In an age where cynicism and suspicion has replaced hope and trust, Jon Lott gave himself to the open road and met more than two dozen drivers as he hitchhiked across the country. Beginning in Washington, D.C. and ending on the Pacific Coast, Hitchhike America recounts the seventeen days and $100 he spent exploring the United States, meeting new people, and trying to find the true American soul.

Peopled with mountain men and hipsters, horse ranchers and journalists, retirees and the unemployed, Lott's journey was like none other. He rode with a felon who got high on the highway, was propositioned by an old man in Oklahoma, and joined up with a group of hapless travelers moving west. His experiences are related here in a collection of humorous and inspiring tales aimed at a new generation of people stricken with wanderlust.