Hitchhiking 50 capitals in 50 days

October 10, 2006 12:29 AM

Hitch 50.Starting at 10:00am Tuesday in NYC, these two guys will be attempting to visit all 50 state capitals in 50 days or less by hitchhiking. (No word yet on how they're going to get to Honolulu.) Despite falling out of fashion in the US in the 1980s, thumbing a ride is still a safe and sustainable means of transportation, even for female hitchers, and those who'd rather call it by other names. Good luck Scotty and Fiddy.
posted by toxic (20 comments total)

State by state breakdown of laws and tips found here.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:40 AM on October 10, 2006

Don't forget digihitch, which should give someone a good idea of where these guys would be breaking the law (for example, Utah).
posted by spiderskull at 12:44 AM on October 10, 2006

That's nothing!

Dean Karnazes is running 50 marathaons, in 50 states, in 50 days!

Is he crazy?
posted by xpermanentx at 2:49 AM on October 10, 2006

As a proposition for a more concrete safety measure: You can carry a mobile phone and send each licence plate number to a friend as soon as you’ve got into the car. In case the driver gets difficult, you can always tell him that his licence number is already in your friend´s cell phone.

Boy am I glad I don't have any such "friends" too cheap to pay for the bus that would use me in that way.
posted by Rhomboid at 2:52 AM on October 10, 2006

Boy am I glad I don't have any such "friends" too cheap to pay for the bus that would use me in that way.

Boy am I glad I don't have any "friends" who would consider such a simple safety step as being "used".
posted by Space Coyote at 3:25 AM on October 10, 2006

Whoa. I never knew about "casual carpooling" to take advantage of high-occupancy lanes during rush hour traffic. Great idea. Gives me hope in a strange way, too. Thanks, toxic.
posted by mediareport at 3:51 AM on October 10, 2006

Seconding the thanks on the casual carpool link, and the hopefulness, too.
posted by cgc373 at 5:19 AM on October 10, 2006

I would bet against them succeeding.
posted by stbalbach at 6:31 AM on October 10, 2006

Is this interesting or just another piece of mindless gimmick-driven travel of the let's pogo stick across Tibet and, if we're lucky, get a book out of it variety?

I'm not asking this question rhetorically, BTW (or even particularly cynically) - I genuinely can't decide.
posted by rhymer at 7:32 AM on October 10, 2006

I'd be surprised if they could do it in 100 days, much less 50. In the western states, state capitals are a very long days drive apart. Getting to and from Alaska is going to take a couple days each way, and Hawaii, as mentioned up thread, is going to be a bit tough to hitch too (unless they have a friend with a plane who just happens to be going that way). As a project and a goal, it does seem kind of silly.
posted by doctor_negative at 8:21 AM on October 10, 2006

When I waa a kid, my father would never pick up a hitchiker. I asked him why, was he scared? Nah, he said. I can take cvare of myself. But if I get in an accidnt, guess who the first person will be to sue me?
posted by Postroad at 8:29 AM on October 10, 2006

Yeah, I don't think they're going to do it in 50 days either...
posted by ob at 8:42 AM on October 10, 2006

Cool idea, but starting a website and soliciting rides from people online isn't really hitchhiking. If this gets any sort of press at all, it totally defies "hitchhiking" as a sustainable means of transportation. It does, however, reaffirm one's ability to solicite rides from your website, with a dash of hitchhiking thrown in.
posted by nitsuj at 8:43 AM on October 10, 2006

They'll never make it. In fact, they will most likely disappear and never be heard from again.
posted by tadellin at 8:56 AM on October 10, 2006

I, for one, welcome our new hitchhiking overlords.

I just picked these guys up in Times Square and gave them a lift to the last rest stop / gas station on 95N in NJ, figured they could find a trucker sooner or later headed up to Albany from there.

I think there's a chance they could do it in 50 if they knock enough of the eastern states out in enough time - hitting 2-3 a day would be ideal. Then out west they'll have to be strategic and stick to getting rides from long-haul truckers.

And as far as the whole soliciting rides thing, they're officially hitchhiking now - on the side of the freeway.
posted by allkindsoftime at 8:57 AM on October 10, 2006

I don't think it's impossible, IF you bar Alaska and Hawaii. I have met truck drivers that have driven from LA to Austin in two days, which gets you Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. From LA you can easily get to Seattle in two days, which gets California, Oregon, and Washington. That's 6 states in 4 days, and that's surely one of the most distant stretches.
posted by muddgirl at 9:05 AM on October 10, 2006

Of course they'll make it. Notice that they're pre-arranging rides ahead of time? That's not really hitchhiking.
Hollywood will probably step in to help them because hey, this is hip and Web 2.0!

Also, one of the guys is the brother of the "one red paperclip" guy. So yeah, it'll work out, even if the goal is to create another cute feel-good Internet story.
posted by drstein at 10:10 AM on October 10, 2006

I personally would have preferred this getting an FPP around day 25. right now it's not very interesting with one days travel on it.
posted by Megafly at 10:53 AM on October 10, 2006

Not just Honolulu... they'll have to hitchhike on a boat/ferry to get to Juneau too (there is no road from Juneau).
posted by wildcrdj at 12:56 PM on October 10, 2006

This is pretty cool, but the lame part is the "state capital" thing. You're going to go to one place in California -- and it's Sacramento?

Best ride I ever hitched was from Denver to Breckenridge with some construction worker driving back from Denver after being sent there for immediate psychological evaluation by his boss after attacking a guy with a clawhammer and trying to throw him off a roof. We had a good conversation though.
posted by salvia at 1:07 PM on October 10, 2006