Day One-Learning to Hitchhike

We left Indianapolis today around 9pm. Grandpa, Grandma, Tayler and Ali drove us to an exit off 70W. They dropped us off at a gas station, we put on our packs, said goodbye and started the trek up the road.

We were so anxious, we didn't care that it was dark we were starting our journey. We waved at my family as they drove back onto the highway. We got picked up within ten to fifteen minutes by a guy named Don that said he could take us about 30 miles up the road to a truck stop. We thought that would help our chances, so we loaded our stuff and got in. He drove us to the truck stop and dropped us off.

We had made signs that said ST LOUIS on them, so we waited at the truck stop for about an hour or so. A truck driver stopped and said he could take us to St. Louis. He put our stuff in the very back of his trailer. His name was Kuba (koo-bah) and he was from Kazakhstan. He picked us up around 10:30pm and said that we could sleep in the back on his bed. I went to the back to sleep and Kevin stayed up riding in the front for a while. Kuba was really nice and friendly. He asked us if we would mind if played music from Kazakhstan. Of course not; so he played us some c.d. He was really nice, said he had been in the military in Kazakhstan for twelve years and had done a lot of training in the U.S. so he moved here to be a truck driver after finishing in the military. He drove us to St. Louis and dropped us at another truck stop around 3am.

Almost every truck stop has a grease pit restaurant. We decided we'd get something to eat, something simple like toast or oatmeal, I can't remember. The waitresses in these places are either REALLY talkative at 3am or we were just looked like we needed to be talked at. The waitress asked us what we were doing and then proceeded to pull some locals that were there into the conversation. "Yous guys better be careful. Yous guys are crazy." After eating and regrouping a little, we started our wait again.

We would wait at the exit of the truck stops, that way drivers would see us on their way out and have time to stop. These areas are always super well lit and usually had big rocks for us to sit on and rest our packs against.