She left on a Thursday and she arrived at the Crawford Peace House that Saturday night. Marci then spent the next few weeks traveling from city to city with a group — including Sheehan herself — that was organizing anti-war protests across the country.
Marci encounters a lot fewer difficulties on the road than you would imagine, although some days are tougher than others. “A difficult hitch was to the Solar Fest last summer. There was no easy route to get there [to Tinmouth, Vermont] and it was HOT! I ended up catching a ride home with friends I hadn’t known were going. That’s why we need Front Porch Forum!” she says, referring to the Internet-based neighborhood community building movement which offers a way to network with your neighbors.
That brings us to another reason why Marci hitches: connecting with her community. More than half of the rides she gets are with people she doesn’t know, which she feels is a big plus. “People don’t visit each other anymore, not like when I was a kid. I’ve met a lot of my neighbors, people from the community and northern Vermont while hitchhiking.”
Marci is not without her detractors, people who express concern about safety and voice their general disapproval. This includes her family. “It was good one day when my sister and mother picked me up instead of driving by. They aren’t fans of my hitching.” She does indeed own a car, a 1998 Volkswagen Beetle, however it is not registered or inspected. She says she keeps it only for emergency use or "life-threatening" situations.
When asked what her worst experience was, Marci tells of a recent “bad day on the road” when she decided to hitch from home to Montpelier to help with the sand-bagging for the anticipated flood in the capital city. On the way in, she had an “unexpectedly good ride with a three-generation family headed to the Berlin mall from way up north.” But on the way home she found herself on the roadside in the quiet afternoon with only a few cars passing by. “On the weekends, families travel together and are less likely to pick you up.” She decided to walk for awhile along the roadway, and when she turned her head to look back at the road, she took a misstep and fell. But the most frustrating part for her? The driver that “came roaring past me in his V-8, watched me take my hard fall, and just kept right on going.”
Article comments
1 - Arch Conservative
[Entire comment deleted]
2 - Michael J. West
Geez, Archie. What was the point of that comment other than to be nasty and spiteful? (Or was that it?)
Ann, I thought it was a fine article about serendipitously meeting an interesting person and learning about how she lives her life. It didn't change my views about environmental activism...but it did make me wonder what I miss by not engaging with unfamiliar faces. Thanks for posting it!
3 - Mark Saleski
cool post. nice to see somebody walking the walk...in more ways than one!
4 - Dave Nalle
In the good old soviet union, because of the shortage of cars private drivers were legally required to pick up hitchhikers and could be prosecuted if they didn't. I think that puts this all in context.
Dave
5 - Lisa Alvarado
Ann -- What a great wake-up call....Once again, it looks like grassroots activism has a long reach!
BTW--Arch, you might want to review that old red/commie document...the constitution, with its subversive ideas of freedom of speech and expression. (I guess if you can lower yourself to character assassination and obscenity for a difference in belief, we can tolerate your apparent inablity to offer a substantive critique.)
6 - mwb
Excellent article! Keep them coming.
7 - Anna Creech
Interesting article. I used to put a lot of miles on the road, but I've since changed jobs and moved to a new state. Now I'm in a small town and live less than a mile away from work. I may not have access to all the luxuries of an urban area, but I do spend less time in my car and more time doing the things I enjoy. It wasn't exactly a choice like what Marci Young is doing, but it does remind me that we can all do little things here and there that lessen the impact on environmental resources.
8 - Christopher Rose
Just to avoid confusion, I have removed the content of Arch Conservative's gratuitously offensive remarks.
9 - MCH
Hey Ann;
I hear you folks in Vermont get more snow than we do here in Montana. Any truth to that?
BTW, great article. And I agree with Mark's comment #3, there's so very little of that on BC.
10 - Ann Cardinal
Thanks MCH! As to the snow comparison as we say in Vermont, "hard tellin' not knowin'" (translation: I don't have a clue)but I will say that we are getting less and less each year and with a snow-based economy (as I heard our chamber president call it the other day) we are wishing we had gotten more!
11 - Mark Saleski
i personally could have done with 3 feet of snow over the weekend in souther nh instead of 5" of rain. bleah!
12 - DEAN BERRY
AMERICA'S NOW DOING EVERYTHING THE COMMUNISTS DID TO THEIR PEOPLE. LOOKS LIKE THE CONSERVATIVES LOST AFTER ALL:
13 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I hate to rain on the happiness parade here.
I live in a country where hitching a ride is rather common. MOST folks are decent, kind, friendly. But in only takes one rapist to ruin a woman's life, and one bullet to end it...
Nothing wrong with the article, but travelling by outstretched thumb - or finger - is dangerous for a lone woman...
14 - Bill
Marci - Please get a job. It is time to behave like a grown-up.
15 - MCH
Ann re #10;
Yeah, we've been experiencing milder winters here over the last 15-20 years...warmer temps, less snow, etc. The only up-side being that the heating bills aren't as astronomical as they could be.
16 - Ann Cardinal
response to #14:
Bill: If you would have read the article carefully, you would have seen that Marci does indeed have a job, an important one at the state's Dept of Environmental Conservation.
17 - Dave Nalle
Although she does have a job, Bill does have a point about the luxury afforded state employees in the Peoples Republic of Vermont to continue an indefinite adolescence.
dave
18 - Clavos
Marci's making an interesting point that can and is, right here, generating debate: a good thing. More power to her for stirring interest and having the courage of her convictions.
But, hitchhiking, in the face of today's crime rates??...