50 capitals in 50 days

November 29, 2006 6:09 AM

Remember those guys who tried to hitchhike to all 50 state capitals in 50 days? Well, yesterday they finished successfully. Alaska and Hawaii included.
posted by nitsuj (19 comments total)

is flying from ohio to alaska really considered hitchhiking?
posted by rare_g at 6:32 AM on November 29, 2006

How does one "hitchhike" to Hawaii?
posted by RavinDave at 6:48 AM on November 29, 2006

How does one "hitchhike" to Hawaii?

Well...from the link:

It was about 1:00AM when they counted the money earned, called the airlines and booked us two return tickets to Hawaii, leaving at 8:45 AM from LAX. We celebrated late into the night with everyone at the party, knowing we were gonna accomplish our goal. Presuming we didn’t miss another flight.

Thankfully, this time we didn’t miss the flight.

TMYK.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:56 AM on November 29, 2006

is flying from ohio to alaska really considered hitchhiking?

i vote no.
posted by the cuban at 6:58 AM on November 29, 2006

i've hitch-hiked quite a bit and had friends do it as well. i call bullshit before even reading it.
posted by andywolf at 7:22 AM on November 29, 2006

Andywolf: It appears that they had a lot of help -- people held parties to raise money for their flights, radio stations arranged rides for them, and people organized via the Internet to provide a chain of transportation.

It's not what I would consider "hitch-hiking" in the traditional sense, because they didn't have to rely on rides provided by individuals who happened upon them by chance.
posted by parilous at 7:50 AM on November 29, 2006

I was following this and I didn't think that they were going to do it, but when the last couple of legs involved bought plane tickets, I realized that it was going to happen. They managed to hitch a flight to Alaska, and I thought they would do the same to Hawaii, so yeah, I think they did cheat a bit...
posted by ob at 7:55 AM on November 29, 2006

No, hitchhiking to Hawaii would've involved them securing unpaid passage on a ship. Weak. Otherwise, cool!
posted by Eideteker at 8:06 AM on November 29, 2006

I don't think they were trying to adhere to any sort of pure hitchhiking standards, as they laid out their intentions in before leaving on their About page:

"The rules of Hitch50 are simple. We can't pay for ANY transportation. And we must get a photo in front of every state capitol building in 50 days or less."'

To me, it seemed more about seeing how the Internet can help two guys visit every state capital in 50 days or less, rather than sticking to the unwritten rules of a "true" hitchhiker. One of the two's brother (I forget which) is the one red paperclip guy, so there's a theme running in the family.

A successful experiment, and it looks like they had fun to boot.
posted by nitsuj at 8:23 AM on November 29, 2006

That's brilliant. Now that they're famous, they can pretty much travel anywhere, and get someone else to pay for it for the publicity. The list of things I wish I'd thought of gets longer...
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:41 AM on November 29, 2006

While I don't consider it hitch-hiking, this is pretty sweet. I think the rules of Amazing Race should apply, where all money has to be earned directly by the contestants, no big money-raising parties or anything like that. That all said, I would be totally stoked to do something this sweet.
posted by banannafish at 9:57 AM on November 29, 2006

The list of things I wish I'd thought of gets longer...


COMING SOON: Around the World in 80 Days.

Send $$ to Slarty Bartfast's PayPal account.

hehhehe
posted by RavinDave at 10:03 AM on November 29, 2006

And to think some of us wasted our youth.
posted by applemeat at 10:21 AM on November 29, 2006

I'm sure they'll try for another 15 minutes of Internet Fame by making a web-only movie about the whole thing.
posted by drstein at 10:49 AM on November 29, 2006

I gotta say, giving these guys their first ride (from Manhattan to the Jerz Turnpike) was a solid investment. Probably best chances I ever had at winning a trip to Hawaii: 1 out of 116.

Of course if I were two dudes in Hawaii, I'd be tempted to rig the drawing so that I had 2 chicks from North Carolina coming out to visit me, instead of some dude from NYC.

Just sayin.
posted by allkindsoftime at 11:41 AM on November 29, 2006

No, buying an airline ticket is not hitchhiking. Sorry, boyz.
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:21 PM on November 29, 2006

Hitch-Hiking Around the World — Ludovic Hubler:

Longest time spent in a single car: 5 days and 2 hours with Graham and Mathilda Luegharmer (GB) enabling me to cross the Western part of the Sahara from Dakhlat, Morocco to Nouakchott, Mauritania, January 31st to February 5th 2003.

Present location: Thailand - Kilometers: more than 102,000. Route of his 5-year journey.
posted by cenoxo at 5:51 PM on November 29, 2006 [1 favorite]

If Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy could tell us anything about these guys it's that they must have had a very nice towel.
posted by loquacious at 10:27 PM on November 29, 2006

Having hitchhiked across the USA myself (legitimately, although from Miami to Mpls, not horizontally), I must bow my head before the nerve of these two.

Whether or not you seek out your adventure, or have it unintentionally thrust upon you, doing something of this nature changes you utterly, and changes you forever. Never, not even one time, will you regret this undertaking.

Best wishes in Guam, guys. And if the current state of your site is any indication, your Revver earnings are just starting to kick into high gear!
posted by AbnerDoon at 3:25 PM on November 30, 2006