In 1978, the summer I turned 19 years old, I spent the summer hitchhiking all over North America. I got the idea after watching the movie Easy Rider, and impetuously I made the mistake of telling my parents in January of that year, about my intentions. For quite understandable reasons, they were furious and warned me repeatedly of the dangers of hitchhiking and trusting strangers. Indeed, for the first and only time in my life, even though they were not fully paying for my college education, they threatened to cut off all financial support. I was unswayed, and graciously, they did not follow through on their threat.
There were three primary reasons why I decided to embark on this adventure, despite the possible dangers and warnings from my parents:
- My family did not travel very much and I had never been west of Chicago in the US or Canada and I really yearned to see the Rockies and west coast;
- I really needed to prove to myself that I could survive on my own; and
- I wanted confirmation of my belief that the world is fully of strangers who will help someone in need.
Fortunately, I successfully accomplished all three of my goals on this three month trip covering approximately 9,000 miles. I left home with a backpack and $500, saw the many beautiful sites that the US and Canada have to offer, established a new found self-confidence that I could survive on my own, and hundreds of strangers who offered me rides, food and places to stay affirmed my belief that despite well known evil in the world, most people are good and generous.
While I could tell dozens of stories about that trip, 46 years later, a couple of days ago I was reminded that periodically since then, the kindness of strangers, as I have written about before, continues to help me when I need it, especially when I am traveling since when I am closer to home, I am fortunate to generally be able to call on friends, neighbors and family to help me when I need it.
My wife, Sheryl, and I are in the middle of a relaxing vacation in Puerto Rico. We rented an Airbnb on the water and even just listening to the constant sound of waves crashing on the beach has given us both the relaxation we desired and needed. Another lovely aspect of having a place on the water is that I can enjoy open water swimming, something I have not had the opportunity to do since before COVID.
On our first full day here, I enjoyed a 35 minute open water swim, and was quite pleased that my body and swimming skills were still strong despite having taken a few years off of swimming. Usually, I swim past the breakers and then parallel to the land and after about 15 minutes (yes, I wear a watch), I start heading back. When I got back to our house, I mentioned to Sheryl that it took me longer to return as the current was against me, so she suggested that I head the other way the next day so the second half of my swim would be easier, and that is what I did.
In the past, when I have done open water swims, they are usually in places with very long sandy beaches. So, if I get tired or lose sight of exactly where I entered the water, I can simply swim back to the beach and walk back to wherever I was staying at the time. However, on this trip, our place just has a small beach and there are many homes nearby, including many with sea walls and no beach. Thus, it is important that I return to the same place I started as there is no long sandy beach to walk back on.
Fortunately, the house we are renting has an unusual tunnel to the water which I thought would be a good marker for me to locate to return from my swim.
As planned, I swam past the breakers and then swam against the current parallel to shore. Also as planned, after about 15 minutes, I headed back with the current, again swimming parallel to shore. Normally, I do not check my watch frequently, but I have done this often enough that I know that for a half an hour swim, I should start checking my watch after about 25 minutes to know when to head back to shore. That is what I did, but the shore no longer looked familiar to me, and I did not see the tunnel. What I did not realize is that the current had pushed me past our place, so instead of heading back, I kept swimming and looking for that tunnel. After I had been swimming for 40 minutes, I realized that I had completely lost track of where I was and headed into the closest beach and arrived there after swimming for 45 minutes. However, this private residence had a locked gate from the beach which I could not get past.
So, I swam back out and headed back in the other direction, but after another 10 minutes of swimming, I still did not see our tunnel. I decided to seek another beach access point and hoped that it would not have a locked gate. After swimming for nearly an hour, I found such a point and got out of the water and walked up to the road, which although it had nicer pavement than the road our rented house is on, I presumed was our road since it was along the same beach.
Unfortunately, it still had not dawned on me that I had swum significantly past our rented house. So, without realizing it, I started walking in the wrong direction. Keep in mind that I was walking in bare feet without a phone. Eventually, I saw a pedestrian and I asked her about a landmark near our rental home, but she was unaware of it, which made me realize that I was lost. However, she became the first kind stranger on this adventure as she graciously allowed me to use her phone to call Sheryl, who I knew would be quite worried at this point. Unfortunately, the cell reception was weak and I could not connect to her, so this kind stranger allowed me to text Sheryl, which I presumed she received.
I kept walking, again not realizing that I was walking in the wrong direction. We are staying in a sparsely populated area and the beach road gets very little traffic, but finally a pick-up truck approached and I decided to wave it down. I explained my situation to the young couple and identified a restaurant that is up the hill from our rental home, which I knew if I could get there, I could get back to our place. The driver exclaimed that it was in the other direction and at some distance, but then he kindly offered to give me a ride although he had no open seats in his small pick-up, so I hopped in the bed of his pick-up, reminding me of my old hitchhiking days, and as he drove, I recognized the road our rental house is on, knocked on his window and he let me out.
I arrived back to our rental home a few minutes later, but close to two hours after I had embarked on what was planned as a roughly half hour swim. Sheryl had not received the text I sent her and had presumed the worst and was understandably beside herself. I assured her that other than sore feet, and a some scrapes on my leg from bumping coral while swimming, I was fine, but it took some time for her to feel fully relieved, which I understood.
Later that day, the woman who allowed me to use her phone texted Sheryl to see if I made it back ok, which was very kind, and reassuring to know that this stranger cared enough not only to let me use her phone, but to follow up to check and see if I was ok.
I took yesterday off from swimming to give my body some time to recover, but this morning I headed out again. This time, I put a white towel on our deck railing and Sheryl swam close to our house while I headed further out. I also decided to simply swim out and back. Although at some distance, I could not see the towel or tunnel, eventually I saw Sheryl and returned home safely.
As you can see, my sense of adventure, starting way back in 1978 remains strong, as does my continual need to prove to myself that I can survive on my own. Most important, however, is that given the troubling state of our world, once again, I availed myself of the kindness of strangers to help me return home safely.
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For more information on how I can help you accomplish progressive, effective systems change, contact me, Jeff Spitzer-Resnick, by visiting my website: Systems Change Consulting.
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