Hitchhiking in the USA - First experiences

Hitchhiking in Mexico was a great success, this time I tried it my first time in the USA, finally successfully but completely different from Mexico. It was way harder to find someone taking you with you due to mainly two reasons. Culture - people in the USA are not used to pick up hitchhikers as much as Mexicans do. And secondly infrastructure - streets, highways, positioning of gas stations and cities itself are not well designed for hitchhikers in the USA, unless somebody takes you to one of the big gas stations in the middle of nowhere.

I stepped out of Adam's appartment and walked just a few feet, trying my luck at an intersection which was already the last one before entering the highway towards Houston. Getting a little bit creative I wrote a few cardboard signs saying not only "Houston" but also "Won't Kill You" and "Rabies-free since 2019". Unfortunately they didn't really work, many people laughed when they read them (especially the rabies-free-sign) but no one stopped and gave me a ride. I waited for four hours at three different intersections walking back and forth, also walking towards one gas station twice but the situation there was not promising because only every quarter of an hour a car came by for refueling.

Finally I was lucky as Matt, a guy who had already passed me, made a turn and went back to have a look what I was doing. He just saw the "Houston-sign" and got interested if I really wanted to go there. One must add that the past few days Houston was half under water due to a tropical storm. Most people tried to make their way out of Houston to stay safe and dry and few people wanted to make their way towards Houston. But the weather forecast for the following days predicted better weather.

Matt actually just wanted to go to Bastrop, a small town a ride of only 50 minutes from Austin. He spontaneously decided to take me all the way to Houston, an approx. three hour drive, even though he was still a little worried about the ongoing tropical storm. But after we'd covered some miles he told me that it was good for him getting out of the city and standard routines, going to Houston where he hasn't been for quite a time. We shared interesting conversations all along the way and Matt even stayed for a night in a hostel in Houston. Of course I wouldn't have expected him to do that. One of my three main reasons for doing hitchhiking is to avoid CO2 emissions. This ride hasn't exactly made me do it. So I decided to go east by bus to the next stations of my journey.

My second hitchhike was a lot easier than the first one due to the fact that my starting position was at an extremely large gas station next to the highway. A friend of Mike dropped me off there as it was close to his working place anyways and I didn't have to wait long until I was lucky. My destination was also very easy and open, just somewhere east, if possible close to the Atlantic coast. The closest destination would thereas have been Jacksonville, 400 miles strictly eastbound. Finally I ended up going directly to Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens, almost 650 miles south-east, and for this I only needed to wait less than 15 minutes at the gas station.

Buc-ee's is an American chain of convenience stores and gas stations in parts of Texas and Alabama. The station I went to has opened just recently and is said to be one of the biggest ones that exist. Furthermore it is strategically located at a junction of the road network in south Alabama. Many people who go to Florida or also Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana or even further stop here. Unfortunately Buc-ee's has the corporate law that they do not tolerate hitchhikers or any kind of people who are not customers on their private property. So it came that after just five minutes walking around and asking some of the hundreds of people I was kindly asked by a security guard to leave the property. At first a little disappointed I did so immediately and positioned myself at the exit of the station. And actually, I couldn't have wished for a better place. Here absolutely everyone who visited the gas station or one of the shops passed by. After waiting only a few minutes I was lucky. Brandon, a very nice guy from New Orleans who had gone to the graduation party of his daughter in San Antonio (TX) drove all the way back to Florida, to Jupiter to be exact. I hopped on and investigated on the way eastwards where exactly he was going to. It turned out to be a perfect place for me to go to as Jupiter is already very far in the south of Florida and therefore close to a lot of marinas with plenty of boats. Furthermore a Couchsurfer in the neighbour town Palm Beach Gardens offered to host me immediately after I requested to stay with him. Finally Brandon even drove me there and dropped me off directly at his house. It couldn't have been better!