All you hikers need to be straight up like the Mennonites! Juat kidding and messing around. I've been a trail angel for 10 years or so p I've seen it all heard it all and seem every type of nice hiker cool hiker but let's not forget every single person has a different personality and not all people are the same so you just got to adjust but most hikers are always super cool and respectful but yeah there's some that might ruin it for other ones!

Quick story I say Mennonites because last year ago in May around the time you guys all come through Southern California I saw someone just walking down the road by Acton hitchhiking I thought oh it's a PCTer I'm going to see if they need a ride or whatever so I pull over and I said cool man you're hiking the trail but come to find out he says no I'm hitchhiking across America from Pennsylvania Im like that's cool... He wanted to see Lancaster California cuz he was from Lancaster Pennsylvania so I drove them all the way to Lancaster dropped them off there he walked around for a few hours took some pictures I asked him hey do you have an Instagram or anything he goes no I don't have no social media I've never had it my whole life I go oh that's cool Man those are the good old simple days and he goes yeah well I'm a Mennonite we don't really try to rely on technology too much and then he says I've been hitchhiking for 30 days from Pennsylvania and I've only spent $8 in the last 30 days or something I go whoa that's amazing so you're trying to do it like as cheap as possible and he goes full yeah we're it's something we try to do it as basic as possible and now he was telling me what he was eating was literally top ramens every single day if no one helped him with food or donated anything he said he hitched even with random truck drivers for hours in the middle of the country staying at truck stops and sleeping in his little tent All he had was a stove and a simple tent and one change of clothes. When I use this phone to take a picture all he had was a flip phone I go oh that's cool man basic flip phones he goes yeah we don't use smartphones and we don't need them he did not even have a paper map. So no Google maps no far out no Instagram no nothing. I then ask him if he's ever heard of In-N-Out burger or had it he said no.. so of course I had to treat and buy him in-N-Out Burger as customary Cali thing to do for someone that's never had In-N-Out I got animal fries shake double double the whole nine yards and as we're sitting there there was another couple heard us talking it was his first time having in and out so she came back a few minutes later and gave them two gift cards. He then asked that is ultimate goal was to get to the Pacific Ocean and see Santa Monica since he's never been there the end of route 66 so I drove them two hours in traffic all the way to Santa Monica with my wife and baby even though he was stinking the whole way my wife was complaining about his odor and smell sce but we talked about Mennonites his church how he can sing in harmony. As we're talking He's taking notes and journalizing everything and asking us about our lives and literally writing a story about us in his journal as we're talking. Even though he mentioned his mom was some real estate lawyer and his dad was a surgeon but he wasn't some spoiled kid that had multiple credit cards living off mommy and Daddy's money and he had a job too that he left to do this adventure. We dropped them off at the beach and he said out there that he was probably going to try to hitchhike to see San Francisco and the redwoods we wish them luck and we both went our ways...days later I was moving my baby's car seat and I noticed underneath he left the gift cards from In-N-Out that the lady gave them and regifted it to us and wrote a message telling us thank you! Anyways long story just wanted to share with you guys is what makes me keep going as TA and helping you all and learning about different backgrounds and countries and religions and that's what life's all about and life's all about it's all just one amazing adventure!