ARIZONA, but not Phoenix

We got ourselves back to the Estados Unidos in Arizona and decided to head back to New Mexico. Yeah we know, we took the long way round to get to Phoenix.

Mike and John had been waiting to meet us near the Arizona/New Mexico state line. We met up at a truck stop, said goodbye to Jim and headed for Tucson.



Mike, John and Ken are all openly addicted to skydiving. They first went a few months ago and got hooked. So now they’re seeing everything in life differently, and by that I mean they look at their material belongings, think about how much they can sell it for and how much time in the air that money can get them. Ken is even moving back in with his mom to afford more jumps.

They took us out to their local coffee shop on Tuesday night to meet up with some friends then out on the town. Some local artists Paul and Jenn gave us handcrafted gifts. It was immediately clear that this coffee shop brought a lot of good people together and we felt right at home. We had a good time with everyone and after all was said and done we found ourselves in the hills outside Tucson at 4:00 AM with about 10 people checking out the silhouettes of mountains and giant Saguaro cacti against the backdrop of the black sky and millions of stars.


The next day we got going out of Tucson and headed towards Phoenix. John, Mike and Ken had been trying to set us up to go skydiving, but after many phone calls it was clear it wasn’t happening. We still went out to the drop zone and did this though:



We said bye to Ken at the drop zone in the Arizona desert and continued through the traffic jams into Phoenix with John and Mike.

Big 'State 49' Party in L.A. Monday Nov 27

So we’re just leaving Phoenix now, heading to the Grand Canyon and Vegas Friday, then up to Sacramento, Carson City and into the Bay area on Saturday. After that we’re planning to be in Los Angeles on Sunday evening, and looking for a ride to Hawaii.

The guys from Fermata have stepped up and organized a pretty cool offer, which might just get us there. On Monday night they’ve organized a party at Carpe DM nightclub in Simi Valley, California and we need you there. It’s gonna be a party and a fundraiser, with a percentage of the money made to get us on a plane to Hawaii on Tuesday. It’s an all ages party, and the capacity is 300, so be there early.

If you’re anywhere in the area come on out and lets celebrate 49 done and one to go. Jump shots will be plentiful and the music will be good. So we’ll see you there.

We’re even gonna give away our Scotty and Fiddy shirts to a couple lucky winners. Also, the golden ticket will be drawn soon, and we'll try to get them there.

Where: Carpe DM Bar
When: Monday Nov 27 2006 8:00 PM
Most specific where: 5710 E. Los Angeles Ave, Simi Valley, CA 93063 - map
Cost: $10

Check out the band: Fermata

Meh he co.

The next morning we got going and Jim showed us some of the beautiful areas around the mountains near Los Alamos.



We rolled out of the mountains and into the desert. The plan was to drive south to Las Cruces and meet up with another ride. The highlight of the drive south was the town called “Truth or consequences”. Apparently they named the town that so a game show would come there, but didn’t bother to change it after. Either way it’s a sweet name. We discussed what we like better: Truth or Consequences. Truth won 2-1.

We got to Las Cruces to meet up with another ride, but they flaked out and didn’t show. So we needed a new plan. We took Jim out for dinner and decided to keep going. We thought it would be fun to head back to Texas, so we did. Once we were in Texas we figured, why not Mexico? So we did. We showed up at the border in El Paso and got really confused. To drive into Mexico you give a guy in a toll both $2 and drive away on to the streets of Ciudad Juarez. No customs or anything. Figured they’d have something to secure the country. We looked for an immigration officer to stamp our passports, but found ourselves in a line back into the USA (where they do have customs). So we spent the night in El Paso and planned to head back south of the border in the morning.

When morning came we headed back to Mexico and didn’t worry about the immigration fuss this time, or lack there of. So we found ourselves in Mexico, the third country of the trip (we were in Canada three weeks ago). The roads got rougher, the traffic got sketchier and language got harder. We’ve officially arrived in Mexico.

Jim was planning to leave us just outside Ciudad Juarez, but decided to take another day off work and go for a Mexican drive. We were in the province of Chihuahua, and as you may expect Chihuahua dogs are plentiful. It look us only a minute or two to spot our first little creature, and they continued to show their hides for the whole day. We cruised through the bustling border town of Ciudad Juarez and headed west.

Mexico looked a lot like New Mexico, but when we stopped for lunch or to talk with the locals we got a much better Mexican experience. The people were all great, happy to talk with a couple white guys in bright shirts, who speak little Spanish, waving a camera around asking "Con permissio?, photographia". They looked confused, but smiled anyways.




Our quick Mexican tour look us through two provinces, deserts, mountain ranges and four military road blocks. But no border immigration. We had a good look around from Jim’s, or should I say Jiminez’s truck before heading back to the US in the afternoon. We crossed the border, said good bye to our Sanchez and Fernando personas and headed north into Arizona.

49 Down, ONLY ONE TO GO!!

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Now that your trip is over, it'll be much easier to hitchhike your way home with a North American cell phone! Planning a backpacking excursion across Europe? Then be sure to have a international phone for all your calling needs. Our cell phone rental plans are the best in the business. Be safe, have fun and stay in touch!

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UPDATE: This post was a joke. If you actually thought we were done at this point take a closer look at the pictures below.

So the last few days have been crazy! We quickly knocked off the last few capitals and now we have only Hawaii left! This is awesome! We are moving really quickly.

Sacramento, California



Carson City, Nevada

(nobody was around so Fiddy had to take the photo)


Phoenix, Arizona



Santa Fe, New Mexico


So now that we have those done....all we need is Hawaii? If you have any ideas let us know. It's good to be here in sunny California...pay no mind to the red line

Santa Fe, NM

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Daddio was keen to drive us through Colorado, so we met him on Sunday afternoon in Colorado Springs. He recently retired from the post office, giving him lots of time to drive strangers around on random interstate road trips. We met up, filled up and headed south.

Daddio is an easy going grandfather who loves hot springs and prospecting. That’s right prospecting, as in gold prospecting. He doesn’t really fit the image of some rambling old man with a pick ax on his shoulder and a lantern in his hand, but that may be for the better. I don't think they are good at driving cars, only mules. He is part of gold prospecting clubs and has several land claims throughout the Rocky Mountains. He hauls a good amount of gold out of the ground too. It’s good to know the old days of prospecting are alive and well. Daddio is also a hot springs fan. He travels around the states finding new hot springs and hangs out there, for a while. Sounds like some pretty cool retirement projects to us.

Daddio took us from the mountains of Colorado into the vast open deserts of New Mexico. We got some authentic New Mexican green chili along the way and cruised into Santa Fe. After continuing the tradition of getting lost, we rolled up to the capitol building to meet Jim and get some photos.


Jim, or Dr. Jim we should say lives just north of Santa Fe in Los Alamos the birthplace of the atomic bomb. He’s a nuclear engineer with a great sense of humor. It came through right away when I asked him what he does in Los Alamos, he replied “I design what makes the rest of the world shiver”. Pretty intense stuff, but he’s a cool guy, and they don’t even make nukes there anymore.

He took us back to his place in Los Alamos for the night. We got to meet his mom, Mary and see the biggest TV ever, in his living room. That’s just how Jim rolls.

We went to Mexico

¡Hey! ¡Please DIGG us! ---->



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That's right, we're hitchin' in Mexico. We had a sign that said "New Mexico", but some guy read it as "Mexico", so he drove us there. Oh well, we'll go with it and do some grassroots hitching across the top towards Tucson tomorrow. We'll be on the side of the road on the highway 2 just south of Ciudad Juarez in the morning.

Hasta mañana,

Sanchez y Fernando

Denver, CO

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John finished off his leg of the trip by driving us from Cheyenne to Denver. By doing this John entered the running for a number of Hitch50 awards.

1. Shortest time to visit two capitals by one driver
2. Quietest dog
3. Biggest bail after a jumpshot attempt

Riding with John was truly a pleasure; he drives fast, talks good and generally, he just 'brings it'. After lunch in Cheyenne he took us into the Mile High City. Around town there are some interesting attractions. There was a giant blue bear peering into the convention center and two massive white alien-like statues danced outside the center for performing arts. A block away a 20-foot tall broom swept some litter into an equally over-sized dustpan. And there was a 60 foot chair with a horse standing on it. The Mile High capitol building even had the exact step marked off that was one mile above sea level.


We parted ways with John and were met by Ryan who had offered us a place ot stay in Boulder, CO a little bit north of Denver. Boulder is a college town that has endless outdoor activities nearby. Snow-capped mountains cover the horizon and young people on bicycles whiz by in every direction. We tried to fit into the college theme by checking out the Colorado University men's basketball game. We cheered all 11 points CU scored in the first half and had faith that they were plotting a comeback right up to the final horn on Air Force's 45 point victory. Ouch. After the game we met up with some of Ryan's friends and headed out to take in some of the local culture.

During our night out we were met by Kristen who contacted us through the site. She is a member of the Boulder trail runners and she brought along her friend Andy who has hiked across America and plans to snowshoe across the states. Wow, he makes hitchhiking seem like an easy way to travel.


In the morning we were in need of some fresh air. Thankfully Bob and Mary entered the plot to take us south to Colorado Springs. They are friendly grandparents who are deceivingly high-tech. The mini-van they picked us up in had every possible option including an electric door that opened by itself at the push of a button. Yes, we're easily impressed. Bob talked technology with us during the ride and told us about his plans to one day make it up to outer space in a shuttle. Both of them were so hospitable and fun. They proudly showed off pictures of their grandchildren, showed us around the local mountains and even bought us lunch.

We had a really good time with Bob and Mary but parted ways in Colorado Springs. Waiting to take us south was Garry, better known as "Daddio".


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Cheyenne, WY

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spent Friday night in Ogallala, Nebraska.

John drove us into Cheyenne on Saturday morning.

Cheyenne was nice.

We ate lunch and got some photos.

The weather was favorable.

Alexandra ate the dog!

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Does everyone remember Alexandra from Illinois? And the challenge we made to her?



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If you have no idea what's going on right now, here's the challenge we gave Alexandra last week:

"She is into competitive fitness routines; kinda a mix between bodybuilding and a beauty pageant. She’s actually on her way to LA today to enter a competition on Friday. Now, here’s where you can help. We challenged Alexandra to eat a hot dog on stage. If she does it, and does it well, we’ll fly her to State 50. So we need you to email her and encourage her to chow down on stage. C’mon it’ll only take a second. We’re not joking either. "

So on Friday she ate the dog. The pressure was on, the world was watching, but she pulled it off. This may be the first, but definitely not the last time anyone ate a hot dog on stage at a fitness or beauty contest.

Well done Alexandra, see you in state 50.