The is illustrated by his reluctance to bring Rayette along on his trip to visit his family. He is clearly ashamed of her. On their way up the California coast to visit Bobby's family, Bobby and Rayette give a ride to two women who have wrecked their car. The two are on their way to Alaska. One woman, Palm Apodaca, played by Helena Kallianiotes, wants to move to Alaska because it looked very clean from a picture she saw of it once.
Palm goes on and on about how filthy everything and everybody is.
She has a extremely negative view of life and wants to have nothing to do with American society. In some ways she represents the extreme cynicism of the counter-culture movement of the late 1960's. When the four travelers stop at a chain restaurant for lunch, the audience is treated to one of the most memorable scenes of the film. When Bobby tries to order toast, he is told by the waitress he can't have toast with his order because they don't allow substitutions. Bobby tries to show the waitress how to give him his toast and not break any rules by ordering a chicken salad sandwich and holding everything but the toast.