Here’s a story I posted on a Facebook group about growing up in Tucson, AZ:
I’ll give locations so if anyone feels like looking at the satellite view on the Google Map at the bottom of the page, you can follow along (try opening the larger version in a new window and zooming in, that way you can follow along as you read!) Much of the route is still the same as it used to be, though a few places have changed (torn down/built up, etc).
Right after I turned 18, my boyfriend and I were at Bentley’s coffee shop, and I was going to spend the night at his apartment at River and La Canada. Problem was, neither of us had a car and it was 11pm, so no buses. Being idiots, we naturally decided to hitchhike. Our first ride was with these two guys who looked high school aged, who told us they were Air Force pilots. We didn’t believe them but they seemed to enjoy “impressing us” with how cool it was to be Air Force pilots, and so we didn’t say anything. They got us as far as Grant and Oracle. We started walking north on Oracle, thumbs out, and this shabby old station wagon with Sonora Mexico plates pulls to a stop.
We got in without really checking the driver out, which was very stupid. He had a bunch of stuff in the back seat so we had to sit in front, which was a bench seat. I sat on my boyfriend’s lap. We asked him if he could drop us off at the Denny’s at Oracle and River. So he starts driving, and right away tries to get me to sit in the middle instead of on my boyfriend’s lap. I politely declined. He then tried to buy me from my boyfriend, in Spanish. He kept trying to touch my leg. We started to realize that the guy was not only pervy, but also intoxicated.
Then he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a condom. Not in a wrapper. Not even rolled up. I don’t know if it was used, or just unrolled—and I don’t want to—but he held it up and asked if we wanted to use it. He said we could use the back seat of his car. We declined. At this point we’re seriously creeped out and want to get out of the car, so when he asks us if we mind if he stops and picks up some beer, we cheerfully say “no problem!” figuring we’ll hop out while he’s in the store.
He turns down Roger and then pulls in behind the Circle K at Roger & Stone… where it’s all dark and empty… and backs into a vacant, overgrown desert lot. He parks behind the dumpster and again offers us the backseat “for sex” if we want. He says he can clear it off. We say no thanks and he says “stay here, don’t go anywhere” and seems really insistent. We wanted him to go away so we reassured him that yes, we were going to stay and wait for him and be there when he got back.
Obviously, the first thing we did as soon as he disappeared around the corner (well, ok, we waited a minute to make sure he was in the store, so he wouldn’t hear the car door) was get out of the car. We went back around the back and crossed Roger and hid behind that creepy building that doesn’t have a roof. We waited for what seemed like forever, until we were sure that he would have driven away, then we came out from behind the building onto Stone. We looked back at the intersection and there he was, in the left turn lane, getting ready to go back up Roger! We ran across the street and started running north along Stone. We looked back and when the light turned green, instead of turning, he continued down Stone. We were on the opposite side of the street, so he drove to the next intersection and made a u-turn. When we saw him coming back down the road, we cut off into the desert, heading northwest.
We’re running through the desert—and to get an accurate picture here, I should mention that I’m wearing a long dress and sandals—and checking over our shoulder. He pulls up to the curb and gets out of his car. We’re thinking OH SHIT!!! and running as fast as we can. I have tumbleweeds caught on the hem of my skirt so they’re trailing along behind us. We’re fully expecting to hear gunshots at any moment.
We get to Limberlost and cross the street. We look back and we don’t see him coming, so we relax a little. We cross Limberlost and start walking West. Then we hear a car coming and look back, and sure as shit, it’s him! We cut into what was then a big, weed-covered vacant lot and started running. He pulled his car into the lot and headed for us. We are running as fast as we can, when we come up against a chain-link fence. CRAP! We climb over the fence (fun in a dress, especially one with tumbleweeds dangling off of it) and figure ok, at least he can’t follow us through the fence!
We found ourselves in a trailer park sales lot, with lots of “sample houses,” and start walking west toward Oracle. We figure that now we’ve lost him. Finally we get out to the road and start walking north on the sidewalk. We’re out of breath but relieved to be alive. We hear a car that doesn’t sound like it’s the right speed for the traffic on the road, and look back. It’s him! He’s creeping toward us in the bike lane really slow! AAAAHHHHH!!!
So we bolt across the street and head for the McDonald’s. There’s a median there, so he couldn’t turn in. We run into the McDonald’s and tell the people there that we were being chased, and could we please hang out for a little while? They say ok, and we go to the windows to see where he went. We saw him go up to the next light and make a u-turn, but then there was a section we couldn’t see because of a building or plants or something. We wait for him to pass it and come out the other side, but he doesn’t in the expected time. Hmm. Ok, we keep watching. And watching. And watching.
20 minutes and we still haven’t seen him. We decide that we must have just missed his car and are about to leave, when he drives by. Holy crap! He’d been WAITING FOR US somewhere up there for 20 minutes! He finally gave up, but what if we’d have given up first and walked up there?? We’re totally freaking out now. We leave the McDonald’s and instead of going along the street, we walk behind every building we can, and eventually get to the Rillito. We walked up to La Canada along the Rillito bike path, just to make sure he couldn’t follow us.
Looking back, I still freak out.
Zoom in on this map to see the details of the adventure:
View That one time I barely survived hitchhiking in a larger map
— 12:06:56 AM
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