I was having a conversation with some of my grandkids the other day, and we somehow got onto the subject of hitchhiking. One of them asked if I had ever hitchhiked, and I told them this story.

The summer after my Junior year in High School, a friend and I hiked half of the Pacific Crest Trail in the State of Washington, and the second half the following summer. That was in 1965, and there wasn’t much available then in lightweight camping gear like there is now. We didn’t take a tent, just a 10×10 canvas tarp that we put our sleeping bags on if it wasn’t raining, and under if it was. So with food and camping stuff, our packs weighed almost 70 lbs each. It was a great trip and the first time I had ever done anything like that. With the ups and downs of the trail, the altitude we were hiking, and the weight of our packs, we were tuckered out at the end of each day. We had a goal of walking at least 20 miles daily, so some days it was pretty late when we stopped for camp. My friend was in much better shape than I was, and he would often go ahead of me.  When I got caught up to him, he would have a fire built and dinner cooked. He was an awesome friend. His parents drove us to the start of the trail, and on the way, we stopped off at one of the highway passes and left my friend’s car so we would have a ride home when we got there. At the pass before the one where we left the car, we decided that we were done for that summer. We decided to hitchhike to where our car was parked. We had been walking down the road with our thumbs out for about 30 minutes when a Washington State Police car pulled over in front of us. He told us it was against the law to hitchhike in Washington on highways. We told him of our dilemma, and he gave us a ride to the nearest bus station and bought us tickets to where we needed to go. He gave us his card, telling us that if we wanted, we could mail him the money he spent on the tickets. I don’t know whether he thought he would see that money again or not,  but we sent it to him as soon as we got home, plus some extra.

We could have kept the money if we had wanted, but we didn’t even consider it. We were both very thankful for the blessing of his intersection into our lives and gave God the credit for arranging that divine appointment. Our packs weighed 55 lbs the following summer, and we finished strong.