Nicole Robinson

Junior John Zanetti does not like to walk the beaten path. In fact, during winter break of his freshman year, Zanetti not only took the road less traveled, he did so using less traveled means.

Zanetti hitchhiked around much of the southwestern United States for three weeks during winter break two years ago.

Zanetti got on a plane bound for Phoenix with no itinerary and no real plan for where he was going once he got there.

“I like traveling. I like to meet cool people and getting out of my comfort zone,” Zanetti said.

When Zanetti landed in Phoenix, he did what used to be commonplace in America, but has lost popularity in recent decades: He stuck up his thumb, crossed his fingers and waited for a kind-hearted motorist to pick him up and take him a few miles in the right direction.

In doing so, Zanetti left his well-being in the hands of others, and ran into risks that most people run from.

“I met crazy people along the way, I stayed in a couple of vans and I slept under a bridge with some homeless people,” Zanetti said.

Friends say that although the experience seems ridiculous, it fits Zanetti’s personality.

“I thought he was a little crazy,” sophomore Blake Haun said. “John’s kind of like that though.”

In the end Zanetti walked away with many stories of the people, places and things he saw on a unique journey.

Heading south
Zanetti’s journey began with a novel idea: To go somewhere south during winter break, have some time away and enjoy warmer weather.

He wanted to go to Costa Rica originally, but realized that such a venture would be too expensive.

He decided on Phoenix. Zanetti wanted to see the southwestern United States and spend some time in the warm dessert air.

His original plan was to make his way to an area north of Phoenix and stay there, but when he landed in Arizona, he realized that he had no way of getting there, and no real plan after that.

It was at this point Zanetti decided to start walking with his thumb out.

Armed with a backpack, camping gear, two Nalgene bottles full of water and a book by Jack Kerouac, the famous transient writer from the beatnik era, Zanetti set out into the desert, unsure of what lay before him.

Zanetti liked the idea of hitchhiking because it gave him a chance to spend some time alone.

“I like being alone in a sense,” Zanetti said. “It makes you put yourself out there.”

With no plan and no companions, Zanetti took solace in the spontaneity of the experience.

“I really had no itinerary,” he said. “As I reflect on it, that’s the only way I like to travel.”

The cast of characters
With the declining prevalence of hitchhikers in America, the people who picked Zanetti up along the way were often fascinated with him.

“The hardest part about hitchhiking for me is that you’re such a novelty that you get in the car and people are like, ‘Oh my God, a transient,'” Zanetti said. “They all want to hear your life story.”

This led an often road-weary Zanetti to sometimes seek refuge in the back of trucks where conversation could be replaced by much-needed sleep.

One group of people that Zanetti was surprised to encounter frequently was Europeans, many of whom were making their way to or from Las Vegas.

“(Hitchhiking is) a lot less of a social taboo in Europe,” Zanetti said.

“I met an Italian couple that were really cool,” he said.

The Italians, who had rented a Mustang and were driving it at high speeds around the Southwest, gave Zanetti not only a ride, but food and money as well.

They even offered Zanetti, who will study abroad in Rome next semester, a place to stay while in Italy.

Zanetti often allowed the people he met to dictate his schedule.

“A lot of times I would just meet random people and they would let me sleep in their house or their van,” Zanetti said.

People also went out of their way to introduce Zanetti to the local culture.

“People would show me around and show me all the cool stuff,” Zanetti said. “It was like a personal tour.”

Not everyone Zanetti rode with was quite as friendly. In fact, a few people were downright scary.

One frightening experience came when Zanetti got a ride with a construction worker.

“He was kind of sketchy but I hadn’t gotten a ride for like two hours so I just wanted to get a ride,” Zanetti said.

When the man started talking in a way that made him uncomfortable, Zanetti said, he began to get bad vibes from him.

The situation escalated when the man refused to pull over to let Zanetti out after being asked him to do so.

Finally, when Zanetti threatened to open the door and jump out of the car, the man began to pull over, allowing Zanetti to get out.

Zanetti’s trek through Los Angeles was also not without peril.

“It was like a big conference of drug dealers,” Zanetti said of certain parts of the city.

A few times, Zanetti slept under bridges with homeless people, and although he kept his pack tied to him while he slept for safety reasons, he said he never felt threatened by them.

Zanetti said he really just had to trust people and trust his instincts about the safety of certain situations.

“You just kind of have to have it,” Zanetti said. “You just have to be really aware.”

Haun said that it came as no surprise that Zanetti did so well with the people he met.

“That’s who he is,” Haun said. “He’s not afraid to talk to strangers.”

The road he traveled
Along the way, Zanetti saw many places and had many experiences. He spent time in Phoenix, northern Arizona, eastern Arizona, California and New Mexico.

Once, while sleeping in the desert, Zanetti had a frightening brush with the “locals.”

“I woke up in the morning with coyote tracks circled around me,” Zanetti said.

While those nights in the desert proved to be somewhat intimidating, they also ended up being some of Zanetti’s favorites.

“It’s like a perfect environment,” Zanetti said of the high mountain desert areas of northern Arizona and New Mexico.

When Zanetti went to Los Angeles to visit his brother, the hitchhiking experience wasn’t quite as good.

The lack of available rides forced Zanetti to use the city bus system.

After hours of walking through the city and catching buses, Zanetti surprised his brother, and spent a few days enjoying the commodities he often missed out on the road.

“Showering is definitely not easy when you’re hitchhiking,” Zanetti said.

Beyond hygenic concerns, Zanetti was also challenged by the combination of a 100 pound backpack and the steep slopes of the mountain roads.

“Walking through the mountains was definitely the most mentally and physically straining part,” Zanetti said.

Though Zanetti had hoped to hitchhike back to Eau Claire, he had to fly in order to make it back for the first day of classes.

After three weeks, Zanetti walked away having spent just $150, all on plane tickets.

“I actually made money once I got down there because people bought me food and gave me money,” Zanetti said.

Lessons learned
Now that Zanetti has had a chance to reflect on his experiences, his perspective on hitchhiking, people and life has changed.

“One or two news stories have ruined the hitchhiking scene,” Zanetti said.

He said that fears of not having a place to stay are over-hyped by people.

“At the end of the day, I can always sleep under a bridge,” Zanetti said. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

Too often, Zanetti said, people are afraid to push themselves, especially when it involves being alone.

“Everyone should have to travel alone at least once in their life,” he said.

The experience reinforced Zanetti’s belief that doing something is much better than reading or hearing about it.

“I want to experience it,” he said. “I don’t want to just live life by looking through a book.”