The following people helped on the journey from Andover to Bangor, and then from Bangor to
Houston. I had no idea I would require this many rides to get to Texas. Last year, a
handful of people assisted in getting home from Ashland, Oregon. There were some people who stopped,
but I had to refuse the ride because of the short distance they were travelling.
Couple with black dog who offered a ride in SUV at Grafton Notch during a heavy rainstorm
Georgia turned back to pick up this stranger on a rainy day
Nice young couple who when asked what they did for a living, replied, "This," as they held up a joint
Sara and Drew are opening a resort in Maine
Bob stopped at a transmission shop (start of hitchhiking home)
Rhea, whose doctors have said she has mental dillusions and I would agree
Dale worked at a Ford dealership
Lawyer in a Hyundai car
Lady who paints and dropped me off in Farmington, Maine, where I stopped the day before
Lard Ass, a former AT thru-hiker, drove me from Farmington, Maine to Massachusetts
Man in grey truck with brother from La Porte, Texas
Toby who also gave a useful New England map
Guy in red truck but I gave him $3.00 for gas
Chris who went home and did laundry and came back and still saw me hitchhiking and stopped
Rich who was in the marines
Joel who loves animals and wildlife had bags full of bird food inside his truck
Mike drove me towards Hartford, Connecticut
Richard worked for a Sabaru dealership
Helpful bus driver in Hartford gave me good directions and complimentary bus transfer
Carpenter in van with antlers
Lady from New York in New England for meeting
Matt a golf caddy attending acting school at Cornell University
Russian man with 15-year old son
Michelle asked if I was some sort of maniac (yes and no )
Man and son after a little league baseball game, but he dropped me off right on the interstate
Jermaine and Jason surprisingly stopped in their Jaguar
Tom, going out of his way, drove me all the way from New York into Pennsylvania
Man from Carlisle who drives to New York to see girl friend
Trucker who wants to do AT
Eddie was out driving around and smoking pot
Charlie offered to drive me to Illinois the next day and take an alternative route to Houston
Alex, who was in Alaska in 1998, drove from Carlisle all the way to Virginia border through Maryland
Bruce had some issues about his wife, such as, throwing away food that wasn't spoiled yet
Keith was once homeless and lived under the Atlantic City boardwalk
Kevin and step-daughter Roselyn, but they dropped me off at the intersection of 2 insterstates
87 year-old-man with cancer who showed his reserved burial ground. After I entered his car, he started
talking like we were familiar friends. Doctors have only given him 6 months to live, and he plans on giving his savings
to a boy from a very broken home. He will likely never see this website: please do not give up on life.
Daniel Boone dropping off a trailer full of corn
John a property estimator who will likely vote Democratic in 2004 if I understood his viewpoints correctly
Michael provided the longest ride of the journey
James and son Clint drove me from Lebanon to Shelbyville and also bought me lunch
Beverly and some folks at First Baptist Church in Shelbyville
Emily attended Transylvania University, taught Spanish, and now applying for the Peace Corps
Eric commuted from Shelbyville to Huntsville, AL, and then bought me lunch
David from Florida who owns a small car-repair shop in a small town
Timmie (and Johnnie) who will be voting Republican in 2004 whether I understood his viewpoints or not
Keith had cancer and was going into Birmingham the next day for a check-up
Aaron worked for the same company as Eric and doesn't usually pick up hitchhikers
Tony was also once homeless, but now owns his own house and truck, and works odd jobs for a living
Wes was nice enough to offer money, but I couldn't accept
Young guy with shoulder-length hair in red Dodge Neon who stopped to give a bottle of water
John a mechanic for Mercedes coming home from work and stopping at the convenience store for a beer
Mike a college student who came off the exit thinking he needed gas, but didn't after all
Stefan a trucker from Transylvania
Huckleberry who had been held up after picking up 2 hitchhikers
Henry was building a cabin on his property
Richard drove me from Mississippi to Kilgore, Texas
Steve worked in the oil industry
Gary and wife Sherry who dropped me off at the Nacodoges bus station pictured below
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