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Black and White: Two Contemporary American Thumbers - Page 3

© Bernd Wechner

Mike McIntyre, on his penniless hitch, along a similar route two years earlier thought back on a friend in San Francisco, an African American, and reflected upon injustice. His friend would never have this freedom, he thought. Well Hamilton didn't go penniless, but all the same leaves me wondering. He met with no difficulty outside of his oen inexperience ... just what is the balance between fact and prejudice in our own fears? Who's to tell? Hamilton, with the love of Jesus, was brave enough to test it and fared as well as I'd expect anyone to.

Brookes left two years later, and took a month to cross from east to west and back again. The contrast could harldy be harsher. He's an experienced hitch-hiker, knows all the tricks of the trade, is equipped with more than he needs on a generous expedition budget, has a backup ride with his photographer Tomasz from time to time, and is relaxed! Where Hamilton scored one ride half way across the country, surprising even himself, Brookes may have broken all short-distance records with a 400 yard ride in Lake City, Minnesota.

Still, he's not without his problems, or his fears from time to time. And while the context may conjure a rather plush, unauthentic image, he shows himself once in a while to posses that true hitcher's spirit. After a full day's drive with Tomasz, rather tellingly he observes "I was bored... The very idea of playing journalist, of going on the road and reporting back about the state of the States, seemed ridiculous. The America I found was an America I was creating, Staring out of the window into the darkness, I saw my own reflection." and really cherishes the road. "All you have to is get out of the car. All you have to do is get out of the car, and things come to you. It never fails. It's just a matter of getting out of the car," he tells Tomasz, and suddenly it seems as if the Photographer is not a plush ride when needed, but a necessary contrast to remind him of what he loves in the road ...

No, in spite of the odd bus, train, ride with Tomasz, Brookes plods his way rather faithfully across the country and back again. There a few hardships (an occasional near death experience, or that lurking fear of one), but mostly joy, with welcome philosophic interludes on the meaning of it all – the kind of reflection that 25 years affords one. And there is much food for thought in this story, for a culture so hooked on security, control and comfort. Like so many long hitches I've known, the mere fact of discarding control, embracing the unknown, brings with it the impossible!

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