Riding with Strangers: A Hitchhiker's Journey

by Elijah Wald

This fascinating tale of the author's cross-country hitchhiking journey is a captivating look into the pleasures and challenges of the open road. As the miles roll by he meets businessmen, missionaries, conspiracy theorists, and truck drivers from all ages and ethnicities who are eager to open their car doors to a wandering stranger. This memoir uncovers the hidden reality that the United States remains hospitable, quirky, and as ready as ever to offer help to a curious traveler. Demonstrating how hitchhiking can be the ultimate in adventure travel—a thrilling exploration of both people and scenery—this guide also serves as a hitchhiker's reference, sharing the history behind this communal form of travel while touching on roadside lore and philosophy.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Memoir

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Elijah Wald is a musician and writer, with nine published books. Most are about music (blues, folk, world, and Mexican drug ballads), with one about hitchhiking.
His new book is a revisionist history of popular music, throwing out the usual critical conventions and instead looking at what mainstream pop fans were actually listening and dancing to over the years.
At readings, he also plays guitar and sings...why not?"

Reviews

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you believe that hitchhiking is a quaint bit of our recent past now assigned to culture's dustbin, Elijah Wald is here to tell you that reports of its demise have been greatly exaggerated. Past forty, Wald still successfully surfs the highways with his thumb out and a guitar on his back, and claims to be able to hitchhike across the country faster than a Greyhound bus can make the trip. In Riding With Strangers he presents a smorgasbord of hitchhiking information and lore in between stories of one of his cross country hitchhiking treks. He presents the when, why, and how of hitchhiking - its history, philosophy, and operating manual on how to do it best, and illustrates a whole unsuspected world of the highway that few people other than truckers and cross country hitchhikers ever experience.

Wald's book resonated true with me. I did a fair amount of hitchhiking in the early and mid `80s, a time when hitchhiking as an activity was already past its cultural prime, and much of what Wald describes is consistent with the experiences that I had. My experiences with it gave me many interesting stories and happy memories, and I was glad to read that there are those like Wald still continuing on in the great tradition of riding the thumb.

[Carianne Carleo-Evangelist · Rating 3 out of 5]

While on a journey from Boston to the Pacific Northwest, Wald tells the story of his personal hitchhiking experiences and the history of the broader movement. He deliberately shares the everyday rides, rather than the extraordinary ones, and I found this to be the most appealing part of the book. While this pre-dates Semi Queer: Inside the World of Gay, Trans, and Black Truck Drivers by more than a decade, Wald noticed some of the changing trends in drivers, catching two rides with Russians, one with a Czech woman and one with a Mexican man who brought cars to and from Mexico to re-sell. I enjoyed the contrast with hobos hopping trains and the benefits/challenges of both methods of travel vis-a-vis the other. While I'll never hitchhike cross country, this was a fun look at a very different kind of travel.

[Matthew Baumgartner · Rating 5 out of 5]

For everything this book tries to be it is fantastic.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A big fan of Kerouac, especially when I was younger, I often had romantic notions of taking off on a hitchhiking tour of the country. But I knew that I would never dare such a thing. In reality, I suppose, I'd rather drive across the country--and would have preferred that even then. There is something that scares me a bit about getting into cars with strangers and also makes me feel a bit of an imposition. I'd have been more likely to hop a freight, had it been legal and halfway safe.

Nevertheless, I think I had higher hopes for this book than it could manage to deliver. It reminded me a bit of a book I own called Zen Driving. It's slick, written very clearly for a trade audience, and it delivers on that count. But I think sometimes trade books can be a bit too slick, such that they seem almost formulaic and glib, as if some editor went through and removed from it the interesting points of personality and made everything safe.

Which is not to say that Riding with Strangers is a bad book. I enjoyed it. It was a quick read. But I didn't find it very inspiring, and it's best sections--about the history and culture of hitching--were short and gathered in the middle of the narrative.

The book runs like this. Wald decides to hitchhike across the country, from his home in Boston to friends in Seattle. Over forty, he's done such trips many times. We get to go along for the ride, meeting his various compatriots, people who give him rides. We find out that hitching is much quicker than we might expect; he's rarely stuck anywhere for more than a couple of hours, and as he puts it, he gets across the country faster and more comfortably than he would on a bus.

In one of the more interesting asides, he discusses the ethnicity of those who give him rides. He notes that the ethnicities have become more varied in the past decade, that one can see the changing nature of the country just in who proffers rides. If he's on the Interstate, it's more than likely going to be someone who is not a white native-born American (at least, it proves so on this trip, picked up as he is by a Mexican and numerous recent immigrants from Eastern Europe and Russia). If it's a country road, it's more than likely going to be a WASP. He almost never is picked up by African Americans (and never by Africans). He muses that this goes back to the long history of racism in the country, as well as the nature of where African Americans live (big cities). There's a notable difference when he goes South and finds that shared rides are actually more common. As he notes, as far as race goes, in the North, white people don't care if a black people get big as long as they don't get too close, but in the South it's just the opposite: white people don't mind how close they get as long as black people don't get too big. I thought it actually a very interesting observation, having grown up out West and moved to the South; I'd always felt the West more tense and racist--but less open about racism as well. This may be why

Interior chapters focus on the origin of the word "hitchhike," hitchhiking techniques, hitchhiking manners, and which types of vehicles make for the best or the most likely drives. Turns out hitching out of a large city is difficult, because most drivers are in a rush and aren't going far and don't want to stop. It's easier to hitch on a smaller highway. Truck and rest stops make good places to scare up a ride, which often consists of just asking around. One can also position one's self at an on-ramp. Signs are dubious but sometimes helpful. Women generally have an easier time getting rides than men (no surprise there), and more than two is a crowd. Big trucks are good for rides; SUVs, however, seldom offer a lift.

Also: it's illegal to hitchhike in many states. That was perhaps the most interesting thing to me, how the writer had to dodge cops or be careful with where he tried to get a ride, and it sort of makes the prospect of hitchhiking to me even less appealing. I might well be fine asking for a ride, but if I might get harassed by a cop for doing so, such isn't going to be to my liking.

[Tami · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is unfortunately not the true travel story the blurb would have you believe. If you really, really enjoy reading about why every young person in America needs to start hitchhiking again, then this is the book for you. The author mentions practically every five pages that only a FEW people are murdered by hitchhikers/people that pick up hitchhikers...I'm sorry, those odds just aren't good enough for me. I'm pretty much appalled that anyone could suggest that anyone should be hitchhiking because most people have "good intentions." He includes one story of a young woman that he met that had hitchhiked all over and had never had any problem with men not taking "no" for an answer. He seems to think he's proved that hitchhiking is perfectly safe for all after that. Have I mentioned I think that this is completely RIDICULOUS? Pass on this one.

[Iris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non-fiction, very interesting book about his twenty-odd years of hitch-hiking in multiple countries. His most recent trip was across the U.S. from coast-to-coast. He travels this way for the freedom of it, the excitement of the unknown, and the love of humanity. He has a basic trust of people and believes that if you are reasonably careful hitchhiking is not the terrible threat it is made out to be (especially if you are a male). He writes reasonably well and strikes a good balance between telling road stories and explaining the history and unique culture of hitchhiking.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

How many ways can Elijah Wald say that he thinks hitchhiking is great and not as dangerous as our laws and rumors may have you think? That's the message in this book that's said over and over and over again. I'm shocked I made it through this repetitive platitude. Boring! The only story that I found mildly interesting was his experience riding with Martina. I also found the information on the separate areas for truckers at rest stops interesting.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 3 is meant to mean a good but not great book. A 5 would be a spectacular book.

This book follows many of the same patterns for travel books. Lots of people met along the way, lots of statements made about the current state of travel, especially in hitchhiking. A little dull in that it is on interstates, though mabye the writer wants to prove a person really can hitchhike anywhere.

[J. Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This firsthand account of a recent crosscountry hitchhiking trip is a refreshing perspective, free of the paranoia and hysteria that traditionally surrounds thumbing a ride. Wood tells a very laid-back tale of a true American past time.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read, but not as entertaining as I thought it could have been.

I did find myself skimming over some of the more boring paragraphs.

Interesting if you want to know what the life of a regular hitchhiker is all about.

[Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wald shares interesting stories of his hitchhiking experiences and a history of the art.

He is a big advocate of hitchhiking and some parts of the book made me want to follow his lead and take to the road.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked this book, about the author's experiences hitch hiking. I've read two of his other books about music and liked them a lot also. Some gentle, light-weight philosophizing.

[Ietrio · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has its slow moments, but I liked the author's philosophy.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Fine Hitchhiking Anthology

I have hitched myself a time or two. This story certainly rings true. Any student of Americana w enjoy it. Highly recommended.