Take A Hike

FTLComm - Tisdale - Monday, August 20, 2001

As a collage student in the early sixties walking out onto the highway and catching a ride from Regina to my home in Langbank was easy and a great way to meet people. Through the seventies and eighties we saw many people traveling back and forth across the country using their thumb as their ticket. The practice became rare in the 1990s and many places have legislation banning the practice. When FTLComm was actively involved in computer retail (prior to the launch of Ensign) it was standard practice to pick the few folks one might encounter along the highway, I always thought of it as my part in paying back the many people who gave me rides more than thirty-five years ago. In general we rarely see the traditional cross country traveler using this means from going from here to somewhere else. This couple explained to me this morning that they had traveled mostly via trains and had found that a quick solution to getting around. But up this way the trains are to few and far between to provide even grain a ride, so today they were on highway 35 South of the Seven-11 looking for a ride to Winnipeg. He is from Seattle and she is from Oregon. They were happy and polite and they troubled me. Bet their folks are not sleeping well, its a dangerous world out there and that's why the practice of hitchhiking has become very unpopular. I wish them God speed and may St. Christopher keep and eye open for this pair of pilgrims