Interesting, I’ve never heard of this. Has it fallen out of style mostly? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hitchhiker in my life, mostly only in old media.
Hitching (car) is relatively easy on the west coast and borders on impossible east of the Mississippi. Seattle to Eugene is a pretty easy circuit to hitch.
Seattle->Alaska I got as part of a contract to work on the boat, but it was a flight. The boat was closed circuit route in the sea and a single port (Dutch Harbor).
I managed to hitchhike from the bay area to the Canadian border and back to California. I met lots of really cool people. Contrary to popular belief nowadays most people don't want to murder you.
Definitely. I do feel like this attitude has contributed to the decline in hitchhiking in recent years. Still there are enough decent people to make it viable. I did end up having to wait a while in some areas to get a ride (pro-tip wear sunscreen). Anecdotally every single person who picked me up smoked weed although in CA/OR/WA that might have just been a coincidence.
