Samaritans of the USA
by Sondra Wilson
www.WildWillpower.org would not have been possible without the “good Samaritans” who picked me up hitchhiking or gave me a place to stay, a meal , or a dollar or two along the way. I began walking and hitchhiking the USA following September 11th, 2001 at age 21 to use less gas and write songs to protest what I thought was “an oil war” at the time. Additionally, I was coping with the fact that I was transgender, and did not find my home state of Iowa safe to live in at the time. I sought to learn to live among the wilderness in peace, and documented the journey through the songs that came to me on the guitar – most of which are still not recorded.
Below are just a handful of the hundreds of people who picked (me) up hitchhiking along the way. Wild Willpower PAC was built on the spirit of love, and people helping one another. Note that I look disheveled in a lot of the below videos because I was pretty broke (in money, not spirit).
Wild Willpower PAC would have been possible without the kindness of good Samaritans who gave their trust and time to an often dirty hippie (lol!) who was simply looking for and dreaming of a kinder and more peaceful world.
In 2016, soon after Kevin and I were robbed by Sheriff’s Deputies in Kern County, CA, we hitchhiked to Standing Rock in order to use the First Amendment to speak up for Native Americans who were protesting a pipeline that was being built across (and thus jeopardizing) their drinking water supply. It felt apparent to Kevin and I that we ought to just get our belongings together, have faith, and hitchhike to Standing Rock. Some photos from the hitchhike (pretty di
Brief Interview w/ Some Folks who Picked Us Up Hitchhiking on the Way Here:
We Arrived on September 20th.
Videos & Photos from August 7, 2002 when I first began hitchhiking to 2016:
“Downtown Michael Brown”, helped Kevin Byrd & I in early 2014 get from point A to point B- just to help out:
More videos will be posted to this page soon- here’s another:
Here’s are just a few (an extremely small percent) of the people who picked me up hitchhiking along the way over the years. These people are the heart of everything Wild Willpower stands for- our plan is to pay it forward.
(If I screwed up any of your names or you’d like to add contact information or a bit about yourself or a quote; [email protected] OR 415-798-7457)
Calvin Lee Walker:
Joyce Crew:
Jeff Taylor:
Chuck & Clair near Government Mountain, Arizona:
Juan O.:
Dan Miller (Northern California):
David Lemonhead Lobato (Moab, Utah):
Dallas of Sonoma Desert:
Distance & cool guy in Colorado:
A family from New Zealand:
Distance with Steve Miller & Joan Miller at their home in Moab, Utah:
Ernie Brown picked me & my friend Jason Baker in Northern California: 
Christopher Rae, a really cool highway patrolman in California that gave me a lift further up the road while I was particularly dirty (it ain’t easy):
Hitching with my friend Rain Lou Aster (Chelsie Smith), Christopher Rey picked us up:.jpg)
Austin Thomas:
Stuarte of Petaluma CA fixing Distance’s original set of Lightning Dancers:
Analisa Phoenix in Arizona:
Randy Bolt (Northern California):
Distance & Richard from Alturas, CA:
Steve:
A trucker named Daniel Nelson on way from San Jose to Lake Isabella (a lot of truckers picked me up):
Jacob:
More videos & photos coming as I dig them up!
Wish I had the names for these peeps:
Its hard to stay organized on the road- I was robbed over 20 times so just did my best to keep it together. People below include (in no particular order unfortunately) Don Waley, , Jackson, Joachim Preinesberger, Micah Janet & Wynn, Richard Smith of Nebraska, & Samuel Edgar.
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