my friends tried, ( and they tried hard) to talk me out of it, my mind was already set up. First, i was on a budget, second Greyhound bus is most likely more dangerous then hitchhiking and third, I wanted to see numerous places up the coast where bus or train would never stop anyways...

September 7^th, 6am, morning after my goodbye party and I was already heading down to the beach to meet up with Suzi. It was cloudy and cold and I wont lie i didnt feel that great so we gave up on our last surf session. We drove down PCH and had a feast in Huntington..last sushi load before returning back Cali...Suzi dropped me off at Long Beach airport from where i was heading up to San Francisco. This was my only flight, thought it is a good idea since Orange County is pretty hard place to hitchhike from and well, to be honest, all I wanted is to be up north already......

Prior to my departure, I have chosen 4 stops along the way – Arcata,California, Eugene and Portland in Oregon and finally Seattle in Washington State. I got really lucky and managed to ride share with two guys from Marine County, which starts right after Golden Gate bridge. Tomas, my Czech friend, was nice and curious enough to give me a ride on the other side of the bridge. Sure enough i had no idea who is going to show up, but when I saw the two little 18 year old I was almost more scared than ride sharing with big tattooed guy who just got out of prison. Only one had driving license (4 months) and they both were very, very 420 friendly so i was worried especially when my driver started to fall asleep after 45 minutes of driving...well we made it. They were fun,young,moving to Portland,excited about their new life...nice kids. They dropped me off in Arcata where I couch surfed with two great girls Heather and Katie...

Another journey was to get up north from Arcata to Eugene,Oregon. Somehow i underestimated the distance and didn't look at the map right so in the last minute i realized i have about 600 miles to go and 8 hours of light. I took my backpack and headed on the nearest highway ramp. After about ten minutes, this young lady stopped and told me to get away from there, since it is supposedly the most dangerous place to hitchhike in NorCal and I will be most likely murdered in a bushes nearby...She mentioned that she works for local Search and Rescue and that they are looking for two bodies at the moment...well, I really didn't want to know that! After hour of waiting, i was really worried. I never ever waited so long in my life. Total waiting time 1 hour 20 minutes!!! Finally someone stopped, dad with two kids, so you guys can imagine I was happy its not some crazy weirdo...he only went about 100 miles up north but after I showed him my sad eyes he drove an extra 20 miles to drop me off in the nearest town so I can get on another road to Oregon...I didn't realize that but that day i had to change cars 3 times since the roads were really complicated and no one was really heading my way..I was already thinking about Survival Man since i did not have a tent and matches to make a fire in the woods...

There i was, small town in a middle of nowhere. Later on Suzi told me its a known surf spot..but I really didn't have the time and energy to go check on the waves... There was really nice homeless guy who wanted to talk to me while I had my thumb up, but since i didn't wanna look like we are "together" i had to politely send him away. I got lucky, a car stopped in 10 minutes! Harley Guy. Once again that guy wasn't going to Eugene but at least drove me another 300 miles..Thanks God he had some tacos and burrito, I basically ate his lunch, after he offered it to me, but i didn't feel bad since I am starving traveler on a budget...This guy traveled the States when he was young and did bunch of cool stuff till he got into an accident on his motorcycle which basically stopped his life for a few years...Well he dropped me off in Grand Pass which is on Oregon boarder, from where I had to take my last ride to Eugene, which was about 250 miles away. Grand Pass was really hot and it took me about 1 mile to get on a ramp toward Eugene freeway, so by the time I got there i was hurting,sweating and swearing..the worst surprise was another hitchhiker (guy) with a little dog ( a trap)..so cause I know the hitchhikers' etiquette, but i didn't want to give up my spot, i politely asked him if I can stand there with him.( pretty obvious who's going to get picked up first,riiiiight?)

 
Thanks God he took off somewhere on his feet in couple minutes and there I was by myself again waiting for the next lucky driver..:) Another 10 minutes and I was heading up the freeway with San Diego Manager who was going on a vacation to Washington. I though it would be great to know him before,since i could ride with him all the way from San Diego, but then i realized my trip wouldn't be that fun with one driver the whole way. The only bad thing was that this poor guy got about 11 speeding tickets in past 3 years so we literally drove 55 mph the whole way...BUT 8 pm and I finally got to Eugene! I couldn't believe i made it since the distance was pretty long. I stayed with 3 couch surfers in their beautiful house for 2 days. Great, great times in beautiful Eugene. Just rode bikes, trees everywhere, blue skies,good beer....very nice.

 

The third day and decided to head up to Portland, about 250 miles away. There were some interesting people stopping me on the side of the road which i had to say "no" to. Finally some weird guy stopped and gave me a ride to Salem, which is about half way to Portland...All he was talking about was War in Iraq, abortion and sex education at school, all my favorite topics...I really didn't know what to tell him and I didn't want to argue so I was just looking out of the window and hoped we will be there soon.

This guy, once again, dropped me off in a middle of nowhere and actually the ramp was so small i was risking of being killed by every car driving by,so i was just praying to catch a ride soon. Well after another 5 minutes i cough ride with David, who actually drove me to Portland! Yay! This guy was cool, gambler, recovered alcoholic, big Vegas goer :) he showed me on his Iphone he just won 25,000$, I couldn't believe it. I almost asked him if he wants to contribute to my trip, since I am starving traveler on a budget, but then I thought it's not a good idea ( he had 6 kids, college is expensive...:)
After I spent another 2 days with another couch surfer in Portland, I managed, once again, get another ride over CL. First I posted an add, which stated that I need a ride to Seattle. In 5 minutes i got a MSG asking if I am still interested. Yes, I said. When you planning to leave? Anytime, he said.I don't have any business there, but will give you a ride. Why would you drive me there then, I said? Well, I am just trying to be a good person and help you out. Don't worry, i wont be asking you any favors for that, lol...he said. So i deleted his number, my post and replied to another one which i saw there that morning.

Ended up getting a ride with a 19year old and her baby in a smelly car full of stuff, food and textbooks.. The girl was really nice but after telling her about my life and my upcoming trip, she almost had a breakdown about her situation and about how much she fucked up her life. That was sad.

But hey, there I was in Seattle!

Two weeks later, 1196 miles away from where i started.

New friendships, new adventures. That's why I love hitchhiking. :)