Gathered here under one cover are the previously scattered tales of my hitch-hiking life. As the sub-title implies, however, they are more than mere travel tales; for the common, unremarkable act of hitch-hiking cloaks a quite remarkable instrument of personal growth and guidance. This is so because it is uniquely capable of removing the hitch-hiker from the realm of the planned and predictable. Life happens, then, on a course of events over which we have only the barest remnant of control (accepting or rejecting an offered ride). In this rarefied state of being, amazing things become visible...