The Safety Latch

If you read closely, you’ll see Otto and I had one constant rule concerning safety while hitchhiking.  After getting in, we would take a moment to study the door handle mechanism, how it opened, how to get out quickly.  On Day 1 with trucker driver Tom Pavallow, I write, “Out of habit only did I locate the door handle.”  That's because it was standard procedure on EVERY ride, no matter how benign the driver’s personality.  We had to know how to get out of there, if need be.  Alas, on Day 36 we finally got to execute this emergency procedure. We rode into Cheyenne, Wyoming, with the drunk cowboy in street clothes, who got annoyed that we didn’t think much of his companionship at the Frontier Days festival and who says, “You guys is better bullshitters than I am!  Now come on!  I ain’t gonna let you out of this car until you say’s I can buy you a drink.” That was a scary moment. His anger was building fast.  We might’ve exited the car successfully, but you know it was just the beginning of a night of hell.