Scotty and Fiddy Hitch 50

Soon after Scotty and Fiddy graduated from college, they decided to hitchhike across the country, visiting all 50 state capitals in 50 days. Yes, 50, that includes Alaska and Hawaii. The intrepid duo formed Hitch 50

Their definition of hitchhiking includes any transportation that benevolent strangers donated, so it is not limited to flagging down cars on the road- getting a free plane ride to Hawaii was still fair game. That’s just how Hitch 50 reached Hawaii. A Los Angeles bar organized a fundraiser, which collected enough money to send them to Hawaii the next morning, finishing the round of 50 states.

Vagablogging recently interviewed Fiddy about their journey.

Did you do a lot of hitchhiking before Hitch 50?

Scotty was a master- he’s hitched across Australia and all over western Canada. But me, I’d never hitched in my whole life. It didn’t take much for me to figure it out though.

Did you ever doubt that you could complete the goal of 50 state capitals in 50 days?

No, we never doubted it for a second. That’s because we would look like a bunch of losers in front of our friends and family if we spent all that time and effort trying to do it and then failed. We were willing to do what it took to make it happen.

What is the longest you had to wait for a ride? Did you turn down any rides?

The longest we had to wait was in beautiful Branson, MO. The people there just weren’t into picking us up. It’s like a poor-man’s religious version of Reno, NV. Apparently that means that being free spirited hitchhikers in white tuxedos is frowned upon. We were there for almost 24 hours. We only turned down rides that weren’t going very far or in the wrong direction…never because we didn’t trust the people.

How did people react to you along the way?

The only people we met were very supportive. If they weren’t then they wouldn’t have pulled over to help us out. Lots of people thought it was a great idea and really got behind what we were doing. Some people just plain didn’t get it….but what can you do; there isn’t any simpler way to explain it then “we’re hitchhiking to 50 states in 50 days”.

Where did you sleep during the 50 days?

Lots of people let us stay in their houses. If we had to we’d stay in a motel. If it was summer we would have been keen to stay outside but it was pretty cold some places and we needed Internet to update our site and get in touch with our next potential ride.

How did you reach Hawaii?

A band, Fermata, who are based out of Los Angeles heard about our trip and held a little bit of a benefit concert for us. We hyped it up on the site and managed to raise enough money to get some flights to Hawaii. It wasn’t a “hitch” technically but it met our three rules:
1. We can’t pay for any transportation
2. We had to get to all 50 state capital buildings in 50 days
3. We had to get a picture of us in front of each building

Who won the “Golden Ticket”? (Everyone who gave Scotty and Fiddy a ride was entered into a drawing for a free trip out to their final destination: Hawaii.)

Two girls who drove us through North Carolina named Kim and Mary-Racheal. They were a lot of fun when they were driving us and they were even more fun in Hawaii. It worked out that they could get time off work and they had never been there before so that was pretty cool.

Why this trip? Why now?

We were fresh out of college and we figured we had to go for it. We thought it could be done with a little hard work and who knows what could come out if it. Scotty’s older brother Kyle dared us to do it. Once we had been dared we knew we had to do it.

What are you planning for the future?

Scotty just changed his name and I just got back from a two month trip to Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. But right now the future is wide open for both of us. Except of course for the fact that we are both pretty broke.

Posted by | Comments (5)  | March 22, 2007
Category: Notes from the collective travel mind


5 Responses to “Scotty and Fiddy Hitch 50”

  1. Evan Says:

    And now they are going to be actors in https://www.MyBowlAd.com

    A 2008 Super Bowl Ad!

  2. ourman Says:

    Ahhh look, maybe I am being harsh but a fundraiser to send a couple of college graduates to Hawaii?

    I’ve worked as a fundraiser for coming up to three years – firstly for a streetkid project in Hanoi and now for a similar outfit in Nicaragua.

    Our fundraisers literally meant the difference between kids continuing to live on the streets and us being able to house and rehabilitate them.

    Sorry, if I sound like a grouch but these two sound like two very lucky people who don’t need people fundraising for them.

    I’m truly glad that there are enough good spirited people in the world who will stop and give lifts – but fundraising?

    I see also that 10% of the name change stunt goes to a Thai charity. They’ve had the experience of a lifetime, funded by others – why not give it all? And why not refund that money raised for the Hawaii trip to a good cause?

    Sorry for being a grouch.

  3. Fiddy Says:

    Ourman,

    First of all congrats on all the fine charity work. Those kids need it and it’s good people like you that make good things happen. Sorry you didn’t like the sound of our project. You’re right there are plenty of people out there that need the money more than us. But, our project was just for fun.

  4. Smartie Says:

    Contrary to the promises of Evan White, these guys will never appear in a Superbowl Ad. Because the ad is never going to happen.

    Read all about the real story, here

  5. Branson Says:

    That’s funny to hear that their longest wait was here in Branson, MO, but they mentioned how nice the people were. I’ve been many places and this town very may well have the world’s friendliest drivers.