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An Auspicous OccasionRead the article this discussion is about
This archived discussion is "read only".
» The_Thumb - Before I lose track of them I think I'd like to add to the artic Before I lose track of them I think I'd like to add to the article the two short anecdotes I came across in alt.gathering.rainbow. The thread was titled "Beer and Hitch-hiking".Hitch-hiking... I remember a hot and steamy summer afternoon in Louisiana, back in '79. Had been standing there wilting in the sun and humidity for over three hours, trying to get back home to Natchitoches. A small Datsun, filled to the brim with laughing teenagers, pulls up beside me. I think: "Why are they stopping? They don't have any room." Window rolls down, and an arm reaches out and hands me an ice cold can of Budweiser. I gratefully take the can and shake the hand that offered it. Smiles and much laughter. They rolled the window up and sped on down the highway. I found a shady spot, enjoyed the Bud (would rather have had an icetea, but it was cold and wet), and caught a ride on a farm truck a short while later. -- Author unknown and My friend Will, who I brought to the gathering (his first one) has this story. He was on his third day trying to hitch out of somewhere in Arizona in the 70's and along comes a pickup of Apache Indians. They pulled over, pulled a six pack of cold beers out of the cooler and toss it to him, whooping as they drove off. -- BirdTribe I experienced a similar thing this year at a German services. A car full of guys with no room threw me a beer anyway to console my misery. But the story of this last article was for me much more striking, and Bill and Joe provided such a rare and friendly glimpse into a world I so rarely touch ....
-- posted by The_Thumb » GHolbrook - Hey..... Thank you for your jokes you so elequently contribut Hey.....Thank you for your jokes you so elequently contributed to my contest. It got the ball rolling quite well. As you know, editors cannot win contests here at the suite. But I do encourage any and all entrants to post often and check back for newer jokes. <img src="http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/5739... "height=100 width=100 align=center>
-- posted by GHolbrook » On_The_Road - More on people that are unable to give you a lift but still help The thought of an ice cold beer by the side of the road....mmmm...My wife and I were hitching from Darwin to Perth last year, and had ventured off the main road to visit one of the spectacular Nat'l Parks in WA. We had spent a couple of days in Karijini with a rental 4WD, and were now attempting to hitch back to the main highway from a closed mining town by the name of Paraburdoo. Had our normal 5AM start to catch any long distance traffic - when hitching in WA & NT always be prepared to start when the sun comes up as most drivers leave early to cover the long distances before the thermometers burst. We set up shop at the intersection leaving town to cover the 300 km back to the highway. Eight hours later we had only been passed by 7 or 8 cars leaving town (most we found out later heading to the dump). There were other cars that passed near by on a side road to large workshop, but other than that what a feeling of ISOLATION! The temps were in the 45-48 degree range, but I had made a shelter from our tent fly, using a dumpster and a traffic sign. But it was a great day for the following reasons: 1) A welder from the nearby shop stopped and told us if we ever needed cold water to stop by the shop. In the end we accepted a lift in the other direction, to Tom Price which was just as isolated but had different scenery :-) (and a campground with a pool). The following day we made it back to Karratha courtesy of a great Aboriginal guy that took us for a swim in a hidden water hole - now that's living!!!!!!! Cheers, Brad -- posted by On_The_Road » The_Thumb - That's what I like ... good stories! Ah, reminds me of a trip through South Australia. The ouback was so incredibly charming somehow. Headed back from Andamooka I was in a truck that overheated. The guy was cussing and cursing because his workmate from whom he'd just got the truck, didn't leave him any reserve water in the tank ... We tried with what he had, got a little way and boiled over ... not far from Woomera clutching it gingerly, I offered my one water bottle to the radiator ... It didn't help much, we were rescued by another truckie with water and limped on to Woomera where I made my own way on ...In Spain last year me and my gal were hitching towards Lisbon, and were left on the motorway near Badajoz. It was a scorching day, and we had only my one standard bottle of luke warm water. There was almost no traffic, and no point in standing around, so we walked down the motorway hoping for shade. Some motorbike cops passed us on the way. We spotted a bridge in the distance and stepped up the pace ... shade ... shade ... but hey, what's that? Figures under the bridge already ... closer, closer, it's two motorcylcists ... closer, closer, the two copy that passed us a few minutes back, we slow down and hesitantly walk on towards the bridge. Getting there, sure enough our two cops are stiing in the shade taking a break. We get to chatting and they ask us why we don't try thumbing a ride? Seems the Spanish and French have a different attitude to hitching on motorways :-). We were worried about even being on the motorway (as pedestrians) let alone hitching it. No-one else with friendly police stories out there? Or water in the desert stories? -- posted by The_Thumb
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