Ben Bachelder, Digihitch.com contributor, interviewed by NY Times

I met Bass Drum Ben, so-called because he played in the UC Berkeley marching band, on a roadtrip to Slab City. We drove from Santa Monica to California’s Colorado Desert, south of Coachella and east of the Salton Sea. We were part of a group creating and documenting the Hitchhiker Tribute Cairn, a memorial mound of [...]

Mounds of tribute

If you were to thumb your way to The Slabs, you might hitch east from Los Angeles past Palm Springs into the Mojave Desert. You might then thumb a ride south from the Coachella TA Travel Center truckstop off Interstate 10. The fetid smell of the Salton Sea would seep into your nostrils as your [...]

Scissors

“Some guy t-told me he could make a stove with a p-pair of scissors and a Nesquik can. You ever t-tried that?” a male voice stutters from outside the campfire circle. Flames crackle warmly. It is not yet dark.
 
“No, but we just fixed my tent zipper with a bar of soap,” says a 6’8” young [...]

Monument to the Unknown Hitchhiker

Back in March, I wrote a post that I titled (oh-so-cleverly, I thought) No Sissy reply. In that post, I reported that I had written Even Cowgirls Get the Blues author Tom Robbins a letter about Sissy Hankshaw’s thumbs and received no response. I also expressed very little faith that I would receive any response. So [...]

“What I’ll leave you with …”

A little old man dressed for March, he wore a nubby gray sweater, black pants, and a smart Donegal cap. In his work-worn hands, he carried a pleather portfolio, a white-handled cane, and a plastic grocery bag full of what looked like more plastic grocery bags. I had just turned west at the Crossroads Texaco [...]