Today We Are Clean

Neither of us showered on Sunday. Pre-trip research tipped us off that pretty much none of the National or State Park/Forest/Grassland campgrounds that we would be near had shower facilities. So we each got pre-trip haircuts in anticipation and we were OK going a day without. But Scott was whining on Sunday evening that he’d need one on Monday. (He was even willing to spend the night at the Laramie KOA because he knew there’d be showers there. But the KOA was a stone’s throw from I-80, an unacceptable location. Why put a Kampground there? Bad business decision.)

Monday morning broke and both of us were feeling pretty slimy. The friendly campground host at Yellow Pine suggested a truck stop for an AM shower. We’d not thought of that before. We figured there’d be a charge but a couple of bucks was well worth it.

We ended up at a Pilot Truck Stop outside Laramie. We chose Pilot because we’ve seen them elsewhere so if it worked out well we’d know the drill. Scott was gathering his shower necessities when Amy returned with a scouting report: we pay at the register, and the showers are in back of the store; the charge was $9. Each. Outrageous. But we were over a barrel. In we went.

The woman at the register asked us what company we were with. “Uhh . . . none.” It would be $9. (Note: figure out which trucking companies may have cut deals with Pilot Truck Stops.) Then she asked the key question: do we need separate stalls? Well no, not really. We’re married and all. Saved us $9. We got a key for stall #2 and went to the back. The setup was palatial with a sink, mirror, toilet, electrical outlet, towel and soap accompanying the showerhead. We could have eaten off the floor. Suddenly, $9 didn’t seem like a bad deal at all.