The Time Hack

During the fall of 2007, I traveled around the US via the kindness of strangers through a web project called Around America in 2.0. It was a time in the internet’s youth when YouTube was just beginning to get its bearings and news reports were coming out almost daily about crimes that were committed through people connecting on Craigslist.

So I created AA2.0 as a way to prove the web community that it was entirely possible to trust strangers they met through the internet. For the project, I posted a video on YouTube and on the project’s website asking people to drive, house and feed me around the United States for 80 days as a test of web connectivity and trust. I essentially acted as a human baton being passed from one stranger to the next. I filmed the entire 80 day project and created a rather unimpressive web series out of the footage (as I was cutting on the road and had no formal training in video journalism at the time).

But I digress. I stayed with and was driven around the US by 56 strangers and web junkies during the trip. To this day, I’m not really sure what to make of the entire endeavor. But I’ve always regretted passing hitchhikers on the side of the road since. So for day 348 of The Time Hack, I picked one up while en route at night back from a snowboarding trip to Mt Hood in Oregon.

Ironically, a friend was in the car at the time whom was one of the then strangers who picked me up during the Around America in 2.0 trip.

She later seemed surprised that I would be so bold as to pick up a hitchhiker. The irony.

REMEMBERED DETAILS

1. Jake was a ski patrolman working in Oregon. He was originally from Idaho, just north of Boise.
2. He said he hadn’t been waiting long for a ride.
3. He had a brown beard and wore a bright red jacket with a black hat.
4. He sat directly behind the passenger to my right while I was driving.
5. I continually attempted to make my rented Ford sedan play music through my iPhone as I was recording the audio of the conversation.
6. We offered him carrots from a bag we had with us on our snowboarding trip.
7. Jake asked to be dropped off at a small motel that was painted yellow at the bottom of Mt Hood mountain. He commented as he was getting out of the car that it isn’t often that people pick up hitchhikers in Oregon. I replied that it is not often that I pick them up.

ACTUAL EVENTS

What happened on day 348? Without listening to the audio (which I recorded while the hitchhiker was in the car), I get the impression that the file may be corrupted or not all there - as vimeo is telling me it is significantly shorter than I remember recording for. But for better or worse - here’s at least an attempt at some audio from the short drive with the hitchhiker. Check it out here.

REMEMBERED TIME

I estimate the hitchhiker was in the car for 11 minutes and 13 seconds.

ACTUAL TIME

How long did it take? Find out here.

Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?