stories "on the road"...

remembering the twilight on the Ohio/Pennsylvania border(on I-80)and going home(a long way to home,but i was heading home),hitchhiking(the last ride of a long non-descript day),and was picked up by a group of black men,and me the only white guy,in a beat up old Cadillac,going to Cleveland... actually,what a sight,and James Brown on the car stereo!!! had to be there to just see it,folks,and it still makes me laugh,even twenty years later... i have memories like that flooding my brain,and i remember one time,being stuck on I-84,outside Boise,Idaho(actually,Mountain Home,Idaho,but a very long Saturday,started in Boise(walked five miles,out of town),that day,walked five miles into the small town,too,past the AFB base(it was over 100 degrees,that day),and with a backpack over my left shoulder,i was exhausted,stopped at a small park,and rested,for about a half hour,and then got a hotel room,spent the night,and then slowly got back to I-84,the next morning... unfortunately,it being Sunday,no one picked me up,for about four hours,and then got a ride to Ogden,Utah,via semi... the time that i spent in Boise was about five days,and it was enjoyable,but trying to get out to town,was a real bear,because I-84 is the main thoroughfare in that part of Idaho,and outside Boise,there is absolutely nothing,but sand and concrete... I-84,and California State Route 99 are in the same category for me,places that you do not hitchhike,unless you want to go and simply die("highways of death")... actually,nothing against Boise,at all,but it is not a place to be,if you want to hitchhike,especially in the summer... people may think that i always got into trouble hitchhiking,but that is not the case at all,because remembering that walking into the Nevada desert in the very early morning,or at twilight,was a very beautiful sight to see,even in the summer... i remember the walk up the state highway(alternate US 93),outside Wendover,Nevada(a seven mile walk,from the town,and the mountain range to the south,towards Ely,Nevada)... it was dusty,hot,and trying to get a ride was a bear,but remembering that i was seeing scenery that people have forgotten,and i still smile... i made it to Ely,that night,but i also made to the top of the mountain range,too... one more memory that comes to mind is the trip down "the loneliest road in America"(Highway 50)... to re-rack it for you,i started that day(24 hour time span),in Lehi,Utah,on I-15,after being sick for a couple days,there:i got to the intersection of I-15/I-40(going east to Denver),but i saw a sign of a turnoff for Highway 50,further up,on I-15,going west... unfortunately,for me,i did not realize that Highway 50 goes through Great Basin National Park,so i made it to Delta,Utah,for an overnight stay,and so on my way out of Delta,i got stopped by a Fillmore County deputy sheriff(oh,no,i thought)... well,he asked me where i was going... i said west,and he reminded me that there was about 100 miles of desert before the Utah/Nevada border,then folks,i got the biggest break ever,of the ten years that i was "on the road",he said his "beat" for that day was to go to the Utah/Nevada border,so he got me a cheeseburger at McDonald's,and literally took me to the border,in his patrol car... i even carried his card in my wallet for years... a real angel...