This recent
article from the Houston Chronicle got
me wondering about hitchhiking. I’ve never considered it, and I would not want to suggest unsafe travel methods to
anyone, but I do believe there are certain situations when hitching a ride may be an appropriate, necessary and viable
way to move about, and quite possibly rewarding and fun as well. The article mentioned
Digihitch, a portal for everything imaginable related to hitchhiking, rail and
road travel, so I spent some time exploring the site.
My favorite part is the Encyclopedia of Road Subculture,
loaded with profiles of noted hitchhikers – true engaged travelers! – from different time periods, including
bohemian,
beat,
hippie and
modern day. The
global vagabond language guide and
lexicon guide are handy resources for current hikers,
and the movie list is an impressive collection of
flicks with hitchhiking scenes or themes.
The site, created in 2001, now boasts over 5,000 members, united by their interest in uncommon travel. There are
thumb blogs and
photos too,
rideboards (for both North America and Europe) and downloads of travel
guides for those who register with the site (it’s free). I’m probably leaving out at least five other cool features
that I wanted to mention (like the exhaustive web links section or
the world travel guide), so be sure to spend some time on the site — you
never know when hitchhiking might present itself as the best way to
travel.