Harold, Mike, Amy, Dan

We begin again! Our travels today took us through 4 states in 5 rides.
The first, from Wisconsin to Illinois, came from my parents. My mother (and father, too, I'm sure, but he's not as vocal about it) worried about us all the way down, and was even making contingency plans for if we didn't get a single ride all day.
They dropped us at an Oasis (a gas station and shopping area along the tollway - significant because one usually has to pay to exit the tollway, but since you're staying on the tollway and there's no access from the oasis to the rest of the world, it's free to get off at). We wandered over to the entrance, pausing to ask a truck driver and hearing he was going some other way. We stuck our thumbs out, and saw nary 5 minutes go buy before Harold stopped to pick us up. Harold is a carpentry contractor at O'Hare who was commuting back to his Indiana home. Harold took us our first 60 miles, and got us off to a quick start. He spent his teens in the Philippines. He worries about his kids and where they're going.
In Indiana, we got a ride from Mike after only 6 minutes. Mike loves to travel, and told us about the places he wants to go. He took us about 30 miles, to Laporte, IN. Mike was involved in gangs. He worries about his kid and how he feels about where he is.
Mike dropped us at a pretty dead entrance, so we waited on the side of the highway, in the grass median between the entrance and the roadway. Across the road, a dead car was being towed. After about 15 minutes, an official looking truck slowly approached.
"Are we going to be hassled?" I asked Stina. "I think..." I answered myself, but as the truck arrived and stopped, the face inside didn't look like it had any chastising to do.
"Where are you trying to get to?" Amy asked.
"New York City," I responded.
"I can't take you that far, but I can take you to the end of my zone, about 20 miles."
As we rode with Amy, we learn that she had, indeed, saved us from probable harassment. She'd overheard a co-worker radioing in to alert the Highway staff to the presence of 2 hitchhikers, and so she stopped to help us out instead of leaving us to the mercy of the highway patrol. Now that's what I call good citizenship! Amy likes to go to Miami. She referenced La Cage aux Folles (okay, not really... she referenced The Birdcage), and we talked a little about Albert. I'm sure she, like all people, worries, but it didn't come up. I don't think she has children either... see a pattern?
She dropped us off at an Oasis, and just as we got out of the truck, Dan approached us. He'd seen us earlier, and briefly paused to learn more. We took advantage of the opportunity and asked him for a ride. He obliged. He thought maybe we were Phishheads (odd, since Harold had dropped us off at an Oasis, and a man exiting the Oasis with two dogs had asked us about the fish; were we there because of fish...?). We are not, but we learned about Phish the band and that there had been a big concert this past weekend in the Alpine Valley, WI. Apparently there's currently a wave of hippies without cars exiting the area en masse, and so the assumption will be that a hitchhiker was at the concert. Not a bad reputation to have, no matter how false, if other Phishheads feel an affinity for you. Dan seems a reluctant, but most generous host. After giving us a ride, he offered to let us pitch our tent in his yard, then seemed to wrestle with himself, and ultimately opened his home to us, letting us sleep in the luxurious guest bedroom, offering us towels and this here internet that I'm using. He's offered to give us a ride back to the freeway in the morning. Dan has an adorable cat, works in insurance, travels regularly, and gave us a window into the world of a Phishhead. He worries that his neighbors would worry what their kids would think [about us camping on his lawn] and whether or not his pets get enough attention.
And so tomorrow morning we'll go grocery shopping and then head onwards towards NYC. If things keep going at this rate, we'll be in New York by Wednesday! Wish us luck!