Jack Reacher's Rules

“Gas, grass, or ass—the price of hitchhiking?”

Set up base on a significant interchange.

Stand with one foot on the shoulder of the highway, and one in the traffic lane.

Stick out your thumb.

Stand in a way that suggests need but not desperation.

Try to look friendly (especially if you are overwhelmingly large and/or have an obvious facial wound, such as a broken nose).

Smile.

“As a mode of transportation, hitching rides was dying out. Drivers were less generous, more afraid. Because who knew what kind of a psycho you were …”

Be wary of: the strong smell of weed or bourbon.

Drivers can be more compassionate at midnight than at midday.

If you get a lift, give a destination. Saying “anywhere” sounds like you’re a drifter who wants to go home with them.

>>WHY DRIVERS STOP TO GIVE LIFTS

Because people used to give them lifts.

Because they’re charitable and kind.

Because they’re lonely.

Because they’re so drunk they need someone else to drive the car.

Because they think you look like their type.

Because they’ve just committed a crime and need an alibi.

“Hitchhiking usually carried with it the promise of random personal encounters and conversations made more intense by the certainty that their durations would necessarily be limited.”

>>HOW TO TURN A CAR OVER

Let the tires and suspension do the work.

Rock the car hard. Then bounce it until it’s coming up for air at about forty-five degrees.

Hook hands under the footboard and heave the car all the way onto its side.

Then keep the momentum going and tip it onto its roof.