Small California Towns
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
The first rule to hitchhiking through a small California town is don't. They prove to be more trouble than their worth. If however you do happen to wake up in one, without any recollection of how you got there, here are a few tips for survival there.
Near the beggining of my journey scouting for the Guide I was forced to spend some time in the suburban area of a small Californian town. The problem with these mini-cities is, as I see it, funding. These towns are littered with hundreds of homeless, jobless, and personalityless people, this is because the school systems in this state are so poor. The schools are vastly underfunded and unable to provide a proper education for the youth living there. This is largely due to the fact that most the charity funds are directed to homeless shelters and poor houses. This creates a downward spiral for the system which will end only when California breaks off from the rest of the North American continent and drifts into the Pacific ocean.
I bring this fact up only because I have found these elements to be quite helpfull when hitch-hiking through this state. Since the homeless shelters are so well funded thier is an over abundance of food in them, therefore it is practically impossible to starve in California. The schools themselves provide assistance in that there are small groups of students that have realized there predicament and have secluded themselves from thier peers. Look for the bowling or chess club and you just might run into them. They are generally nice and socialy adept despite their isolation and can provide much help to the weary traveller.
Accomadations however can be much more difficult to attain. In California any place that calls itself a hotel isn't and most motels there wouldn't be fit for even the most self-depreciating lifeform. Parks offer a peacefull out-doorsy kind of enviroment but it can be tough getting a good rest there because police officers seem to never approve of the particular spot you have chosen. They will constantly ask you to "move along" even though the next spot you choose is usually very similar to the previous one. Although no one knows why police hold parks so sacred I have a few theory's but that will have to wait for another guide entry.
Once in a small Californian town most people's objective is to immediatly leave. On the surface these burgs may look friendly and cozy but everyone who stays too long eventually loses their will to live and become raging alchoholics (which can be interesting career changes for some). I like Utah.
Near the beggining of my journey scouting for the Guide I was forced to spend some time in the suburban area of a small Californian town. The problem with these mini-cities is, as I see it, funding. These towns are littered with hundreds of homeless, jobless, and personalityless people, this is because the school systems in this state are so poor. The schools are vastly underfunded and unable to provide a proper education for the youth living there. This is largely due to the fact that most the charity funds are directed to homeless shelters and poor houses. This creates a downward spiral for the system which will end only when California breaks off from the rest of the North American continent and drifts into the Pacific ocean.
I bring this fact up only because I have found these elements to be quite helpfull when hitch-hiking through this state. Since the homeless shelters are so well funded thier is an over abundance of food in them, therefore it is practically impossible to starve in California. The schools themselves provide assistance in that there are small groups of students that have realized there predicament and have secluded themselves from thier peers. Look for the bowling or chess club and you just might run into them. They are generally nice and socialy adept despite their isolation and can provide much help to the weary traveller.
Accomadations however can be much more difficult to attain. In California any place that calls itself a hotel isn't and most motels there wouldn't be fit for even the most self-depreciating lifeform. Parks offer a peacefull out-doorsy kind of enviroment but it can be tough getting a good rest there because police officers seem to never approve of the particular spot you have chosen. They will constantly ask you to "move along" even though the next spot you choose is usually very similar to the previous one. Although no one knows why police hold parks so sacred I have a few theory's but that will have to wait for another guide entry.
Once in a small Californian town most people's objective is to immediatly leave. On the surface these burgs may look friendly and cozy but everyone who stays too long eventually loses their will to live and become raging alchoholics (which can be interesting career changes for some). I like Utah.
