Since the auto is the main source of travel in America and distances between major cities are far, a common way of getting around the country is by hitchhiking.
Although it is not illegal, law enforcers and most people in authority, especially school administrators, try to discourage people, especially the young, from traveling this way. Most people, however, are aware of the dangers which one can encounter by hitchhiking but the money saved by doing so is often a just compensation for the risk involved.
The word hitchhiking entered the English language around 1925 when the automobile became a popular means of transportation.
Anyone can hitchhike. There are no age limitations but it is especially popular with college students trying to go cross-country on a shoestring or an overseas traveler hoping to discover America. Some hitchhikers may even be homeless or runaway youths who have no real sense of where they are going but are eager to leave their hometowns.
The hitchhiker usually stands at the entrance ramps of highways or along the road itself with fingers clenched and the thumb of the right hand extended and pointing to the direction of the traffic. This is called "thumbing a ride", an expression coined in the late 1930s, which is also another name for hitchhiking. Any motorist seeing a person on the roadside with this hand gesture is quick to recognize his intention and reserves the right to give or decline him a lift to a convenient destination. Although in most cases the rides are free, some motorists may accept some money contributed to the cost of tolls and gas. For those motorists traveling alone a fellow rider will help pass the time on the journey.
Some hitchhikers may even go so far as to paint a poster with the name of the city of their destination written on it. In large letters they print the name of the city where they want to go, stand by the side of the road and hope that some motorist who is going in that direction will stop to give them a ride.
Another popular way to get a ride is to hang out around highway rest stops and ask people in the dining area if they are going your way. If a hitchhiker is patient, someone will surely make themselves available and offer a ride. Hitching a ride with a family is always safer than getting a ride from someone who is alone. Truck drivers transporting goods across the country are also safer that the lone driver and may have extra room in the cabin of their truck for a passenger. As a rule heeding to one's intuition and inner common sense is a good measure to judge if a driver is honest and the ride is safe.

There is always a risk, however, for both the driver and the hitchhiker. Both are totally unknown to each other and it takes an act of faith to trust whether intentions are sincere on both sides.
Most experienced people would agree that it is generally not wise, as a rule, to hitch a ride especially when one is alone. For a woman traveling by herself, the risk may not be worth the money saved. Some people who have foolishly hitched a ride from a stranger at night have never been heard from since.