The first rule of adventurous traveling: Things are almost never as bad as your mother thinks.
The second rule of adventurous traveling: The "almost never" exceptions can be pretty bad.
Further, if you’re writing a book called “The Kindness of America,” as hitchhiker Ray Dolin is, you might be tempting fate. Dolin learned this when a stranger shot him Saturday evening in rural Montana where Dolin was trying to hitch a ride.
Cops later caught the asshole, a drunk with a history of assault and intimidation. But when you set out to write a book about the kindness of strangers in America, the last thing you're expecting to get is shot.