With his loaded backpack containing only personal essentials, he explores the United States by car - well, not his car, he prefers the very popular, 60's and 70's way of getting around: hitchhiking! Relying solely on the generosity of people for funds, food, lodging and transportation, he starts his trip. His daily ritual entails taking a marker, and making up a sign explaining his situation. Then he finds a busy street corner before sunset and hopes for the best. On a good day he makes around $30, but more likely, he makes just enough money for a meal. If he is really low on funds, he has trained his body to fast for days if need be - only drinking water for nourishment. Everyday he camps out wherever he ends up and normally, he feels safe. He figured, "It's cheaper for me to risk getting a ticket, then it is to pay for campsites every night." In the three years he has traveled, he has only received one ticket.

I approached the light just before the Middletown, NY train station to pick up a close friend of mine who decided to escape New York City for the weekend. As I was sitting at the light before the train station, from my right, I noticed a rather big guy standing on the corner. Dressed in a black shirt and golfer's hat, he was holding up a handmade cardboard sign that read "Backpacking America." I thought to myself: "Hey, what a novel idea!" As a fellow Cross Country traveler, I wanted to know this guy's story. I pulled into the adjacent parking lot and introduced myself, giving him the usual pitch about our project. "My name is Jason Eddy," he replied, a 29 year old originally from Bellingham, Washington.

Living back in Bellingham, Jason owned and ran a small business with a partner. Apparently, business was good and Jason was living comfortably for someone in his early 20's. He had all the material possessions a young guy would want, but for whatever reason he just couldn't find personal happiness. It bothered him so much that one day he decided to give it all up! Suddenly he gave the business to his partner and decided to travel America. He began his voyage by selling his possessions and purchasing a RV for his new adventure. Touring around in his new RV, he then felt how confined he was from the world because of his new gas-guzzling partner. Before he knew it, the RV was sold! Realizing less is more - he decided on a more traditional approach and never looked back.

HITCHHIKER - 29 year old Jason Eddy, has hitchhiked all over the United States for the pass three years - only taking seven sporadic months off. His funds, transportation and accommodations are solely provided from the generosity of people.

I began asking him where he had been. He pulled out a little address book that had a map of the United States. He pointed to the three different routes, highlighted with three different colors showing where he had traveled. His first route looped from Washington to Arizona and back, the second route was West coast to the East coast, and his current East coast tour ideally involved heading towards Burlington, Vermont. He later explained that since April 2002 up until our encounter, he was traveling throughout the United States, only taking a total of seven sporadic months off during this whole period.

Jason said what he really loved the most was that he encountered new places and people everyday. He loves having the freedom to roam and just let the chips fall as they would. He had many stories about of kind people who picked him up and even let him stay overnight in their own homes. One young woman let him stay at her place for a few days, trusting this complete stranger while she went to work. They've since stayed in contact, and she eventually flew out to visit him in Washington.

I understand he could be labeled as vagrant, but talking to Jason, I immediately sensed his clear understanding that his happiness didn't come from possessions, it is the positive and genuine people he encounters every day that lends him to believe that good human spirit still exists. Even in his circumstance his disposition is very upbeat. You may feel he is running away from the real world, I think if you asked him he would say he is living it.

Before I left, I gave him some money for food, and asked what kind of people picked him up. He explained, "People all over the board have picked me up - old, young, men and women." Then I asked what he felt might be the biggest difference between hitchhiking now versus then. He stated, "Oddly enough, not one person yet has picked me up in a VW Bug. Oh, and one big thing is there is definitely a lot less competition out here!"