Travel Vignettes (Raquel)
June 3, 2009 by sharppointythings
A record of a stop on May 30th:
In Indiana we stopped at a W**-**** for sunglasses, a frisbee, and use of their restrooms. My attempt to also throw away a bag of garbage was nearly foiled by an elderly gentleman who was conducting official W**-**** business on top of the trash can, but eventually he moved aside long enough for me to dart in and try to jam our very full bag of trash through the small opening in the front of the trash can.
By the time I caught up to Theresa and the girls they had attained the restroom stalls (though delicacy forbids me from declaring why–perhaps they wished to change a light bulb) and a line had formed behind them.
As I took my place behind a sweet little old lady and a mother with a six year old sized daughter, they began to speculate on whether the last stall was occupied. They determined it was not, but my hopes of speeding up the line through actually *using* this stall were dashed because it was a handicapped stall, and the sweet little old lady began to explain that she didn’t want to use it because, you know, someone in a wheelchair can’t use the normal stalls because they won’t fit.
I looked around. There were now two more women in line behind me, but they seemed in full possession of all their limbs.
The little old lady assured the young mother that she would not think the less of her were she (the mother) to be so gauche as to use the stall set aside for the handicapped.
When the mother still seemed hesitant to risk the other woman’s disapprobation, I, flaming revolutionary that I am, made a dash through the social gauntlet to attain the forbidden Handicapped Stall. While this action may tarnish the reputation of the Duct Tape Valkyrie in the eyes of the general public, I like to think of it as a service to society in general, shortening restroom lines everywhere. What can I say–even a wimpy superpower is better than none.
Written May 30th, early afternoon:
Sitting on a guardrail by the side of the road is surprisingly more comfortable than it sounds. There is green across from me. I don’t know shy that is so important to me today, but green is making me happy. The sky is blue, the breeze is blwing my hair and the sound of traffic is comfortably familiar as I wait for AAA to bring us gas.
And a random stranger pulls up to ask if we have help coming while Theresa pulls out the camera to document this unplanned stop…
And a travel haiku from June 1st:
facing a PortAPotty
contemplating
three hours on the road
Better being stuck waiting for gas than stuck because your engine blew up like mine.
BTW, you wrote: “My attempt to also throw away a bag of garbage was nearly foiled by an elderly gentleman who was conducting official W**-**** business on top of the trash can, but eventually he moved aside long enough for me to dart in and try to jam our very full bag of trash through the small opening in the front of the trash can.”
I’m hoping that I’m misunderstanding your intent, but “…official business…” makes it sound like the elderly gentleman was peeing on the garbage can. Please tell me that the restroom wait wasn’t this long.
Um. No. I was trying to convey that he was a Wal-Mart employee doing some kind of paperwork with/for a customer using the top of the trash can. Apparently I failed.
Yup: fail. As I would say, if I were a teenager.