Derek, I didn't reread the whole thread, but it sounds likely that what you washed, besides being a small load, didn't have much dirt in it. Drying towels typically stay pretty clean, and unless you picked up a lot of vinyl film from windows, the glass towels should be also. That is, no polish, wax, or sealant to remove.
It has also been a source of frustration for me, trying to get the "right" amount of detergent in so that it gets the soil out, but not so much that it won't rinse out, causing, as in your case, many extra cycles which use a lot of water and may cause undue wear to the textiles. Because of my desire to get all the detergent out of my drying and glass towels (as well as buffing towels...if detergent breaks up LSP, we certainly don't want it leftover in towels we are applying or removing fresh product with), I tend to try to observe the laundry while it's agitating for suds level, and watch the rinse come out. Of course this habit has now migrated over to the rest of my laundry...so it has become a bit nuts!
Anyway, I have been using Charlie's Soap, which is supposedly a low foaming product. I have decided that it doesn't take much detergent to cause some foaming in the rinse water, so I have decided that a "little" basically means they are clean, and that the law of diminishing returns goes into effect. I believe the Tide Free is probably a much "sudsier" product, which might explain why it was so difficult to rinse. Of course, washing any kind of applicators or especially wash pads with sponges in them makes it virtually impossible to get the foam out of the rinse water, I think one time I gave up after 5 or 6 rinses. Now I wash the wash pads by themselves and don't worry about how clean they rinse since they are just going in the car wash bucket next.
My only suggestion is to examine the quantity of towels and the soil level, and experimentally adjust your detergent level to get the towels clean and minimize the suds you get in the rinse, and find some suds level you can mentally live with without having to do 7 rinses.