Monday, July 23, 2012

Porta Potty Police and other vacation surprises

 
Our South Dakota trip offered fun and surprises! We had a terrific cabin, as private as it could be considering it was in a campground, and BONUS! It was right across the road from the showers and flush potties (my favorite!) Our son enjoyed his birthday en route (driving across Wyoming for your birthday... woohoo!) He was a good sport about it, and is now an OFFICIAL TEENAGER! As such, there were several places we went where we had to pay full price for him, whereas if we'd gone a week earlier, he would have gotten in at the kid rate. One unforeseen setback is that we were supposed to meet my school friend, Kathleen, and see some sites with her and her husband, Marty. Instead, Kathleen had to head to Utah for an unexpected funeral at the same time we were driving to South Dakota. We stopped at a gas station along the way for a hug. I forgot to get a picture with Kathleen, but I caught up to her daughter Tonah and got a picture with her. (I look like I'm talking. I HEARD THAT! Who's the wise guy who said "When is she not?")
Bron cracked me up with his statement about the "Great Walls of Wyoming" because there were drift fences EVERYWHERE!
On the way home, I drove over a hill in Nebraska and suddenly realized we were in a game of "Chicken" with a tour bus. (The bus won... I pulled off the shoulder and slowed enough to give the big bus time to swing back into its own lane.) When we reached Wyoming, I had to go, mon. Luckily, we spied some porta potties at a construction site off an exit that read "No services." I don't like porta potties, but this was an emergency, so I pulled off. Strangely enough, a man sat in a truck with Nevada plates directly in front of the potty. He looked like another desperate tourist waiting for someone in his family to finish at this oasis of potty-ness. But when we approached, he called out his window, "These aren't public toilets. You don't want to go in there."
(Did he want me to go out here?)
As soon as we got back in the truck and backed up, he pulled away from the porta potty. What?! He'd been sitting there the whole time we'd pulled off the exit and driven up to the facility! Was he really just sitting there waiting to turn us away? That was my first encounter with the Porta Potty Police.
I'm proud to say I made it the half hour it took to reach the next rest area. (If there'd been Rest Area Police, I would have run them over.) Once home, we unloaded the truck. (It's amazing how little I can make do with on vacation. One suitcase and I'm good! Of course it's so full it doesn't zip up, and besides that I only need my purse... my computer bag... and my rainbow bag that holds everything from bandaids to a can of root beer.) Of course we had to take a day to recuperate from our relaxing vacation.
So, tell me, what is your best vacation, real or imagined?




No comments: