Ok, if you haven´t read the previous post you should do it now or you´ll miss part of the story.
Moving on...
So I get out of the truck and try to hitch up the road. Once again, no luck. I´m trying to hitch directly on the main Autobahn running north/south through Germany and the cars are flying by too fast to slow down if they wanted to. Plus, it wasn´t only illegal to hitch from here but probably dangerous. I decided to pack it in for the night.
Although I´ve used my sleeping bag several times in people´s homes I have never been more glad to have it than last night. I slept by a picnic table at this rest stop for a few hours. It really wouldn´t have been bad but it gets fairly cold at night in northern Germany, even at the end of May. I had the drawstring at the top of the bag closed in around my head pretty tight. The sun doesn´t set in Germany until after 11pm and, even better, it rises around 4am. I slept as long as I could until it was way too bright and the trucks starting taking off at around 5:30am. No one wanted to give me a ride. I tried again to hitch from the motorway for a bit until I saw the guy who dropped me off coming up the exit way. Here´s what was playing in my head:
"Great! I hadn´t missed him afterall! Why isn´t he slowing down?"
Not only did he keep on going by me but as he did so he shook his index finger at me seeming to say "tisk, tisk, tisk - too bad for you".
So there I was stuck at least 10 kms from either Flensburg or Schleswig. I figured Schleswig was a little bit closer so I started walking that way. I was mad at the trucker for stranding me out here and anger alone is enough to drive me for a few kms.
As it is illegal and somewhat dangerous to hitch on the Autobahns it is also the same for walking on its shoulder. I made it about 4 kms before the german police had a problem with what I was doing. After explaining my situation (or at least trying to while dealing with their limited english comprehension) they actually gave me a ride to the next exit. The next exit just happened to be to Schleswig. The even found me a good place to hitch from!
I was only 2.3 kms from town so I decided to walk the rest of it. It would have probably taken the same amount of time to hitch it. I made it to town and to a hostel without further incident. A warm shower never felt so good.
Posted May 19, 2004 11:18 AM @ (GMT - 6)
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Omg I'm so glad you're ok! Please make it home safely!