After traveling across the USA so many times hitch hiking. It only took one trip to convince me it truly is a beautiful thing. My trying to convince readers by using colorful descriptions and examples will not effectively portray the real experience. You have to get out there and live it.
Before actually packing for the trip you need to remember one simple rule. When your on the road and discover you have too much crude packed follow this. “To much to carry, time to bury” It’s a type of cache you can return too weeks or months later and recover. Think of it as your own salvation army. I recommend a change of clothes, sweater and or a light jacket. Perfect way to change into a fresh set that’s not road worn and dirty. Place about three or four dryer sheets inside a heavy contractors black plastic bag. Bury it about a foot down and place a marker of rocks that you will remember. But not a marker of rocks that some person walking by would see and be curious. When you come back and the ground squirrels haven’t used it for a home your good. GPS location would even be better.
Another reminder is to always carry at least 4 construction grade plastic bags in your backpack. You can use it for a raincoat and hood. It will block a cold wind instead of lining the inside of your pants and shirt with newspaper. A cover for your whole backpack and a backup for the inside of your bag or cache. This is my method it’s not written in stone. It will be a comforting feeling when your caught in a heavy rain or sleet.
Read up on the net or a new road atlas concerning the route. Or just free flow the road. Again most interstates or state roads have a numbering system. If the number ends in a odd digit it’s going north and south and even numbers are east and west. Granted there are those loops,circles and diagonal roads that would prove me wrong. When you fall asleep while in a ride( that’s a no no ) you have the sun or the road sign numbers to get your bearings.
The road map or atlas that you can purchase at most book stores or a truck stop is a great way to learn the roads. where a campsite, park, graveyard or fire station might be. You can sit on it when the gravel cuts into your butt while taking a break from standing. It will keep the butt of your pants from getting so dirty that you soil your rides seat. Believe me it doesn’t take long to get road dirty.
I’ve found that when it’s getting late outside ( 2 or 3 am ) and the trucks are all shutting down ( sleeping ) is a good time to look for shelter but not on the truck stop property. If it’s a wide open area with a wind blowing I prefer to find a area away from the entrance or on ramp. Keeping a low profile and not setting up a tent works for me. Some of my reasons for keeping a low profile are. Headlights from cars or trucks pulling over to get their bearings. Hitch hikers walking down the ramp to get a ride. State or local police looking for cars or people alongside of the highway. Some low life that decides it would be fun to come and steal your pack or what ever while your asleep.
Important note and a rule I follow faithfully. This is my opinion not anyone else’s. There is always dogs on the edges of towns. Pack dogs or coyotes or single hunters. As a single traveler and doing stealth camping I always sleep with my back to a tree, boulder, or large shrub. If it’s a large open area I place my backpack behind my head. Letting my guard down isn’t my way.
Numerous times I have been in a area near a truck stop that had a lot of closed or abandoned business’s. Some show signs of previous drinkers leaving empty bottles and cans, old clothes and cardboard. You need to sit in a unlit area and scout out the traffic traveling by. Long enough to if lucky, to see when the local police travel thru. Basically most security people setup a pattern without even knowing it.
I always need to change my clothes from the previous day into clean ones. I prefer to do it in stages. I leave my previous observation point and move when there isn’t traffic to show my silhouette crossing the road. My new location needs to provide me with enough cover that I can change without getting busted for indecent exposure because a person saw my untanned legs shinning white through the darkness. Oh crap!
A little trick I use to allow me to see in the dark a lot better is to put on a pair of sunglasses. When I get to the location I have scouted out I sit down and relax put on my sunglasses and let my eyes adjust to the increased darkness. after about ten or fifteen minutes I take off the sunglasses and what a difference. I do this because stealth camping is done without light.
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Jean Andre Vallery
