Monday, October 02, 2006

Next time I'm just thumbing a ride


So I went biking at Rampart Reservoir Sunday. It was a beautiful crisp, golden autumn day. The leaves were changing, Pikes Peak was glowing white in the distance. And the riding was awesome. I had forgotten how good the trail around the reservoir is. No surprise I saw about three dozen other riders taking advantage of it. So anyway, this is all just backstory to give you the idea that I was in a good mood. And after the ride, I was rolling down US 24 toward the city, and saw something that put me in an even better mood.

Right by the Crystola Inn there was a woman hitchhiking. I don't know if hitchhiking counts as a pasttime Out There covers. I was a studious hitchhiker in college. I went back and forth to the West Coast twice and took countless shorter hops. Anyway... I empathized with this woman, even though she wasn't hitching recreationally. She probably just needed a ride home.

I saw her up ahead, was getting ready to pull over for her. And then... a shiny red convertible Lotus (just like the one above), sitting about as far off the ground as a deck of playing cards, swooped in and stopped for her.

Never in my many rides have I even heard of such a sweet car picking up a hitchhiker. I've ridden in the backs of pick-ups mostly, and the jalopies of various crazies and do-gooders. I rode in a wagon full of cotton in Mexico. But this...

I couldn't believe it. I guess everyone was in as good a mood as I was.

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