Today was cloudy when I started out on my journey to Aomori city, 470 kilometers from home. I wore for the first time this season a warm overcoat. I heard it had been snowing in Aomori, the northernmost prefecture of Honshu.

At 8:05 a.m. after walking 25 minutes on Route 345 from Majime station, the first car of the day stopped for me. It was again Mr. Toki, a cook who picked me up twice previously!. This time I remembered to take his photo. I’ll very likely see him again because he drives to work daily on that road usually the same time in the morning when I hitchhike to Aomori Prefecture.

The next car was a lady who had picked me once before this year! That’s twice in a row meeting people who had previously picked me up. She’s a fish merchant who makes daily trips to Murakami City. It’s highly likely to meet her again as well. She took me to Route 7 which is the main road going to Aomori Prefecture.

After that I walked about an hour passing through 3 tunnels further up Route 7 to seek a better spot to hitchhike. At Iwasaki a lady stopped for me. She saw my sign that says, “Atsumi Onsen” and was going there. I thought she was in her 20s but she told me she has a 14 year old daughter!

Atsumi Onsen has a large “michi no eki” which in English means “road station”, a place where cars and trucks stop to rest. I’ve stood there many times. Usually from Atsumi Onsen the next vehicle will take me to Tsuruoka City, about 30 kilometers further up Route 7, but this time a truck driver from Maizuru City in Kyoto Prefecture took me all the way to Odate city in AKita! He was going to Aomori Prefecture, but a different area, Mutsu City in the Shimokita peninsula, and therefore wouldn’t be passing Aomori city. Though is was only 4:45 p.m.when arriving Odate city, it was already dark. And because it was also raining, I took a train the rest of the way to Aomori City.