John Waters Wants You To Hitchhike

PROVINCETOWN – John Waters suggested that I hitchhike back home to Falmouth.

“It’s summer, you’re on Cape Cod, try hitchhiking,” said Waters, the filmmaker best known for his cult films, Hairspray, Pink Flamingos, and Cecil B. Demented. Waters has an apartment in Provincetown, and has just published a book, “CARSICK:” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), about his 2012 hitchhiking trip across America. “I don’t think serial killers are going up and down Route 6 looking for prey.”

John Waters wants you to start hitchhiking. He did, coast to coast.

I briefly considered the best that could happen, and the worst (which now specifically included serial killers roaming Route 6) , and I quickly decided to drive my car back and read his book instead.

The book is divided into three parts: The Best That Could Happen; The Worst That Could Happen; and What Really Happened.

It turned out the best that could happen was that I would get an interview with John Waters, an iconic cultural figure whom I have been aware of for decades. The worst that could happen was that I had never actually seen any of his movies and I didn’t even get a copy of his book until I was on my way to the half-hour interview. And what really happened was that Waters was gracious, endearing, and hilarious.

He was also the biggest cheerleader for hitchhiking that I’ve met in decades.

“I’ve always hitchhiked,” said Waters, explaining that he hitchhiked to Provincetown 50 years ago for his first visit. “Somebody just said to me ‘It’s a weird place, you’ll like it,” and they were right,” he said. “I worked at the East End Bookshop and the Provincetown Bookshop.”

Decades later, during the summers when he was in Provincetown, he would still occasionally hitchhike to Longnook Beach in Truro, about ten miles away. He said he has gone on hitchhiking dates, and one such date, with Patty Hearst, he describes in the book.