Vermont

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Vermont is a state in New England, named for its "green mountains".

Vermont is a hitchhiking mecca. It has the second smallest population of any U.S. state, which means that people hitchhike there like they do in Mayberry: everybody knows everybody else. Often, cars driving by have seen a certain person on the road before, so they pull over. Thumb is a common method of transportation in Vermont, though usually not more than 50 miles, as it's small state (ranked 45th in area). Some people hitch to work, some hitch to school, and some just thumb it across New England. It's arguably the easiest place to hitchhike in the entire United States.

Rides come from anyone: parents going to work, kids going to school, even grandmothers out running errands. Vermont is perhaps the most ideal place in the country to raise a family, with its comprehensive healthcare for all children, wide variety of quality schools, freedom of thought and expression, and consistently low crime rate. But it's not all Mayberry in the Green Mountains. Vermont is very 4-20 friendly, and odds are while thumbing through the state a traveler will have the chance to sample some salad-like, uplifting and contemplative homegrown herb. The state is also home to a few of North America's best microwbrews.

But the cops in Vermont are usually very chill and whoever gets a ticket for hitchhiking has usually done something to piss them off. They actually tend to be very helpful with directions and other knowledge. Another thing about rides in Vermont: be prepared to hear all kinds of local stories.

Vermonters are a hardy people, enduring temperature changes approaching 130 degrees within the course of a year. Here you will find rednecks and flatlanders, hicks and hippies alike, most of whom are content to live and let live. Vermont is the most progressive state in the nation, the most tolerant and most ecologically aware, yet people still get up in the morning and milk the cows the same as they have for 200 years.

The two major interstates in Vermont are I-89 and I-91. Hitchhiking here is restricted to the onramps, as in most US states.

I-91 parallels the Connecticut River along the eastern side of the state. It's the main artery for traveling to points North (Montreal, Sherbrooke, Quebec city) or South (New York, Springfield, Hartford). Most of the exits along the way lead to small towns, which can sometimes make for very little traffic. In fact, aside from St. Johnsbury, Brattleboro and White River Junction, there really aren't any high-traffic onramps, so don't get stuck in small towns like Ascutney.

I-89 starts in St.Albans, by the Quebec border and goes southeast to Concord, New Hampshire, passing through the lone city the state capitol of Montpelier, and White River Junction. On the western portion, from the border to Montpelier it's easy to get a ride, but between Barre and White River Junction there's not a lot of traffic getting on.

Law

Title 23. Motor Vehicles

23 V.S.A. 1157. Pedestrians soliciting rides, or business.
(a) No person shall stand in a roadway for the purpose of soliciting a ride, or to solicit from or sell to an occupant of any vehicle.
23 V.S.A. 4. Definitions
(32) "Roadway" is that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, exclusive of the shoulder.

Basically, hitchhiking from the shoulder is legal.

Towns

Experiences

Came through once briefly along the interstate. Rides were easy to get and I got the feeling Vermont has a tolerant outlook towards alternative peoples of all kinds. Thewindandrain (talk) 00:45, 2 June 2013 (CEST)

Nomadwiki & Trashwiki

Check Nomadwiki for info on accommodation, showers etc. or Trashwiki for dumpsters...and share your wisdom :)