Potty Talk
Posted on April 8, 2009
Filed Under Random musing | 1 Comment
Posted by Daria
A question we never thought we’d have to ask is “Are your bathrooms heated?” Silly novices, it didn’t occur to us that bathrooms would ever not be heated. It’s winter, after all, in temperature if not by calendar.
Yet, there’s Stan at a park in Williamsburg, Virginia, checking us in, when Sierra (who always waits until the last minute) declares a need to use the facilities and rushes out of the RV and into the bathhouse. A few minutes later, she comes back and announces, “The bathrooms are freezing.”
Uh-oh. We had gone a couple of days without showering. This would not do. After Stan and I verify her report, Stan regretfully tells the nice office lady that we won’t be staying there, after all. He calls another nearby place, and when we get there, the woman says, “You know, no one’s ever asked us if we had heated bathrooms before.”
I never thought bathrooms would become so important to our lives. Generally, the places we most like to stay in—state parks, public campgrounds with lots of trees, sites on or near water—have the crummiest bathrooms. Part of the reason is obvious: Because of their locations, these places tend to attract more dirt, sand, and leaves. Part of it is financial: Government budgets don’t have big bucks to renovate, maintain, or staff them. Sometimes we’re pleasantly surprised: The facilities at Long Key State Recreation Area in the Florida Keys were among the nicest we’ve ever seen.
There’s a definite link between number of showers and stalls and cleanliness. When a campground has two toilets and one shower, there’s little chance they’re going to be clean, unless you happen to use them right after they’re cleaned. No wonder some campgrounds mention “14 showers” in their ads.
Of course, the fact that I even care about the restrooms shows how out of the loop we are as compared to many RVers. If your rig is self contained, it already has a sink, shower, and toilet, and sometimes even a tub, so a lot of campers never even see the inside of a public stall. But we use our shower as a closet, and Stan would prefer not to have a more than casual acquaintance with the sewer hose.
While I won’t miss using public accommodations, it is kind of interesting to see all the different options out there. A few of the things we’ve found:
* Three of the bathhouses on Leg 1 of our trip featured music. The one in Smithers, British Columbia, a 10-star all the way, had “soothing nature music,” which kind of made you relax. In Whitecourt, Alberta, they played a country music station, and in Quebec, Quebec, rock. The Quebec campground, a KOA, also had sponge mops in each shower stall in case you felt the urge to clean up after yourself.
* The Whitecourt campground bathrooms were also memorable because the lights were on a timer, and of course, I forgot to check the time when I went in, and of course, I ended up showering in the dark—pitch dark, no windows, lots of fumbling. The light also went out at Myrtle Beach State Park, but that one wasn’t on a timer; it just kicked.
* We’ve encountered a few coin-operated showers. A quarter for five minutes is about as high as we’ll go.
* Shower shoes are a must, even if a place is spotless. Beyond the fungus fear factor, tile floors can get really cold really quickly. Unfortunately, sometimes the shoes will become suction-cupped to the floor.
* The few times we’ve used our RV shower have been acceptable. Think military shower: wet, soap, rinse. Handheld shower head, adjustable spray, not much pressure.
* On this, Leg 3, we’ve found some super bathrooms. The KOA in New Orleans had individual shower rooms, like closets. Misty River in Walland, Tennessee, and Creekwood in Waynesville, North Carolina, topped that with clusters of individual bathrooms, each one including a toilet, sink, and shower. Some, like the one at Chokoloskee Island, was styled like a private bathroom in a house. Disney’s were nice but the faucets only poured cold water. Another really nice one was at the Hollywood Casino in Robinsonville, Mississippi, where the sinks were like those in a fine hotel and the shower stalls were huge, with sliding slatted wooden doors, all in warm colors.
* A few bathhouses have had communal changing areas. In a couple of cases in men’s bathrooms, there hasn’t even been a curtain separating the sinks and toilets/urinals from the changing area. Welcome to high school gym.
* We got a nasty surprise on our first night of Leg 3, in late December. The restrooms at Lexington, Virginia, were boarded up for the winter, something we weren’t informed of when we checked in. Stan trod about a quarter of a mile to the office to investigate and was told he could use the toilet there and pay $8 for a shower. No thanks. We’ve since learned that a lot of parks close their bathhouses in the winter, but now we know to ask ahead of time.
* In Marathon, Florida, the bathrooms had a sign inside stating they were for people who didn’t have their own facilities—i.e., tent or popup campers. For $63 a night, we expect to use their bathroom, not ours, so we did.
* A word of advice to campground owners: Put paper towels in the bathrooms, even if you have a hand blower. I’m a lot more likely to wipe up after using a sink if I don’t have to use my own towel, and I doubt I’m alone.
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You are all amateurs at potty experience, since in your earlier real life, you all had heated bathrooms inside your houses, with choices of showers or tubs and with toilets that cleaned themselves with flushing. I am pleased that you are getting a taste of the real world, and I have always sworn that I would never be in the position of informal toilets again! Never!!! I hope you are still down south somewhere, because we had a great snow in this area the past two days. Almost no snow until April, and now it is lovely and white — well the green has now taken over the landscape, but in Denver and other spots, they had 14 or 15 inches, so I imagine it is still white there. So don’t come to Colorado until after May 1. We are having a great dedication party on May 16 of Mike’s Woods and a memorial table to sit around and say smart things, or to eat gourmet food! And a party at 37 Princeton Circle to all dedicatees!
Come!
Posted by Gretchen