They identify themselves as Kenny, Stampede, Tom Foolery, Pia, and Ellie. Kenny and Ellie have a one-year-old son, Hero. They travel from state to state, city to city, and parking lot to parking lot in an old school bus, which has racked up thousands of miles going to Rainbow gatherings and other events.
They rolled into Elizabethton this week in their vintage bus in a fashion slightly reminiscent of the Merry Pranksters from the 1960s.
Wednesday, they took a pit stop in the city parking lot at the intersection of Sycamore and E Streets across from the Elizabethton-Carter County Library. Their mission was to feed hungry children.
“Hippies,” “bus people,” “ road dogs,” “earth people,” and “free spirited,” are just a few names the group says they are called.
Hippies?
“I wouldn’t say I’m a hippy, but I have a lot of friends who are hippies,” said Tom Foolery (not his real name, but how he is known to his Rainbow friends), who served in the military for eight years and has a college degree in environmental science. “That’s just a label society put on us because they don’t understand the way we live.”
“I like to think we have a cause and it’s to save our world. We’re an awareness group, aware of the fact that our government can’t save us and either can’t give us or won’t give us what we need. We’re big on eating fresh foods, doing things to preserve our planet,” said Tom Foolery, whose goal is to bring awareness to all the plastic containers that are going into landfills and the ocean.
“We are also trying to change the world one stomach at a time,” said Tom Foolery, to which Stampede chimed, “There are a lot of hungry people in this county. There is also a large homeless population in this country. There are homeless and hungry people right here in this community.”
“Because we travel around on a bus, do not have conventional jobs, or wear traditional clothing does not mean we do not care,” said Stampede, who before leaving took off a pair off gladiator sandals, which had holes in the soles. “These were my prom shoes, and I chose to keep and wear them,” she said as outside the bus on the sidewalk she slipped on a gypsy skirt of many colors “This was my great-grandmother’s. When she died I chose to take it and wear it rather than it being tossed out,” Stampede said.
From Seattle, Wash., Stampede said she hopped a plane May 28 with $300 in her pocket to join up with Rainbow friends. She had a handful of colorful rocks, which she had collected on her bus stops and often shares with others. “You can put them in a flower pot, fish tank or give one to a friend,” she said.
Ellie, a little on the shy side, grew up in Michigan, and believes she and Kenny are good parents. “I came from a very loving family and had the luxuries of a good home, but this is the life I choose,” she said. Ellie and Kenny had been partners for two years.
“Most of us are not running away from anything, but running to something,” interjected Pia, who is from Long Island, N.Y. She was proudly wearing a homemade skirt which she had been altered into a dress, handstitched with dental floss. “We live in our clothes. We don’t change everyday and we don’t have special clothes for special occasions,” she said. “Here we can wear what we want and as long as we want. We are accepted and we can be who we are.”
Pia noted that everything she owns can be carried in a backpack.
They sometimes shower in a nearby river or at truck stops, where they are often given “free” shower vouchers by truck drivers. “Sometimes we do our laundry there because it is free. If not at a truck stop, then at a laundromat,” added Kenny.
While feeding hungry children was their mission on this day, there was no setup or evidence of a give-away program in the parking lot. “We solicit food to give away and have a Go Fund Me account,” Kenny said, admitting that in many states and cities they often are run out of parking lots and off streets because they do not have the proper licenses or permission to do such charitable work. “We are unwelcome in many places,” he added.
Stampede noted that other ways of helping are to donate to businesses that have Go Fund Me accounts such as Stockpot, Taco Mikes, and Food Not Bombs. “When you donate to these sites, you are helping hungry children,” she said.
“We do provide food to anyone who wants it. And it’s all free. You don’t have to pay for anything. Your money is no good to us if you are hungry,” Stampede said.
“We have little or no money. Often we will stop in a town long enough to get a day job to make money to meet our needs,” Tom Foolery shared.
Stampede said she could sometimes pick up a job doing housework, pet sitting, or baby sitting.
For their meals, they do a lot of dumpster diving, finding a lot of fresh produce this way. Before noon Wednesday they had found several cases of eggs and butter in a dumpster at a local business. “We even found fireworks in one dumpster as well as dog food, and at one store we found a lot of good clothing,” said an excited Stampede.
“Some places will leave fresh bread on their dumpsters as well as freshly brewed coffee if they know we are close by. Anything you can find in a store you can find in a dumpster,” quipped Kenny.
“We have a desire to serve and give. You’ve got a belly button. We’ve got a belly button. We might not be like you, but we love you,” said Tom Foolery, who was quick to note that he and his hippie friends are Bernie Sanders fans. “No Trump or Hillary for us,” he said.
Prior to their arrival in Elizabethton, the group had stopped for a couple of weeks at a Rainbow gathering in some woods in a nearby city. Before noon Wednesday, they boarded the bus and were heading out to Vermont for the annual Rainbow summer gathering in the White and Green Mountains of Vermont, Maine and Connecticut. The gathering begins July 4. They also plan to be at the Democratic Convention later this summer in Philadelphia, which is where Tom Foolery is from.
When they left the Elizabethton parking lot, they planned to make a stop at a motel on W. Elk Avenue and pick up a half dozen more friends. In addition to young Hero, who seemed to be content with his hippy mother and father, also traveling on the bus was the family pet, a dog.
Kenny and Ellie own the bus, and the others were traveling friends. They shared if they want to go in a different direction, they get off the bus, and join with another group.
Kenny keeps the bus running, doing all the mechanical work and much of the driving. “I can fix about anything. The others help with gas money, earned at day jobs. We don’t need much money,” he said. “We probably travel a hundred thousand miles a year,” Kenny estimated.
Each have their own philosophy of life, work and religion. “Nothing is certain about life. We all have a different concept of God. God can be everything and yet be different to each of us. In the end, he is the same God that we all pray to,” opined Stampede.
Tom Foolery noted that most of his Rainbow friends had “tried the house thing and the American dream and it didn’t make us happy. Here we fit in.”
“Some of the people we meet up and travel with are doctors, lawyers, and even clergyman and Satanists,” said Tom Foolery. “But, our one goal is to change the world, to save it from people. It’s not about getting, but giving. It’s not about war, but peace and loving people for who they are. It’s not about government saving us, but us saving the world from destruction.”
“It’s living the dream,” said Stampede.