Changes

--Shannon: In SoCal, one just has to transit as far from the city as possible before attempting to hitch. Northbound, take the commuter bus from downtown LA Union Station to Valencia and hitch I-5 from there. Eastbound, Metrolink (~$13 from Union Station) to the truck stops along Fontana, Rialto, San Bernadino, etc. Hitching will get easier once you hit the desert in Indio, home to better truck stops, and a departure point for Niland/Slab City. Ontario is known for "lot lizards" and other urban truck-stop crime. It takes a long time, but one can transit through Los Angeles to Orange and San Diego Counties, all the way down to Mexico. See also Nick Cophee's excellent thread on "hitching in SoCal" on Squat the Planet.  Northern California: If hitching north or east out of the Bay, the University Ave onramp in Berkeley is GOLD. The Octavia Ave onramp for the 101 south and 80 east seems to the best in SF. In Sacramento, the 16th St onramp is alright for commuting to the Bay (just stand on the left side of the road, not by the onramp post, and hold your sign high), but hitching north or south will take a long long while to happen--if you can get rides from friends in the area, go to Lodi if heading further south, the Dunnigan truck stop if northbound, but otherwise consider Megabus, Union Pacific, or hitching from the Bay. If you're in the Shasta area, check out the regional bus system--you're more likely to get a quick ride from hippie-friendly towns like Mt Shasta and Weed than more conservative places such as Dunsmuir.  :"Born and raised in North Cali - if you can, take Highway 1. Everyone who takes their time to enjoy life and see cool stuff is on Highway 1, swhere where the party's at haha. I met this amazing acidhead couple who took me to Swanson Berry Farms between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz, where we sampled weird sacred Native American jams and sat around the barn on picnic tables talkin to wild westerners. Don't get stuck in So Cal. I was tryna get out of LA for about a week. When I finally got to Barstow, I hung out under the bridge on the freeway with other vagabonds, and like 3 of us were hitchhiking - I got picked up first by this awesome woman from Arkansas who lived in Baker, drove me there and we hung out with her neighborhood, getting drunk and having a good ol' fashioned fish fry. Bring loads and loads of water to So Cal, it gets hot, especially on your way out of state on I-15."