27 September 2020

Hodgman on hitchhiking

I have picked up hitchhikers twice in my life, both in Maine. The first time was a young couple who flagged us down as we were driving the loop road in Acadia National Park. They had gotten lost hiking and were looking for a ride back to the parking lot. 

When they got in the car they said, 'Are you John Hodgman?'

'Yes', I said.

'Oh, wow,' they said, 'we are huge fans of your podcast'.

I said, 'This must be very surprising for you'.

'It is!' they said.

'What makes it even stranger,' I said, 'is that usually it's the hitchhikers who end up murdering the driver. And not the other way around, like this time!'

It was just another example of the wit and wisdom of me at my finest. I didn't murder them. We met up later in Brooklyn, because of course that is where they live.

- John Hodgman, Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches, New York, 2017, p.199-200.

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