Correspondence

Yesterday I received an Aimless-related e-mail from a guy named "Aimless Web Site Visitor." A simple message, he asked, "How many police encounters did you have? Could you have avoided them? How did you survive?"

I wrote a reasonably long response to Aimless Web Site Visitor last night and received a response from him this morning, to which I recently provided another long response. After thinking about it for a minute, I figured my responses to Aimless Web Site Visitor might be interesting to a few other people out there, so here is my response to Aimless Web Site Visitor's original message:

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Hi Aimless Web Site Visitor,

First off, I want to thank you for showing interest in Aimless. I've put an unbelieveable amount of work into it so far, so I really appreciate when people take the time to ask questions or just comment about things.

To answer your questions:

I've had LOTS and LOTS of police encounters. I really have no idea how many, but I'd guess at least 100; probably more. Don't get the wrong idea, though; they are almost always very cool with me.

Most of the encounters occur beside on-ramps, when I'm trying to get a ride on an interstate. Sometimes cops will stop just to check out what I'm doing and to make sure I'm not running from the law or anything. Other times they stop to tell me I can't be beyond the 'No Pedestrians' sign. Every once in a LONG while, though, a cop will harass me (or "fuck with" me), probably to demonstrate his perceived power over someone he assumes is a worthless bum. But that almost never happens.

Probably the second most common type of encounter occurs in the mornings, when the sun is up and so is my tent. Early on in my travels, whenever I couldn't find a nice hidden spot to set up camp, I'd find spots where I was pretty much invisible at night but very visible in the morning. To avoid any trouble, I would force myself to get up very early and be gone before anyone had a chance to see me. After a while, though, I realized whenever someone spotted my tent in the morning, the worst thing that happened is a cop would show up and respectfully tell me to scram. Consequently, I stopped forcing myself to get up at 6:00. After I stopped worrying about it, I found that usually no one bothers me, anyway, even if I am somewhere really obvious. A few times the cops have shown up outside my tent, asked me what I was doing there, and ended up telling me I didn't have to leave.

Again, almost all cops are very cool to me. I have nothing to hide from them, and I think they tend to figure that out pretty quickly. But most of them drive right past me, anyway.

I suppose I could have avoided cops by staying away from interstate on-ramps. But usually when I choose to hitchhike by an on-ramp, it's because I don't have any other options. Whenever I'm trying to get somewhere specific and distant, I prefer to walk along the road that goes there. In those cases, usually someone will stop and offer a ride before too long. But sometimes the only road available is an interstate, so I just have to stand and wait.

Also, I have never put up my thumb to indicate I am hitchhiking. I like to think my objective is usually pretty obvious. Plus, as I learned from a Lake Mary Police officer: If my thumb is not up, the law says I'm not hitchhiking. So I can stand right beside a 'No Hitchhiking' sign and do my thing for as long as I want. They could probably get me for loitering or something, but most cops realize there's really no point.

How did I survive? I'm guessing you mean in terms of money, right?

I never ask people for money (or anything else, for that matter). But there are some really awesome, caring people out there. Usually whenever I'm out of money and food, it somehow comes to me. Some people slip me bills because they think what I'm doing is cool. Others seem to sense when I'm in need. Sometimes I go hungry for a few days. That kind of drought is rare, but it happens.

Also, there have been a couple times when I was able to work for some cash. In Florida I helped someone paint a house. And I helped a trucker unload his truck in Phoenix and LA. I have no problem working to make some cash when I'm on the road, but the opportunity rarely presents itself. (Actually, it would probably be pretty easy for me to get work lumping for truckers, but usually when I'm with truckers it's because I'm trying to get a long way in a short time.)

There have been a couple occasions when I have flown signs saying something to the effect of: "Please help a hungry traveler get some food." Yeah, I know I just said I never ask for money, and it's almost entirely true. Even though I know people will help if you only ask, it's very hard for me to beg. However, when you haven't eaten for a couple days, something motivates you to find a piece of cardboard and beg beg beg, no matter how uncomfortable it seems.

Hey, I hope that answers your questions. I could probably elaborate on some of it. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks again,
Ryan

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I'll post his response and my response to his response later or tomorrow.

By the way, I met with Mike last night about the pizza stuff. Mike's a good guy; a no-bullshit kind of guy. He already owns the building and has some pretty clear plans for his bar. I'd say the prognosis looks good, but damn I wish I could just postpone my involvement until next fall (instead of, say, right now). I really want to hit the road right now, just to be on the road. I really miss being on the road, even the constant hunger and other shitty parts of it.

Well, we'll see how it goes.

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Aimless
Aimless Video Evidence
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.