Boy, I guess I won't mention any of the bathroom habits of thru-hikers. Flush with your foot and don't touch the door knobs, but on the trail, that's the least of your concern. I might be able to pee in the bushes, but there isn't always running water nearby. And let me tell you, after a week without a shower, those nether regions aren't exactly clean after a week of no showers. *nodding*

I met one guy who started the trail who was a health inspector. I think he dropped off the trail in horror. =)

Never did get sick on the trail, though. It's not the people who do their thing in the bathroom that will get you sick--it's that handshake from the person who sneezed into it moments before that'll get you sick.

On a related note, Amanda once went to the bathroom after a letterboxing trail and took a surprisingly long time coming out. She explained the reason--she flushed with her muddy feet, but after flushing, she just couldn't leave that brown glob of mud on the handle! I thought that was hilarious. =)

*looking over shoulder* She doesn't read this board, does she?

-- Ryan

Talking about restaurants/washing hands etc. Why is it when I am working on the airplane and handing out meals (well, on the international flights we still hand out meals) This is when people want to hand me their trash, their snotty kleenexes and used cups etc?? And they get all upset when I tell them that I can't take their trash because I am passing out food. We don't make a habit of mixing the food and the trash!!!

Don't hang out on that coverlet on top of the hotel room bed. That NEVER gets changed!! The sheets are clean, but that cover has been there for a while! With people doing gosh knows what on top of it! When I enter the room I try to turn down the bed/throw the coverlet off as soon as I can.

And the most germ-filled thing in the hotel room has got to be the remote control for the TV. Take out that Anti-bacterial gell and give it a good going over.

-Amanda from Seattle

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On a related note, Amanda once went to the bathroom after a letterboxing trail and took a surprisingly long time coming out. She explained the reason--she flushed with her muddy feet, but after flushing, she just couldn't leave that brown glob of mud on the handle! I thought that was hilarious. =)

Well would you want to come in and see brown gunk on the flush handle??!! You wouldn't assume that it was mud!

We had a secretary who was upset at the flood of sick children coming to use the phones. She started spraying Lysol or some similar stuff in the handset. Before long the phone was on the fritz.

And speaking of trails let us not forget the sweet and tidy accomodations in a port-a-pot in August!

In DC recently and they had automatic seat cover dispensers for toilets. No touching to put on and it flushed away on it's own.

Hi-Tech toilets.

I can't stop laughing. There are other freaks.. errrr.. umm.. "concerned citizens" out there! I'm not alone! LOL LOL LOL

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automatic seat cover dispensers for toilets

Loved the episode where he was in the Port-a-potty.

We saw the cleanest, coolest Port-a-pot in Phoenix at Matsuri (festival of Japan). Ok, now you have to know that going in one of these things MUST mean things are A) desperate - or B) you are a parent of a squirmy, doing the pee pee dance, "Momma the pee is gonna come out" child, who insists they can not wait till you get to the Science Center that's two hundred feet in front of you and has real plumbing.

My daughter just had to go, so we go for the handicap one (more room, less chance of actually having to touch the insides, I'm sure you understand) and I go in ... cringing aready.. but no need. It was clean. It didn't smell. Oh and did I mention: It was clean? Auto seat covers, sink with running water and soap, "hanitizer" (aka hand sanitizer to everyone not infected with Morganisms) auto sanitizing misty thingie in corner (door locks for this cycle to run after each use). It didn't smell. It was CLEAN!

I nearly fainted from shock, but that would have meant touching the floor and THAT boys and girls we just don't do.

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Don't hang out on that coverlet on top of the hotel room bed. That NEVER gets changed!! The sheets are clean, but that cover has been there for a while!

That reminds me of an episode of Dirty Jobs. They showed Mike Rowe in his hotel room. He took the remote control, the telephone and the bedspread, wadded them all up in a bundle and threw them across the room. I guess even a guy who gets dirty for a living gets grossed out by things like that! :)

TG

Sounds like a microbiology science fair in the works.

Checking
Random dollar bills
Hotel Coverlets
Bathrooom door handles
Hotel remote controls
water fountains

Wonder which would be the highest counts for microbes.

ROFLMAO!!!!!

"...and THAT boys and girls we just don't do."

That is freakin' hilarious!!!!

A CLEAN port-a-potty!!??? Did you get a picture of that??? I mean, THAT is a rare and exotic gem!!!!

I love, love, love the high-tech bathrooms...with their self-flushing potties, no-touch faucet, soap, and paper-towel dispencers!!! OOOOO....those are sooo nice!!! Of course, we still don't touch the walls, vanity, or anything else if we can possibly help it!! LOL!!!

moonshowr

AACCKKKK!! Ryan, NO.....THE HORROR, THE HORROR!!!!!

Good Lord, I'll have nightmares tonight for sure!!!!

Shaking nasty, no shower for a week, peeing in the bushes, sneezing people's hands is a little more than I can take!!

I have to go and lay down!!! LOL!!!!

moonshowr

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Wonder which would be the highest counts for microbes.

Don't forget office telephones and keyboards.

TG

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I love, love, love the high-tech bathrooms...with their self-flushing potties, no-touch faucet, soap, and paper-towel dispencers!!! OOOOO....those are sooo nice!!! Of course, we still don't touch the walls, vanity, or anything else if we can possibly help it!! LOL!!!

LOL tell me about it. I remember on the last trip here when we were moving from Mississippi we stopped at a rest area because Morgan has to go... (hmmm seems she has to GO a lot -- It must be a "going" problem in our house) so we stopped at a rest area. Florida has some pretty darn nice rest areas, btw, but no bathroom is clean enough for what we saw. We were doing our usual, don't touch anything routine when a lady had her 3 or 4 year old SIT ON THE FLOOR OF THE STALL! The child's hand was on the floor and you and I both know it was going to go in his mouth long before his Mom could get them clean.

I'm biting my lip and nearly flipping out when my well meaning 6 yr old daughter says, "Little boy! Little boy, don't touch the floor. There's
G E R M S!!! YUCKY YUCKY YUCKY......" followed by lots of pleas for him to get up.

Luckily we were drying our hands so I hurried her to the door to leave. That's when it happened. The "ucky thing." The thing that will haunt me forever. He put a cookie on the floor. I dry heaved my way out while Morgan made the funniest yucky face ever! I never EVER want to know if that child picked that cookie up again. I want to be in my own little world and believe the mother kicked it out of his reach.

Yup, I am comforted on long winter nights by the thought of a cookie sailing across a bathroom floor. (sigh)

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A CLEAN port-a-potty!!??? Did you get a picture of that???

Well no, I mean, who takes a camera into the port a potty? What if you get IT germy... OMG. You can't sanitize it! lol

But I could carve a port a pot stamp as a tribute to the rare and exotic gem! lol It might be a funny box to find! (gears are turning)

I feel like I am learning more about my fellow letterboxers with this discussion than with anything else. ;)

And draygonflies, repeat after me "The kid did not pick up the cookie. The kid did not pick up the cookie." I have been saying that to myself since I read your post. :)

TG

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repeat after me "The kid did not pick up the cookie. The kid did not pick up the cookie."

ROFL

hmmm maybe that can be the secret phrase to get my traveler... when I think of something to carve (a cookie? toilet? the golden CLEAN port a pot???)... and carve it (just learning BTW - yes, I've been drawing right on the erasers and wondering how everyone draws backwards. Imagine my surprise when I found out you were supposed to transfer the image.. duh).

So much to do! So much to learn!

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Hi-Tech toilets.

Talking of Hi-Tech toilets, I am increasingly coming across ones that flush with only a wave of a hand in front of an activating spot. No touching anything, marvelous :-) Do you have them on your side of the pond?

Just in the nick of time too, at the age of 52 I don't know how much longer I can flush a loo using my foot. (And to think I daren't mention that in my original post because I thought you would all think I was mad. Glad others do it too LOL )

YT

*gagging*

OMG!!! She actually let him sit down??!!! What is wrong with people?!

Oh...NO...Cookie....restroom floor.....I thought GT's post was gonna give me nightmares!!! AAHHHHHH!!!!

My daughter is constantly trying to get me to let her scoot underneath the stall door....*shudders* I have a hard time just walking into public restrooms ( some women are just NASTY! ), let alone let my 3 year old touch the floor with anything other than her feet!! Most of the time, I feel like washing our shoes as soon as we make it home!!!

Oh no, no, no...I didn't mean take the camera INSIDE the port-a-potty! EWWWW!! LOL!!!

I wish I'd had a camera the first time I ran across one of those foot pump port-a-sinks!

moonshowr

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Most of the time, I feel like washing our shoes as soon as we make it home!!!

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry was removed his shoelaces from his shoes with tweezers and threw them away because one of them touched the floor of the public restroom. :)

TG

fender bender (my son) is Monk Jr., I swear!! He LOVES that show because he feels like somebody actually understands him, or would if he wasn't fictional.

't'
dtandfambly

LOL!!!

I'm not that bad!! A little bleach, and I'm good to go! ;)

moonshowr

My Dad is OCD, though not anything like Monk! It's funny how my Dad can tell when something has been moved even the slightest bit from it's original place! Most people would never notice!

My hubby says that I'm slightly ( he kids ) OCD cuz of the way I like to arrange the shopping cart! I can't stand to let him do it cuz he piles everything all over the place! There has to be a certain order so that everything can fit! LOL!!!! Okay, maybe he isn't kidding! ;)

moonshowr

It's only human germs that bother fender bender. He is perfectly at home with nature dirt. Which is one reason why he loves letterboxing...it's an anxiety free hobby!

't'
dtandfambly

It's not just the human germs with me, I have a bug and snake phobia, too!! LOL!!

The hubby always tells me that this is a weird hobby for me to have gotten into!

You'll totally be able to find me on the trail.....I'm the one squealing that there is something on me, and yelling for someone to get it off!!! :)

moonshowr

too funny!! I am a bug and snake lover, so I love to watch people like you squeal!; )
But get me near a rat and you will see me squeal!!!

't'
dtandfambly

*moaning*

I'm really surprised that I even leave the house! Rats, hamsters, birds ( I've been bitten too many times! ), bugs, snakes, lizards, cats ( allergic )....

I'm a huge Wuss!!!! LOL!!!

moonshowr ( admitting it is half the battle! )

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My hubby says that I'm slightly ( he kids ) OCD cuz of the way I like to arrange the shopping cart! I can't stand to let him do it cuz he piles everything all over the place!

What is that all about? It is so easy to put everything in the cart neatly. More things fit that way, and it makes it so much easier to unload things onto the conveyor belt in the correct order - cold/frozen first, dry goods, health and cleaning products and finally fragile items. And even though I take that little extra time to group everything to make it a no-brainer for the cashier who is bagging it, they still screw it up most of the time!

TG

That's what I keep trying to tell him!!! He just throws stuff in and everything gets piled on top of one another! It's horrible!!! Cans are on top of the pasta and cereal.....ugh!!!

OH, don't get me started on the cashiers and baggers!!! GRRRRRR!!!! I will start bagging my own stuff if there isn't anyone to help the cashier! At first, my husband thought that I was trying to be nice ( that, too ), but now he knows better! LOL!!!

I worked at Publix for a short while, and they acutally TAUGHT us how to bag the groceries!

moonshowr

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I will start bagging my own stuff if there isn't anyone to help the cashier!

Unfortunately where I shop, they have one of those lazy susan stands with about 8 bag racks on them. This means that the cashier scans each item and then puts it immediately in the bag. They don't take the time to plan what goes where. They just throw everything in the bags and spin the rack around.

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I worked at Publix for a short while, and they acutally TAUGHT us how to bag the groceries!

I worked as a cashier in grocery stores for 6 1/2 years in high school and college, and I was taught how to bag as well. I get so fed up with those who don't know how to do it right. It seems so simple, doesn't it? Yeah, but only if you use common sense. Most baggers and cashiers don't.

TG

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Oh...NO...Cookie....restroom floor.....I thought GT's post was gonna give me nightmares!!! AAHHHHHH!!!!

ROFL You guys are a delight!

Luckily, only our Wally World's have those!

I've gotten to where I try to use the self-scan thing as much as I can! Unfortunately, when you're doing the main grocery shopping for 4 people, for two weeks....that's a little much, and I have to go to the cashier.

I hate it when they put my cleaning supplies with my meat!!! Yuck!!!

It seems like most of the cashiers are to zoned out to even realize what they are doing, and the baggers are too busy trying to impress the cashier!

At least they do bag my bread seperately, and put it on top of all the rest of the stuff! LOL!!!

moonshowr

As are you!! :)

**blushing**

Why thank you! (best southern drawl)

elevator buttons and stair bannisters.