Summing Up With Jackie Gleason

Toward the end of the book (Day 38), we were grateful to have the guy who looked like Jackie Gleason pick us up. It was a strategic pickup; not only regarding geography, but his conversation was on point.  He treated us with dignity, as equals.  He gave us respect and plenty of talk time to air out our minds.  He looked at our souls and not our dirty outward appearance.  He was a building contractor and amateur philosopher who said, “When you know the road, I guess you know almost everything a person needs to know.” Since we were nearing the end, relatively speaking (Omaha, Nebraska—but only one ride away from the ride that would get us to New Jersey), it gave us the chance to analyze all the changes we had gone through, to verbalize how much we had crammed into our travels, and to wax on about the knowledge it instilled into us. It’s one of my favorite parts of the book. It almost approaches “wisdom.” It sums up what I’d been wanting to say all book, that I was grateful for having the chance to take a venture of this magnitude. “What is hitchhiking in one sentence?” he asked each of us.  I answered, “It’s putting your life on a public thoroughfare and advancing your position through direct eye contact.” Otto answered, “It’s travelin’ on somebody else’s trust.” Every moment of that ride was filled with conversation like that.