The Hitchhiker

There's an old guy who lives in town who lost his driver's license. He lives about 3 miles outside the village proper and maybe 12 from the nearest city. There is no pubic transportation available at all. Other people in similar situations rely on family for transportation. He doesn't have any in the area.

Fairly often, he hitchhikes. He's a big guy, over 6 feet tall and heavy, with a bushy white beard and longish white hair. His clothes are old. (maybe how I'll look in another 20 years.) As you may well imagine, he doesn't get a lot of rides. I pick him up when I see him. Call it paying back karma for the times I've been hitchhiking. I don't look like a very safe bet either. One dark night on a deserted back road in Vermont my car broke down. The nearest town was miles away. An elderly couple from New York picked me up that night -been paying it forward ever since.

He gets a kick out riding in my veggie oil powered vehicles. According to him I'm "putting it to the man." by not paying road taxes. Today I saw him down in the city and gave him a lift home to his trailer by the river. Glad to see he's still doing Okay. He's another of societie's odd balls. We have to stick together.

Last week he drove himself into the village -on a riding lawnmower.

Gotta love it.

-Sixbears