Hitchhiking---Between my junior and senior years of college I decided to take a year off from school and hitchhike around the United States. It was 1972 and I heard that other college students were doing it. I’ve always had the goal of seeing all fifty states and I was tired of school and wanted to do something different. I wanted to have some adventure in my life for a change and to get out and see the world. I was going to San Diego State University at the time so I decided to give it a practice run before quitting. On one beautiful San Diego Spring day I got a ride to downtown San Diego with a friend who was going that way. I told him my plan and he said, “Are you crazy, nobody picks up hitchhikers in downtown San Diego. You’re never going to get a ride back”. I was confident and thought that some young attractive co-ed would pick me up or if not them some middle aged couple because I would remind them of their son. I put out my thumb like I had seen so many others do at the time and I waited. I waited and I waited some more. It was about 3 hours later when I finally got picked up. It was a fellow student. He gave me a ride but asked for gas money to help him pay for getting around town. I only had five dollars so I decided to give him that. He did drop me off 2 miles from the campus. I decided that instead of trying to get another ride I would just walk the rest of the way. I realized that hitchhiking was hot and sweaty work and I was way too impatient for it. It turned out to be the only time I ever hitchhiked. I stayed in school and graduated the next year. I’ve still only seen 34 states nearly forty years later but my life is much better because I hitchhiked one day in San Diego.