
Do you ever pick up hitch hikers and what type of people would you pick up?
I have not regularly picked up hitch hikers although I do see them on occasion when using Anthony Henday or more often Stony Plain Road.
I often don’t because of a number of factors, usually I am turning soon so I am not travelling in their direction. Often I just don’t want to pick up hitchhikers. Often they seem dangerous or scary to me to pick up with my kids in the car.
I have, though, picked up some. One day my boys and I were driving to school and we drove past a dad and his son who were walking to school. That’s not unusual, but this particular day it was very cold, snow on the ground, temperatures hovering around the -30s. Not walking weather.
I dropped my boys off and drove back to pick them up. They were very grateful and I felt proud to have taken the time.
Another time I was driving down Winterburn road to drop my boys off at school and saw a guy stumbling down the road. Not drunken stumbling, just that this road, at the time had no sidewalks and was under construction so it was not the easiest road to walk upon.
He looked cold, and either sad or annoyed. As I drove past, my heart went out to him. He had no baggage, nothing that seemed to indicate where he was and he was dressed like a normal working dad. Like me.
So, once I dropped the boys off I drove back down the road to pick him up. It turns out he was coming to Edmonton for a business meeting. His meeting was supposed to be at the River Cree Casino which was just down Winterburn road, problem is, his cab driver dropped him at Stony Plain Road, not Whitemud Drive. He literally had been walking for 20 minutes because his iPhone showed him where the casino was and he thought it was just a block away…
People need to learn how to zoom the maps app.
Anyways, I picked him up and drove him the rest of the way to the casino. He did offer to pay but that’s ridiculous. I wanted to help. I didn’t need his money.
I think my rule with hitchhikers is no, unless the weather or the circumstances seem to warrant some extra grace.
How about you? Do you pick up hitchhikers?