The Truck Stop Shower

Last week one of the first things I appreciated about being home was the shower.  While I am now able to shower in the truck, it is still not like home.  At home I can stand in the shower and let the water flow, in the truck we only have 40 gallons (10 gallons of hot water and 30 gallons of cold) so conservation is key.  This appreciation of the shower reminded me of my first trip on the road when the main thing on my mind as we started out, was how the truck stop shower situation was going to work.

Now that first trip meant I was about to spend every waking and sleeping hour with Vince at his work, in a space which was not much bigger than our bathroom for a week. So was I worried that we wouldn’t get along or even worse possibly kill one another, maybe a little, but honestly my real focus was on the shower.  Vince had assured me that we would be able to go in together, but what exactly did that mean and what would it look like?  I pictured a stall like Elizabeth had in her dorm freshman year.  I envisioned a little space to undress and then step into the shower, but what if I had to go the bathroom one last time before getting in the shower?  Did that mean I would have to get dressed and go out into the main area of the truck stop to the women's room? As you read this, what do you picture a truck stop shower to look like? 

You would think that what I really should have been focused on was the fact that I would have to go outside every time I needed to go the bathroom.  Or how spending 24 hours a day with my husband was really going to work for us?  There was also the fact that I was about to sleep in a twin bed with my husband in the middle of a truck stop and on streets by theatres, shouldn’t I have worried about that? Nope, I was focused on the shower.    

I believe it is important to share that Vince did have the interior of the truck remodeled in May 2007, as part of his plan to get me in the truck and to make life on the road easier for me.  He had the double bunk removed and put shelves for clothes and food where the upper bunk had been located.  The bed had a table attached so when the bed was folded up it provided a table and bench seating for us.  He also had a small closet, microwave, mini refrigerator and sink installed.  All of this was done so that my life on the road, which he intended to make a reality, would be as comfortable as possible.  I can tell you without any doubt all of those changes made life much easier for us over those first two years, especially the sink but showering still meant going into the truck stop.  The pictures above and below give you an idea of how tight our quarters were those first two years.  I thought it only fair that the Kenworth get some exposure since many of our stories about my rookie and second year involve that great truck.

            So after our first trailer of that trip was loaded on that Sunday night we headed toward Jacksonville for a Tuesday morning load in.  As we left I started worrying again about how the shower thing was going to work.  However, by the time we stopped for the night at a Mount Eagle truck stop I was too tired to care how or what a shower looked like. 

            The next morning meant shower time, so as we headed to a Georgia TA truck stop, as we approached the truck stop I told Vince I would need to go to the bathroom before we went to the showers.  He looked over at me like I have three heads.  He then told me the shower had a toilet in it.  So now I had the image in my head of a RV shower which is actually what we now have in our new truck.  You know the ones I’m talking about where the shower and toilet is all part of the shower stall.  With this new information I really started worrying about how much space were we going to have? I pictured our clothes, bag, Vince and I all in this little space.  Was he kidding me?  What was I thinking when I agreed to go on this excursion?  Don’t get me wrong I am not a germaphobe or have anything against being outdoors but truthfully camping to me is staying at a hotel and I just wasn’t sure about being thrown into a closed area and I was internally wigging.

When we arrived at the truck stop we got our bag ready for the shower by filling it with shampoo, conditioner, and a change of clothes, a hair dryer and my make up bag.   Keep in mind this bag was now way heavier than when Vince is by himself. I wondered if when he picked it up he was seriously questioning the decision to have me join him.           

Once in the truck stop we headed to the kiosk so Vince could scan his card.  His card provides a free shower when he buys fuel. He got the receipt with a shower number and code.  We found a TV monitor to learn our shower room number; then headed down the hall to code into the shower.  Vince put the code in and opened the door but then suddenly realized we didn’t have enough towels and headed off to get extra towels.  After he left I stood in the doorway in total disbelief because the shower I had been stressing about and terrified of was actually a full fledged bathroom.  It was a beautiful white porcelain bathroom, way bigger than our bathroom at home. The shower, sink and toilet were all spotless; there was also a shelf for the bag and plenty of room for us to move around.

When Vince returned I told him that “this isn’t a shower it is a bathroom”.  He looked around and said “I never thought about it that way but yeah I guess it is”.  It is funny how little information men will share about some things while others they will go on and on about.  When I asked how something on the truck works, I got a detailed description.  I asked about the shower and all I got was we will be together and they have towels.  You can bet I made a “note to self” that day to ask more questions.  As you can see we were all clean for our photos in Jacksonville. Finally I must tell you that the trip to Jacksonville was not without incident and actually  resulted in the first of my homicidal thought moment stories but I will save that story for another day.

If you want to see the inside of our new truck.  Check out my post:
Could you live with your spouse in this truck that has a shower? 
Posted in January 2011