wrote

So if I'm in from Calif. any pointers to avoid undue abuse?


zzz, or Mr hophead,

I'm going to try and give a serious reply ( zzz@hophead makes it hard,
fwiw), although most of what I've put into this thread has been very tongue
in cheek.


You can NOT avoid the stigma that comes with your license plate in the minds
of some people. And, honestly, it IS a real stigma that you WILL feel
from time to time, if you travel the West.( Texas plates are worse in much
of the West, in causing prejudice against their owner, btw )

What you CAN do is try hard to understand why people have come to have the
opinions they have. Most of this is Not because they are stupid hicks,
rather it is because they have seen enough Californians ( or Texans ) behave
badly to develop associations.

Simply put, your best defense is to not behave badly. But that may be
harder than it first seems, since you have to view this from THEIR
perspective, not from the perspective of a LA/ SF "hophead" or "big spender"
or "self important person of 'superior' sophistication" or "plain big city
jerk that hasn't a clue how to behave in more rural environments."

You can go to the well known destinations and be welcomed with open arms, as
long as your wallet is open, and you make it clear you don't plan to stay
long. Where you will find resistence is when you try harder to fit into
the local systems, and become somewhat accepted, as "local." ( last year,
someone at a fly shop in Idaho referred to me and said, "He qualifies as a
local." .... a fine compliment, in my mind. ) More out of the way
destinations have more reservations about "bad plates" than big name
destinations.

"City folk" ( and, frankly, it's people from LA, SJ, and SF, not Orland, or
Burrney, that leave a bad taste in the mouths of locals ) really seem to
carry a "better than" attitude with them, when they go to rural locations.
I was raised in the city (several of them), used the 'hang' at City Lights
Books in SF when in high school, lived within sight of the Haight/ Ashbury
intersection, for a brief period, and went to Ken Kesey's acid parties, in
the 60s, not a classic 'country hick' background. "I'm a clean cut kid, and
I've been to college, too." But if I walk out back to "greet" a "from the
city" pheasant hunter hopping my fence to trespass, he is very likely to try
and "talk down" to me as though I'd never strayed farther than 15 feet from
the nearest cow patty.

Same with my disliked HummerBummers ... try pulling up and talking to one of
them while driving a beat up, lived a hard country life, '92 Dodge diesel,
"How's the fishin'?" The look you will get from 98% of "them" clearly
says, "Oh how quaint, a poor person, suppose he knows we don't use worms?"
even though I probably have several times the FFinging experience they do
and WOULD tell them were to go to find better access IF they weren't such
asses. Please note, because it IS my message ... I stop to talk with the
idea of being friendly and maybe even helpful .... I leave to go post
anti-HummerPrick statements ... WHAT changes me is the issue here. and it
applies whether it's Hummers with me, or Calif plates in Id.

Take the time to really listen to the locals that choose to talk to you. Be
honestly interested in what they have to say. Be honestly friendly and
honestly aware that they have skills and interesting knowledge on subjects
you are completely ignorant about. (example
http://www.kimshew.com/flyfish/displ....php?log_id=20 )

Don't think your money buys anything more than goods ... that "country
bumpkin" might be able to buy and sell you with pocket change. Just this
morning I ran into Lloyd S ___ at the hardware store. Lloyd lets me train
dogs on most of his several thousand acres of California. Lloyd produces
organic milk as one of his many businesses, and today Lloyd must have been
working his cows. He was covered in manure and smelled like he hadn't had a
bath in a month. Lloyd has more money than I can conceive of, and is a
VERY smart, very well educated, very accomplished, and very friendly man,
but those HummerJerks from yesterday would have felt SO much "better than"
Lloyd, I bet, and been so wrong.

So, don't pull a "I'm SO superior" anti- "Daisy Mae" bigotry scene on
locals, or even hint at it. There is a very good chance they are as smart
as you ( likely smarter, they are living a better life style, in a better
place, ain't they? ), and almost a certainty that they are in a positon to
help or hurt you in your search for good fishing and a nice vacation.

Try to be helpful, from the locals point of view .... help bag your own
grocerys at the store, if the line is backed up "with tourists." Next
time you'll be greeted as a friend, not "one of them" I once gained
access to private Idaho water by spotting some cows that were out, and a
fence down ... I drove to town, asked around, found the owner, lead him to
the trouble, and pulled out my fence pliers to help ( yeah, a bit much, but
I carry them and they have bought me a lot, especially in places to train
dogs ) .... and, honestly, I DID see him glance at my California plates,
then lightly shake his head with a ..... "well, I'll be god-damned"...
look on his face, as he offered the access.

Probably, the best advice I can offer is this ... the more you find yourself
feeling like and thinking you're "better than" the locals, the more likely
you are proving to them just how wrong you are about that. And, YES, I do
see the intense irony in that sentiment, given my other posts in this
thread.

Lastly, outside of the tourist traps ... your money buys products and
services, not respect or superiority, don't ever forget that ...at the
tourist traps they will let you think otherwise, but it ain't true.