I'm attending Naropa University and living in Nederland, without a car.
It's beautiful, but it's hard to get around, so I usually hitch. I can usually get to school in one ride, but it takes three to get home. One to get to town, one from town to my road and one down my road (which is 12 miles long, but I live at the top end which is a good 3 miles to town).
Buses are limited from town to town and I have the car sick gene so I avoid like the plague.
Uber /Lyft have not been invented yet, so I stick out my thumb a lot.
Three rides to remember.
1. An elementary school teacher and her husband pick me up in their van just before dusk.
I climb in the back with the stacks of books and papers that are piled on the floor. There's no seat so I sit among the books, criss-cross-apple-sauce. The sun is setting and we chit chat as they drive up the winding canyon.
The couple drop me in front of my house and wave goodbye.
2.
The next day a man picks me up at the same spot heading out of town up the mountain.
He's got a ten gallon hat and a pickup truck to match. We get to Ned and he stops at the high school, puts the truck in park, and looks over at me. He says he has a teacher's meeting (another teacher).
I kind of panic as now I have to get out and get another ride but he leans over as he gets out of the truck and hands me the keys. "Drive yourself home" he says. "I know your house on Magnolia, I'll have a buddy give me a ride after the meeting to pick it up."
I'm speechless. I sit there for a moment with my mouth open, then slide over and pull the buckle over my lap.
When I go out to hitch to school the next day I notice the the truck is gone.
It's Mother’s Day and I’m in front of my house, waiting for a car to pass in any direction. My teacher is having a required pot luck at her house. I couldn't get out of it, so I after30 minutes of standing there I walk east and head towards Cole Creek Canyon Road. It's not that far to town on this end of Magnolia, maybe 3 miles at most.
I reach the main road and walk through town. When I get to the far end and onto the highway entrance, I put out my thumb. After twenty minutes an old man in a tiny pickup with a campers hell pulls up.
I'm so excited to get a ride, I forget to survey the scene. Instead, I jumped in like a cat off hot pavement.
The man looks me over and pulls out into the road. He's got white hair and a wiry beard the same color.
A dirty hung over Santa Claus with a mean disposition. His clothes are rumpled and his jean blazer is torn.
He looks over at me again as he takes a long drink off a straw from the 3 liter cup between his legs.
The canyon is deserted. No cars pass us as we descend down the canyon. A river rolls to our right about 50 feet down the roads edge and a rock wall chaperones the other side of the road - no where to go, nowhere to be.
I asked the man if he is having a good day. He rumbles something about being locked up all night at the casino jail. He rambles on about his mistreatment and injustice and takes another sip of the long straw between his legs.
I try to think of something to say change the mood.
"She has a restraining order against me, I need to stretch my legs!"
He jerks the wheel to the right and pulls to the side of the road.
I unbuckle my belt and open the door while the truck is still rolling to a halt.
I jump out and run a little with the truck, then behind it calling, 'Sorry dude, I gotta go!'
I get to the road's edge and jerk my thumb high into the air.
A sedan passes seconds after I do this. They stop.
I see a woman’s profile in the passenger side window as I open the back door and slide in, wasting no time.
Thank you for stopping', I say. I relax on the soft leather and wish them both a Happy Mother's Day.
It's a son and his mother driving to the airport, all smiles.
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