The Simple Luxury of a Shower

The Simple Luxury of a Shower

​Most people take showers for granted.  You turn a knob and things happen. You're in  your own, private bathroom and have hot and cold running water that you can adjust to be your perfect temperature.
You can take a quick shower, a long luxurious shower.  A stand there and cry shower.  Just let the day run off you shower and you may even turn your shower time... into a soaking bath...

I miss that.  As much as I love being out here on the road, mingling with nature, living the minimalistic life... boy, do I miss a good shower.

You never know what kind of shower house you'll get when you pull up into a campground.  Some are nice, clean and functional.  I like those.  Others, you have to pour in handfuls of quarters just to get enough warm water to wet your hair.  (These are the worst!  You're spending half the metered time waiting for the water to even get warm!!  Oh!  I hate those and will usually pass and just save my quarters and take a hobo bath instead.).   Some only give you a small amount of hot water and you have to alternatively rinse- turn off- wash- turn on, rinse, turn off- wash- turn on, rinse, turn off...
I've also been in ones that you don't get to choose a temperature- what comes blasting out at you, is what you get.  The water automatically turns off and I've had to stand there and wait for it to build back up again to quickly rinse.  Or you run out of hot water completely and have to decide, do I dare rinse in the ice cold, or do I stand here letting the soap dry on my skin and wait for the water to heat back up. 
And then there's the "other" things like- no shower curtains, (what is up with that?), showering while side stepping spiders, other people, teeny-tiny showers where you have to squeeze your arms together just to turn, shower heads that barely drip on you and others that have laser focus and can peel your skin off if you stand still for too long...   And heaven help you if you forget one little thing.  (It doesn't matter WHICH thing, the shampoo, the soap, the towel, a scrubbie, your under-garments... it will ruin an otherwise tolerable shower!)
It's an adventure every time.

Every once in a while you come across a campground that doesn't want to "punish" you for your life's choices. 
This one campground in Wyoming, the Sleeping Bear RV Park had bathrooms that... made you feel like home.  It was self contained, toilet, sink and shower.  Nice light fixtures, beautiful floors, a heating fan, bamboo floor mat to step on when you exit the shower... and you can even rent, big fluffy towels for $1.  (Camping people don't usually get big fluffy things, because a) they take up too much space and b) cost too much to wash and dry - so we usually do without the soft, comfy things in exchange for the thin, quick to dry hand towels)
This place made you feel that when you opened up the bathroom door, you would have walked in to someone's home that you were perfectly comfortable being at.  (Which is wasn't.  It had four of these happy, homey pods set up in the back half of the main office)

Showers are simple things that can not only get you clean, which, let's face it is a necessity. (I wish everyone felt that way about them) but when you are able to just relax and let the water sprinkle down over your head, it releases all kinds of happy endorphins.  It' releases stress.  It makes you feel... good.  And we all want that don't we?

So if you're in habit of taking those quick showers because you're always in a rush to get someplace else... do me a favor, take your time.  Let the falling water do it's magical trick and make you a happier human.  Don't take your shower for granted... for my sake. 

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