On the Road Again 2015 Interim #4

I have, in the past, made a few comments as to the ever increasing difficulty in hitchhiking on Salt Spring Island. I have hypothesized that as people move to the island because of its charm, culture and sense of community, these newcomers have chosen not to engage in one of the activities that made SSI so unique. It has been frustrating in the last 10-12 years to see more and more SUVs with only one person in it, pass me by.

I may have been wrong abut my assumptions.

I have spent 9-10 days on Salt Spring this summer and the travel back and forth between Vesuvius , Ganges and Fulford has been great. I don't think that I have waited more than five minutes for a ride all summer. I think there are a number of reasons for this sudden change in hitchhiking luck. One is that there is now a superb bus system on Salt Spring. While it would be nice if the buses ran more frequently, it is a highly reliable and affordable system. I think that many of the people who use to hitch, now have the option to take the bus, thereby reducing the number of people with their thumbs out. However, I suspect there are many like me who stick their thumbs out at a bus stop while waiting for the bus to come. I think I got on the bus just as often as I got a ride from a stranger.

Secondly, while I kept no record, I suspect that at least some of my most frustrating hitchhiking experiences on the island happened on the weekend or during peak times. It is highly possible that many of the people passing me by were in fact tourist, not locals. I had much better luck this year hitching throughout the week, and hitching when it was likely that people were going to where I wanted to go. This year I stopped worrying about the ferry traffic, in fact I made it a point to not hitchhike when it was likely that cars coming off or going on the the ferry would be racing by.

But there is a possible third reason. I look different than I use to. My beard is far more grey than it use to be. Perhaps I have gone from a dishevelled, bearded, road weary traveller to someone who might look as dishevelled and as road weary as ever, but who now looks old and therefore worthy of rescuing. I would, of course, like to pretend that I am more attractive or at least more interesting looking than I use to be. But that, even to me, would be stretching the imagination.

Regardless of the reasons why, I must apologize to the drivers of Salt Spring for maligning their willingness to pick me up. The fault may have been all mine.