The War on Bathrooms

 

I am in Klamath Falls, OR, 1,068 miles into my drive to Albany, OR. It has been a great trip, except for a curious aspect, the government’s war on bathrooms. Outside of Kirkwood, CA, I stopped to use a facility in the National Forest only to find the doors locked by my bureaucratic betters due to COVID-19, presumably to discourage travel by the hoi polloi like myself. My first instinct was to pee on the locked door but sanity returned and I parked by the side of the road a few miles later.

A few weeks ago, I stopped to admire the expansion of the Roosevelt Dam at the junction of AZ 88 and AZ 188. There was a bathroom that was locked to discourage people from traveling. At least this sign pleaded with people to not urinate against the building.

I stopped by Starbucks to order some food. Their bathrooms were closed to the public. I asked why. “Due to COVID-19” was the answer. “What, COVID-19 prevents people from needing to pee?” was my retort.

Hey, I don’t like the masks but wear mine religiously when I leave my car. However, this war on bathrooms is a step too far.

Patrick Henry famously exclaimed, “Give me Liberty or Give me Death!” Perhaps my fellow Ricochetti can think of a pithy exclamation.

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  1. Franco Member
    Franco
    @Franco

    Funny the things that upset you and what doesn’t.

    • #1
  2. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Franco (View Comment):

    Funny the things that upset you and what doesn’t.

    Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go!

    • #2
  3. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Look on the bright side.  It’s deferred the transgender bathroom issue after Bostock for awhile.

    • #3
  4. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Look on the bright side. It’s deferred the transgender bathroom issue after Bostock for awhile.

    You are right!  They had only the two traditional doors!

    • #4
  5. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Look on the bright side. It’s deferred the transgender bathroom issue after Bostock for awhile.

    You are right! They had only the two traditional doors!

    Take a picture for posterity.

    • #5
  6. Hang On Member
    Hang On
    @HangOn

    https://www.carewell.com/mckesson-male-urinal-32-oz-no-cover/?sku=56-80235S-EA1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwoub3BRC6ARIsABGhnyaPN-6aauT6nseBt7Vf9NYlFZ0OcxEN_3R8YSGHiJtxIPZ-Y9TZD9EaAiqWEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

    Never leave home without it.

    • #6
  7. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Hang On (View Comment):

    https://www.carewell.com/mckesson-male-urinal-32-oz-no-cover/?sku=56-80235S-EA1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwoub3BRC6ARIsABGhnyaPN-6aauT6nseBt7Vf9NYlFZ0OcxEN_3R8YSGHiJtxIPZ-Y9TZD9EaAiqWEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

    Never leave home without it.

    That’s funny, but more expensive than an empty 44 ounce Thirstbuster cup.

    • #7
  8. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Hang On (View Comment):

    https://www.carewell.com/mckesson-male-urinal-32-oz-no-cover/?sku=56-80235S-EA1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwoub3BRC6ARIsABGhnyaPN-6aauT6nseBt7Vf9NYlFZ0OcxEN_3R8YSGHiJtxIPZ-Y9TZD9EaAiqWEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

    Never leave home without it.

    You realize, even if this post gets 12+ likes, Jon is now never going to elevate it to the Main feed!

    And I highly doubt that it will be chosen as the Member Post of the Week!

    • #8
  9. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Gary, glad you’re OK.  Keep safe out there.

    I’m not sure that the bathrooms are closed to prevent travel.  It seems more likely to me that it’s a cleaning problem.  I don’t know either way.

    You may (or may not) due do better in a less upscale establishment than Starbucks.  Have you tried a McD?  Lack of bathrooms does present a real problem for travelers, and is tougher on the ladies.

    About that pithy exclamation question.  “Liberty” does rhyme with “place-to-pee,” but this doesn’t seem very pithy.  How about “transportation without sanitation is tyranny”?

    • #9
  10. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    I guess its time for me to buy one of these:

    https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/gogirlube.php?msclkid=dfd5ae306bc21b096d27f0ca3210a6ce&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=TNT%20-%20Shopping%20-%20NB%20-%20Desktop&utm_term=4580977758707079&utm_content=All%20Products

    But I haven’t had any issue with truck stop restrooms.

    • #10
  11. Joshua Bissey Inactive
    Joshua Bissey
    @TheSockMonkey

    This has never been an issue in the great state of Missouri. I’ve been out shopping for something nearly every day of the “lockdown” – I’ve even taken a trip to the other side of the state – and I haven’t encountered this problem.

    (Yes, I’ve been keeping the economy afloat, but no need to thank me.)

    • #11
  12. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Gary, glad you’re OK. Keep safe out there.

    I’m not sure that the bathrooms are closed to prevent travel. It seems more likely to me that it’s a cleaning problem. I don’t know either way.

    You may (or may not) due better in a less upscale establishment than Starbucks. Have you tried a McD? Lack of bathrooms does present a real problem for travelers, and is tougher on the ladies.

    About that pithy exclamation question. “Liberty” does rhyme with “place-to-pee,” but this doesn’t seem very pithy. How about “transportation without sanitation is tyranny”?

    A government so large it stops you from peeing can not be trusted.

    • #12
  13. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    Gary Robbins: Patrick Henry famously exclaimed “Give me Liberty or Give me Death!” Perhaps my fellow Ricochetti can think of a pithy exclamation.

    Hey, don’t get pithy with me, pal!

    • #13
  14. Maguffin Inactive
    Maguffin
    @Maguffin

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Hang On (View Comment):

    https://www.carewell.com/mckesson-male-urinal-32-oz-no-cover/?sku=56-80235S-EA1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwoub3BRC6ARIsABGhnyaPN-6aauT6nseBt7Vf9NYlFZ0OcxEN_3R8YSGHiJtxIPZ-Y9TZD9EaAiqWEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

    Never leave home without it.

    That’s funny, but more expensive than an empty 44 ounce Thirstbuster cup.

    Not much more, and I’m sure has a better lid and doesn’t get confused with your Mountain Dew.  Lids and lack of confusion would be extremely important.

    • #14
  15. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    We lived in Klamath Falls for a year back in the late 60’s.  I really liked it.  Actually, we lived in base housing outside of town.

    • #15
  16. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Just do your #1 and #2 wherever you wish and say, “Hey, I’m from San Francisco!”

    • #16
  17. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    Eh, just do like we do on the golf course and pith on the nearest tree. Be sure to keep an eye out for the drink cart girl.

    • #17
  18. PHCheese Inactive
    PHCheese
    @PHCheese

    Hey Gary at your age you have peed enough.

    • #18
  19. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    Somehow this is Trump’s fault….. 

    • #19
  20. JimGoneWild Coolidge
    JimGoneWild
    @JimGoneWild

    Selling coffee with the bathroom closed is entrapment. Call a lawyer. 

    • #20
  21. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    A porta-potty on a trailer would be helpful. Don’t stop for lunch, or coffee near a sidewalk covered with tents.

    • #21
  22. Unsk Member
    Unsk
    @Unsk

    Gary, I love that you invoked “Give me Liberty or Give me Death!”  and are upset by this government infringe on your rights. Good for you!

    Here in LA City run by our very Woke Mayor Eric  Garcetti, essential city services are either shut down or functioning at such a low level that they might as well be shut down. The Woke in Charge are strangling society to create chaos and to end any liberty you and I once took for granted and thought we had.

    • #22
  23. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    Gary Robbins:

    I am in Klamath Falls, OR, 1068 miles into my drive to Albany, OR. It has been a great trip, except for curious aspect, the government’s war on bathrooms. Outside of Kirkwood, CA, I stopped to use a facility in the National Forest only to find the doors locked by my bureaucratic betters due to COVIT-19, presumably to discourage travel by the hoi polloi like myself. My first instinct was to pee on the locked door but then sanity returned, and I parked by the side of the road a few miles later.

    A few weeks ago, I stopped to admire the expansion of Roosevelt Dam at the junction of AZ 88 and AZ 188. There was a bathroom which was locked to discourage people from traveling. At least this sign pleaded with people to not urinate against the building.

    You should have peed on the sign.

     

    • #23
  24. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Gary, glad you’re OK. Keep safe out there.

    I’m not sure that the bathrooms are closed to prevent travel. It seems more likely to me that it’s a cleaning problem. I don’t know either way.

    You may (or may not) due better in a less upscale establishment than Starbucks. Have you tried a McD? Lack of bathrooms does present a real problem for travelers, and is tougher on the ladies.

    About that pithy exclamation question. “Liberty” does rhyme with “place-to-pee,” but this doesn’t seem very pithy. How about “transportation without sanitation is tyranny”?

    A government so large it stops you from peeing can not be trusted.

    Oh, it won’t actually keep you from peeing.  You’ll just have to live with wet pants.  :)

    Somehow this made me think of that scene from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

    • #24
  25. Hammer, The Inactive
    Hammer, The
    @RyanM

    When they came for the people who don’t wear masks, I didn’t speak up …

    When they came for the people who need to pee…

    (Really, though – when you make compromises about your liberty because “it’s not a big deal,” you give up more than you intend.  Eventually, it is a big deal.)

    • #25
  26. Franco Member
    Franco
    @Franco

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Franco (View Comment):

    Funny the things that upset you and what doesn’t.

    Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go!

    If you donate another $500 to Biden, with a note telling him about this, I’m sure something can be done!

    • #26
  27. Nohaaj Coolidge
    Nohaaj
    @Nohaaj

    Doug Watt (View Comment):

    A porta-potty on a trailer would be helpful. Don’t stop for lunch, or coffee near a sidewalk covered with tents.

    ZOMG! here in the great Commonwealth of PA our most illuminated overseers ordered rest stop bathrooms closed AND then ordered porta potties be set up outside directly next to the locked up restrooms. Obviously porta potties are a more sterile and pristine environment than permanent facilities where you can actually wash your hands. Sigh… This is the same group that ordered covid active patients into nursing facilities. And just yesterday, they regressed with restrictions on restaurants.  They can continue to serve food (under limited capacity) but can no longer serve alcohol at those tables.  Because drinking a glass of wine with your dinner somehow increases the transmission of the ‘Vid.  

    • #27
  28. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    So this is exactly the sort of nonsense that the Democrats want more of. 

    It is what you want, Gary, because it is the sort of people you are voting for. 

    Get used to being managed by the State over every little thing, even when to pee, if your side wins, Gary.

    Enjoy your victory. 

    • #28
  29. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Odd that they would have them closed after all the complaints by truck drivers back in March, when Pennsylvania shut all their rest area rest rooms. The governor saw it as a way to discourage unnecessary travel — the truckers logically asked where were they going to pee while driving their big rigs, if they had trucks resupplying supermarkets, pharmacies, restaurants and other stores deemed as vital. (If you’re not driving a big rig, most c-stores along highways seem to have kept their rest rooms open during the COVID outbreak. But California can be it’s own little Borg collective when it comes to hive-mind rules attempting to restrict travelers).

    • #29
  30. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    So this is exactly the sort of nonsense that the Democrats want more of.

    It is what you want, Gary, because it is the sort of people you are voting for.

    Get used to being managed by the State over every little thing, even when to pee, if your side wins, Gary.

    Enjoy your victory.

    Hey, it was the Trump Department of Agriculture that closed the one toilet, and the Republican Governor Doug Ducey who closed the other one.  Republicans can be as stupid as Democrats!

    • #30
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