While driving eastward on a desolate rural highway in eastern Washington, I passed this man who was
walking westward. It was hot and the sun was beating down without mercy. He had no hat, a condition
I could not imagine in such an environment.
My first thought was one that questioned his sanity for not wearing a hat, but I managed to switch
to a more charitable frame of mind and I decided to offer him something that was on my head at the
time. By this time I was about half a mile past him, so I pulled over, turned around (using both
lanes---no traffic!), and caught up with him.
He was on his way from Minnesota to California via Seattle, in search of a job, I think. I took off
my hat and insisted that he take it to shield his sunburned head. He accepted my offer. The hat was
a bit of a memento, having been purchased during a fun time in Mt. Shasta, California a few years
earlier. (The loss to me was sentimental only, as I had another sun hat with me on this trip.) In
addition, I gave him some cold water from my ice chest to supplement the warm water supply he had
with him. In exchange for the goodies, I extracted from him permission to be photographed.
After chatting for a few minutes we wished each other well and I resumed my odyssey to the east.
The unknown hitchhiker continued westward, hoping to get a ride in this low-traffic-density
area of farmlands that stretched in all directions as far as the eye could see.
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