[pct-l] Hitchhiking tips

[Wayne Smith]

Some good tips have been mentioned and I thought I'd offer mine.
If you have hiking poles, shorten them if you can and strap them to your
pack.  You don't want to be holding anything that someone might think looks
like a weapon of some sort.
If you have a nice looking rain jacket, put that on.  Hobos don't typically
have nice GoreTex jackets and you want to make yourself look as different
from your common hobo as you can.
I also use my backpack as a sign that I'm a "traveller" of some sort.
Rather than lay it on the ground where drivers might not see it as they
drive by, I prop it up against my leg while I stand there so that everyone
can notice it.
And this is just my opinion, but I HATE IT when hitchers use that *put at
girl on the road while the guys hide in bushes* trick.  Sure it works
sometimes but as someone who occasionally picks up hitchhikers, I have more
than once driven off when someone comes bounding up from the ditch or out
of the bushes.  I see it as dishonest and deceptive and that is not the way
I think people should start out when meeting somone new.

Gretzky

p.s.  Any good hitchhiker should always know where their towel is.