What if an old man picks you up? 

Story of Walter- The 1st Philosophy Major at UC Santa Cruz. 

He picked me up around 12:24 from the Bookstore/Cowell bus stop. I needed a ride home towards Bay/King. He was the first adult to pick me up in a few months. He drove a 2004 silver honda civic, and said he preferred to drive stick. When he pulled over he was hesitant to say anything. He seemed pretty shy, and opened the door for me. Normally, when I get into a car, words are exchanged pretty quickly, at least within seconds, but for some reason no words were shed for what felt like at least 15 seconds. 


"My name is Walter, are you a student here? What are you studying?" said the man. 


"I'm Ben, Ben Oberhand. I'm considering adding a philosophy minor to environmental studies" 


He made eye contact with me for the first time. I guessed that he was at least 65. He looked at me with curiosity and then an excited face. He said "you know i was the very first philosophy major at UCSC? Well there was actually only two of us at the time, can you believe that?" 

This is Walter. He was laughing and telling me a story about how he was hanging with with Page Smith, a man who had a building in Cowell dedicated to him. The Page Smith Library to be exact. 

He reminded me of the old guru turtle from the movie Kung Fu Panda. I asked him what he was doing on campus, and the reached for a pamphlet from the dashboard and it mentioned something about philanthropy. He asked me what I was taking as a class and at the time I was teaching a class on energy efficiency and green building through the Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP). He asked me if I was a graduate student and I felt a little flattered, but only if it were true...I was a sophomore at the time and he quickly grabbed for a pen and paper, and asked if he could write down my contact information. I was kinda surprised about this. I know getting a ride with a stranger is something but just giving away my information? My intuition however told me that something about this meeting was definitely not as creepy as I thought. 


Walter pulled the car over in front of my house, and instead of getting out and thanking him for the ride, i stayed in the car and heard the story of what it was like to be the first graduating philosophy major at UCSC.


We talked for over 30 minutes. Since he had been around UCSC since the beginning, I asked him about the way UCSC has been expanded over the years and what he thinks about the design and layout of the school.  He said that planning out UCSC came with various philosophies, some he agreed with and disagreed with. For those who lived at Cowell college, you probably studied at the Page Smith Library. Walter claimed to have known Page Smith as a friend and that he lived in a trailer on the exact spot where the OPERS gym is today. "It was a cool place to stay and hang out, and eat because there was also a dining hall there too."

My First Blog-An introduction to Hitchhiking

Twilight Zone episode: Hitchhiker 

Who hitchhikes? When I am driving up Highway (1) from Santa Cruz, CA, I usually see some old crusty homeless looking fellow or gal with a sign for San Francisco, and am I compelled to pick them up? Not really. Why should I? Don't hobos have hobo-knives? After I was picked up for the first time, I made it my duty to pick up those with their thumbs high in the air. 

My father, a baby boomer who grew up in West Los Angeles joined the hitchhiking frenzy in the early 70s and made it across state to state with strangers. He usually felt comfortable with the majority of his drivers, but once in a while he would get out early and catch another ride. "Back then, all you had to do is throw your thumb up in the air like your proud, smile, state your destination, and hop in". One time, somewhere in Arizona, a young Bill Cosby picked up my father. 

At the beginning of my sophomore year at the University of California, Santa Cruz, I was waiting for a bus at the Porter/College 8 bus stop and needed to get home as soon. I lived right off the Bay/King intersection in the West side of Santa Cruz. My sister who was a recent alumna, told me that she hitchhiked in town a few times. This blew my mind. I had no idea that people still did this let alone my 22 year old sister (in 2009) who was afraid of tiny spiders. I saw cars pass by me with 4 empty seats. Was I crazy enough to get in the car with a stranger? Before I could consider the idea any more, a Metro16 came up to the stop sign, but to my dismay, the bus was full and passed me right by me. Marooned! Out of frustration, I decided to take the plunge and threw my thumb up in the air. Instantly, I had butterflies. People waiting at the bus stop looked at me like I wasn't wearing any clothing. I began to lower my arm, thinking it was silly to be doing this. I brought my thumb right back up and several cars passed me by. I looked at the types of cars who passed me: nice cars, new cars, SUVs, trucks, minivans, and the people who were in them; sorority girls, UCSC faculty/staff, students, and possibly prospective students and their families. These people were not going to pick me, so who was? 

Then I saw an 1990 Volvo 240 DL station wagon chugging along, put up its turn signal, and pulled over besides me. It was unreal. Someone actually stopped for me. It was an older student I had seen before on campus, a familiar face! "Where to?" he asked. I said if he could take me to Bay/King, and he said with a convincing smile "You got it!" 


I hopped in the car and we immediately asked each other the usual questions:

• What's your name?
• What's your major?
• What year are you?
• Where are you from?
• Hows your day?

His name was Grant, he studied Chemistry, he was in his junior year, he's from Petaluma, CA and he was doing swell. I told him to drop me off at the intersection and he said, "well, where do you live?". I immediately got nervous and thought to myself "where will he take me, will he not let me get out of the car?" He said "No worries man, I'll drop you off right in front of your house, no problemo." I had a sigh of relief and told him that since it was my first time hitchhiking I was a little nervous, but he dropped me off right in front of my house. I thanked him for the ride, and got out of the car. He smiled at me and drove off. 


Something monumental inside of me changed at that very moment. I realized that in that 5 minute ride, I shared an experience with a stranger, and showed faith in humanity. I was hooked.


Hitchhiking became an everyday routine.


After that, everywhere I went, I told people about hitchhiking and encouraged people to try it. People accused me of being too risky, and that I was risking my life.


People who picked me up would tell me that I was the first hitchhiker they ever picked up and they only picked me up because I was a student and looked "harmless". I am 6'2" 210 lbs, and always have a beard. Most people wouldn't consider me harmless looking, but Santa Cruz moves to its own rhythm. The majority of my rides come from men, but all types of women pick me up as well, including mothers with children, professors, sorority girls, and visiting mothers, excited to see their child.




The purpose of this blog is to do a few things:


1) Share with you many of my experiences and stories hitchhiking.  


2) To promote hitchhiking in Santa Cruz as a form of sustainable transportation for those who do not wish to bike up the hill or drive your own car.


3) To promote a culture of safe hitchhiking for men and women.


4) To eventually create a system of for safe hitchhiking utilizing social media and customized "Thumbs High" I.D. cards.


Thumbs High Santa Cruz!