Since nearly one month I travel with a friend I met in New York. We went to Boston and Martha’s Vinyard together and had an incredible time! His name is Mike too. And he is 26 and American. After leaving the little island of Matha’s Vinyard we decided to go on a hitchhiking trip up north to Quebec. We camped in the wild as the campgrounds cost up to $40 per person and night. We made our way through Cape Cod to Portland, where we tried to find a nice place to camp next to the freeway. As we walk towards a bunch of trees we hear a voice. “Stop, where are you going?” We turn around and see a homeless guy sitting under a tree. “This place is occupied! GO AWAY!” Then we realise that we stepped into the territory of a bunch of homeless people. So we decided to get away from there and find an unoccupied tree for ourselves.
Some funny facts about hitchhiking in the United States
When you hitch at a traffic light your mind starts to play tricks on you. After one hour all cars that stop in front of the traffic light seem to move backwards.
It is a myth that you get a ride easier, when it is raining. In fact we’ve been waiting in the rain for over 3 hours in a little town called Bingham. People don’t feel mercy for you, they are afraid that their car might get wet.
The more expensive a car, the more room inside a car, the less likely it is that you get picked up by it’s driver.
Blame Canada, Blame Canada
On our way north on the 201 in direction of Quebec we got a ride from a young guy to the Boarder. By the time we reached the boarder to Canada it was about 7 pm. The Canadian Customs started to search through our bags and the Immigration officer undertook the usual questionnaire. One hour later, as we started to wonder why everything was taking so long, we got told that Mike was not allowed to cross the boarder to Canada. Thunderstruck we asked for the reason and learned the following: Mike is not allowed in Canada because he was found sleeping drunk in his car with the keys in the ignition over 7 years ago. Under shock we get escorted back to the United States and get handed over to the US Customs. There we are at 8 in the evening with no food and no water 15 miles from the next town in the middle of nowhere. So we started walking with half an hour of daylight left. We tried to hitch but not a single car stopped for us. Not knowing what to do we decided to flag some cars down. “We have no food and no water and it is getting dark- we give you $10 if you bring us to the next town.” Here are some answers we got:
Rich couple from Quebec: ”No, sorry we don’t have enough time.”
Guy in a SUV: “Yes, I go to the next town, but on my own!”
Guy in another SUV: “I am sure you will find someone.”
Not believing what we just heard we had a decision to make. Being aware that there are moose and bears around we tried to find a sensible spot to camp. It should be a kind of clearing which animals would not access, somewhere a bit away from the wood. And then we found our camping spot for the 8th of July 2009. A graveyard in the woods. A small sign told us that dead children were buried here. As the sun went down everything seemed to be a little more frightening then before. The air temperature lowered fast as darkness encircled us. Strange noises from the woods completed the scenery, that could be out of a cheap horror movie.
That night we slept like dead.
The next day we kept on walking, trying to find somebody with a heart to pick us up. After 2 hours walking without food or water a car appears from a side road. “Would you take us to Jackman- we are stranded since yesterday.”- “I go fishing” he says. “Yes but we have no water and walk since two hours with 20 kg backpacks each.” “Yes, but I go fishing.” And away he drives.
Half an hour later a car pulls over for us: The US Boarder Patrol, gave us a ride to the next town.
Dirtbiking and Whitewater Rafting
After getting rejected by the Canadian Boarder we decided to spend a couple of days at West Forks, which is a wonderful place for camping, rafting and having fun. For the first time in my life I went Rafting and Dirtbiking.
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