sisterchromatid

Rainbow can make a huge mess in town, dumpster diving but then not cleaning up, begging for money, pooping where they're not supposed to. Not all Rainbow folks are like that, but enough of them are that lots of towns despise them.

The Forest Service isn't overly fond of them, either. I've been to around a dozen gatherings, both regional and national, and I've always stayed behind to help clean up. The environmental destruction and littering can be enormous, although it isn't always very bad. The folks who have homes and jobs can be a lot worse than the ones who are hardcore travelers. But anyway, people pooping in rivers, leaving their tents and gear behind, causing significant erosion, burning large amounts of plastic and other toxic materials instead of hiking their gear and trash out, etc.

The point is that regardless of how you feel about Rainbow in particular and hippies in general, you have to admit that there are good reasons town folk might not be overly fond of them.

I'm female. I hitch hiked for about a year when I was 19. I got my rides at truck stops from truckers. I think that in many situations that it is actually safer for girls than for boys to travel with truckers. There are prostitutes at truck stops, the truckers don't need to harass girls for sex, they can buy it for cheap. I'm not homophobic (I'm queer, myself) but repression is a hell of a thing, and a lot of these truckers are gay but not out, and I've heard some stories from male travelers about awkward (at best) or very dangerous (at worst) situations.

My personal opinion is that anyone, male or female, should travel with another person. It opens a lot more resources, it's safer (someone can always be awake during sketchy situations) and it's less lonely.

I had a lot of luck asking to do cleaning and laundry at mom n' pop type motels. They always need someone to wash bedding and towels. A lot of the time they'll put you up in a room, as well.

Hey, I haven't hitched or traveled in a few years, but I had a ton of luck getting free showers at larger truck stops. Lots of truckers use their company credit cards to fuel up, and many truck stops offer rewards or points for money spent on fuel, food, etc. So I would hang out by the point redeeming stations, and ask the truckers if they could spare a few points to get me a shower. Truckers tend to be really decent folk, and they'd laugh when I made jokes about bein' tired of smelling bad. I've gotten dozens and dozens of free showers that way. And the showers are always super clean and you get a couple of plush, freshly laundered towels and sample size soaps and shampoos.

Otherwise, I'd go into the restroom and wash up my face, hands, feet, armpits, vagoo and butt. I'd make sure to not leave a mess, because I wasn't trying to repay a free whore's bath by being a fat jerk. It's no shower, but it kept me from being offensively stinky.