Diner scene

The scene where Wyatt, Billy, George stop at a diner only to leave shortly after because of the town's open disdain for them strikes me as the turning point in the movie. The journey on the road was a carefree adventure up until this scene. Their encounter with narrow-minded bigotry instigates a downward spiral which results in the deaths of the main characters (well, I'm not sure if they actually died but I'm going to assume they did because my statement would be much less dramatic if I said "results in the serious injuries of the characters"). The whole point of their journey seemed to be to obtain the freedom to experience life however they so choose and this freedom is threatened by narrow-mindedness.