Hitchhikers

One thing that the Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia area has a lot of is hitchhikers. I was driving home tonight, or as I call it attempting suicide (Friday night during the beach season is especially treacherous) and I saw a very strange hitchhiker by the on ramp to Interstate 95. Now, seeing that there are tons of hitchhikers traveling through the area on any given day, I am guessing that this technique works despite the many movies made about how if you pick strangers up in your car, you will get killed. This particular hitchhiker was a woman in her forties (approximation). She was wearing a long trench coat (even though it was 78 degrees here at 4:30) and black combat boots. Her hair was straight and stringy with a greased down part in the middle of her head and these amazingly thick coke-bottle glasses. Normally I go by the corner she was standing on at about 50 miles per hour, but today traffic was moving quite slowly. Her appearance was not the most off-putting site though. She was waving her thumb over a giant sign she had in front of her that said "Repent and JESUS will accept you!" "Jesus" was written in all caps in large letters. Now, understand that I am not knocking anyones religious beliefs. I am only 28 years old. I know nothing about who is right and who is wrong. I am just wondering if this woman honestly thought that she was going to get picked up with a sign like that. Her appearance would probably not deter a potential ride because hitchhikers, as a whole, are generally not eye candy. I think that a motorist who might pick up a hitchhiker would take one look at her and say, "Forget it, she is going to preach to me for a hundred miles... I want no part of it." Perhaps a different sign would help her on her journey. You know, something simple, yet enticing that the motorists can read zooming by at 50 miles per hour. "GR8 HEAD anyone?"