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                                                           Traveling by thumb


The first time I hitchhiked I was 7 maybe 8years old. Living in Little River, California. It was in 1973 or 1974. Exact dates are hard to remember when considering it was almost 40years ago. We lived in what was then a hippie community, and most people up and down Airport Road knew my parents. 


Needless to say, I have been traveling by thumb ever since. Not always, but I have never been in a place I couldn't get out of. Growing up in such an environment can be educational, but mostly just a lot of weed and moving around. After a while in my teenage years, my parents probably regretted letting me hitchhike. It wasn't nothing for me to get out on the road and stick my thumb out if I wanted to go somewhere. 

On the flip side of that, it wasn't easy to get my parents to give me a ride anywhere. I asked for a ride to a friend's one day and mom just said no. You can hitchhike. Ha, bit me in the ass. The most trouble it caused was 16. I had been in a nasty argument with my stepfather, and while I was upstairs in my room steaming out of my ears. I put on my coat, walked down the stairs. Walked right through everyone’s vision, went out the front door and took off for Modesto. We lived in Arnold, California. 


Traveling by thumb was the first way I traveled the country. Being young and poor and my ambition was in seeing the country more than to work. I hung around till I turned 18 and that was the start of my adventure of life and the United States. Living a nomadic lifestyle has given me a lot. A better education than any classroom I ever attended. I met a lot of different people, most just passing through life in the same way day after day. I never could understand the appeal of, the daily grind.


When I tell people some of the stories, they think I am full of dog do do. But I have literally hitchhiked all over to biggest part of the country. I have never been in any real pickles while traveling that way. It has been quit the adventure most of the time, and some of what I think are my best stories come from.


I have traveled by thumb, bus, car, plane, and Carnival jumps. And each way has a special element to it that makes a story. I could travel to the same destination by three different modes of transportation and have three different stories. Travel by thumb was a means to an end back then. I had no idea as I was doing it thatI would get some cool stories to tell later.


If you would like more clear and defined stories of some of those adventures let me know and comment, or better yet subscribe.


                               Next post soon. James W Sims IV





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