One who uses a mode of transportation which requires the lack of a mode of transportation.
People using this mode of transportation are usually HIKING along-side roads and highways, usually displaying their thumb as an indicator that they are attempting to HITCH a ride from a passing motorist.

Hitchhiker (as used in letterboxing):

Hitchhiking letterboxes come in several forms, but all have a common attribute - They move.

In general, the basic idea of hitchhiker boxes runs as follows - A person finds a "normal" letterbox, and discovers a second box, unrelated to the intended find, hidden with the first. The finder then takes that second box along with them, and leaves it at some other box he or she visits in the future.

Proper letterboxing etiquette dictates that the carrier of a hitchhiker should stamp it into the box they hide it with, and vice-versa. So on finding one, if the previous carrier didn't stamp it into the box, the new finder should do so.

A number of subtypes exist within the general category of hitchhikers:

The original type, generally the default when dealing with a hitchhiking letterbox, simply goes to the next box its carrier visits (usually skipping later boxes on the same hike, to make it move around a bit faster). Find it, go on to the next box, and leave it.

The next type, usually called a "traveller", does not necessarily go to the next normal box visited. The carrier generally keeps it for some time, up to a week or two, and tries to place it as far from its last home as possible. This causes it to have fewer finders than a normal hitchiker, but such boxes often travel thousands of miles (not necessarily in one direction) over the course of a year. People carrying travellers sometimes, though not always, stamp the traveller into every box they visit before leaving it with a new fixed-location box.

A third type, the "personal" letterbox, does not ever stay with a placed box. It travels with a person (or car, or dog, or other animate object), and to "find" it someone must ask its keeper to stamp in. The first of this type travelled with Max, the dog of a well-known letterboxing couple from Southern New England. This differs primarily from a letterboxer's normal personal rubber stamp in that it counts as a find, rather than an exchange.

A relatively new type of hitchhiker (with no specific term yet used to define them) has appeared recently to deal with a common problem - When leaving a hitchhiker with another fixed letterbox, the original planter of the fixed box will often have used a location with only enough room for the box itself. This means that leaving a hitchhiker requires either finding a way to expand the existing location, or leaving it in a dangerously conspicuous manner. The solution to this, first used in the "Peter J. McGuire" letterbox, seems simple yet took years to think of - To leave such a hitchhiker, the 'boxer picks a nearby spot (within a few dozen yards, usually) suitable for hiding the hitchhiker. The carrier then leaves a description of this nearby spot in the fixed-location box, for the next visitor to find.

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