(POST UPDATED)
It started six days ago when Brooklyn band Here We Go Magic recognized a hitchhiker on Interstate 70 in Ohio. That hitchhiker was cult filmmaker John Waters. The band picked him up and documented their time with him in tweets and instagram photos before “tearfully leaving [him] on the side of the highway” in Indiana.
Today news comes that Waters rode from Kansas to Colorado with a couple from Illinois. Laura Broviac (a Democratic Party Chair) and Michael McHaney (a circuit judge) picked up Waters in Junction City, Kansas when Broviac recognized him. She told WJBD: “He had stories about Faye Dunaway, and he talked about his most major accomplishment of selling out the Sydney, Australia Opera House while working as a stand-up comedian.”
So why is Waters doing this? According to Here We Go Magic’s Jen Turner, Waters just set out to have an adventure. The filmmaker also told Broviac and McHaney he plans to write a book about the experience. As Baltimore Magazine points out, Waters has talked about hitchhiking in interviews before. He thinks it’s a great way to meet new people and have sex, which is hardly surprising for such an eccentric artist who came up on the fringe. He has already met some interesting people on his journey, so I have to wonder if he’s also gotten laid.
Waters is traveling Interstate 70, which begins at Baltimore’s western border and ends in Utah (though his plan is to go all the way to California).
UPDATE
According to The Baltimore Sun, Waters has made it to San Francisco!
As I wondered in the comments below, just how did the director get from Baltimore to Ohio? Brett Bidle, a twenty-year-old councilman from Myersville, Maryland picked Waters up on his way from Maryland to Joplin, Missouri. Remarkably, the two reconnected in Denver, and Bidle gave Waters a ride all the way to Reno, NV. At that point, Waters insisted on finding (at least) one more driver to help him get to San Francisco.
The best part of this story is that Waters gave Bidle the key to his San Francisco apartment, and the two met up once again (Wednesday, the 23rd) so that Waters could show the councilman around the city. No news yet on how Waters made it from Reno to San Francisco, but I will keep you updated.
Mr. Waters, please write that book on the double!
