Bathroom Observations

Traveling for over a month in a van without use of our own personal bathroom, except when we were at a hotel for the two nights, we would like to share what observations we have made regarding various bathroom accomodations. We appreciate each and every bathroom we have encountered, because they have served a very useful purpose and immediate need. But below we will give a list from the worst bathroom conditions to the ones that were the best and why.

Starting with the worst:

- Pit (or vault) toilets that are normally found within the Parks that have not been serviced for what seems like years, to the point that you wish you could hold your breath for the few minutes you are in there.

- same goes for port-a-potties, not serviced, most often found in city parks and are used when the city park bathrooms are not available.

- Pit toilets that maybe have been serviced but have no hand sanitizer.

- Pit toilets, period. Not my favorite thing, but a necessary evil.

- Bathrooms with flush toilets or pit toilets with no toilet paper. Thankfully all the bathrooms we have seen have had toilet paper, and Anthony pointed out that he would rather go into a nasty pit toilet with toilet paper instead of a flusher without toilet paper.  But we did carry a small supply of toilet paper if needed.

- I think one of my biggest pet peeves are the Parks with flush toilets with no soap available. This is what we experienced the most. We carried our own soap, though, and have used much hand sanitizer because of this.

- Any toilet with no hook on the door. This is especially important for women to be able to hang our purses. Otherwise, I have to hang it around my neck, and that is very inconvenient.

- Bathrooms that are shared. It is so much nicer to be able to brush your teeth without someone looking at you. However, I did find a kindred spirit, a worker at a Safeway, that said she brushes her teeth in public bathrooms too, ha!

- Private bathrooms, like at most Starbucks.

- Truckstop bathroom, like the one we used at Flying J that even provide the towels and washcloths. I believe these are cleaned after each use.

- Hotel bathroom for obvious reasons.

Last but not least,

-  My home bathroom. I hope I never take it for granted again. I love it. 

- Anthony's favorite bathroom is anywhere outside, as needed.