Riding My Thumb

One more tidbit from that awful situation in Baltimore County with the guy who shot two police officers and took it on the lam to a shopping center in Harford County...

After he shot the first cop and hid in the woods for a day, he was running around the Warren Road area, looking for a ride out of there. A man told the local news that he spotted the young (24 yoa) hooligan walking along a stretch of road where pedestrian traffic is rare.  "He had his thumb out, like he wanted a ride..." he said.

It's called hitchhiking, or at least, it was in the days before I had a car (and once or twice when my car broke down on me). It was simple - stand along the side of the road and extend your right thumb; that was the universal signal for needing a lift. Young people might be surprised to know almost ALL of us did it, and successfully got where we needed to be. It was such an accepted thing, there was a song or two about it.

Oh sure, there were stories, but nothing verified, kidnappings, stickups, the like. It was a whole different era then. We trusted the people who picked us up, and they in turn trusted us not to hit them over the head with a Spanish textbook and steal their Studebaker.

It must seem like I'm talking about things that took place eons ago. No, just 50 years ago. 

But the world was better then.  Ask anyone who was there.