Day Trips: Potty Breaks

Just the thought of using a public restroom during the pandemic can be frightening.

Even in the best of times, using some public facilities while daytripping can seem like taking your life in your hands. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)

Right up front, I'll admit that men in our society have it much easier and less challenging when using the public toilets in highway convenience stores and gas stations. I sheepishly admit that during many a Texas drought, I have contributed to saving the greenery in tucked away spots along the highway in order to avoid questionable facilities.

Recently, National Geographic published the informative article "In public toilets, flushing isn't the only COVID-19 risk," by Sarah Gibbens. First off, she attacks the recent news stories that "flushing a toilet can create a plume of coronavirus-laden particles, which are flung into the air by the watery vortex inside a toilet bowl." Gibbens cites the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as believing that it's very unlikely "COVID-19 can be spread by bowel movements leading to accidental consumption of virus particles, a route medically termed fecal-oral transmission."

The very thought of the possibility of accidental "fecal-oral transmission," with or without COVID-19, would make anyone think twice about ever entering a public restroom, or any lavatory, ever again. Going back to the bushes or well-vented outhouses is sounding better all the time.

Gut Reaction

According to Gibbens, whether the coronavirus can survive a trip through a person's digestive tract is still being researched. There are hypotheses that say it can't and experts who say that it can. Like so much with this virus, we just don't know conclusively yet.

"Flu viruses and coronaviruses are considered 'enveloped viruses' because they're protected by a thin layer called a membrane. Unlike noroviruses, the most common culprit of food poisoning, enveloped viruses are easily degraded by acids, which make them vulnerable to the chemical make-ups of soap and stomach bile," Gibbens writes.

That's the good news. Washing your hands with soap or hand sanitizer and the acid in the gut will probably kill the virus before it gets you.

One thing agreed upon is that the disease typically is transmitted by respiratory droplets from coughing, sneezing, and talking. Not by fecal-oral transmission.

Gibbens quotes E. Susan Amirian, a molecular epidemiologist at Rice University in Houston, as saying: "Using a public restroom, especially while taking precautions like maintaining physical distance from others and practicing good hand hygiene, is quite likely to be less risky than attending a gathering with people from other households." The takeaway being that using a public restroom is less dangerous than hanging out in a bar or restaurant with a bunch of people clustered together not wearing face coverings.

The experts all agree that the best advice anytime you go out of your home is to wear a face covering, keep a social distance from other people, wash your hands often with hand sanitizer, touch as few surfaces as possible, and don't touch your face.

Choosing where to use the toilet has become possibly a life or death decision. High-end convenience stores seem to do a better job of keeping their facilities clean. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)

Roadside Assistance

I'm not a health care professional, and I don't play one on TV, but if you gotta go while on the road, I would recommend choosing where you answer nature's call carefully. The higher-end convenience stores like QT and Buc-ee's are probably the safest, and they pretty well cover much of the highway system in the eastern portion of the state. After all, Buc-ee's was named the best restroom in the nation in 2012 for their no-waiting number of stalls and around-the-clock cleaning crews.

Next on my list would be most fast-food restaurants, followed by the large truck stops like Pilot and Love's. Most Valero stations and similar brands would be pretty far down on my list of public potty recommendations. A convenience store/gas station that includes a fast-food restaurant increases the chances that the restrooms are cleaned at least a few times a day. Back away from any public powder room with overflowing garbage cans, which can be a telltale sign that no one has cleaned the area for some time.

Highway department rest area restrooms are a little sketchy, but better than nothing in a pinch. They often do have cleaning crews on duty, but it's questionable how good of a job they do at sanitizing the surfaces. Also, the highway department roadside comfort stations typically use air dryers instead of paper towels, and air dryers can disperse germs and bacteria in a poorly ventilated room.

Even if you have not yearned to pee standing up, stand-to-pee urinary devices like the Su Amiga provide alternatives to public restrooms. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)

Alternative Urinary Devices

An alternative to public restrooms is to bring your own potty with you. Some camping urinals don't take up a lot of room in the vehicle and can be used discreetly. Take a stand for potty parity with these stand-to-pee urination devices: SaniGirl, Feminal, Go Girl, the Shewee, Tinkle Belle, and Road Trip Potty. If nothing else, you've got to admire the gendered creativity of the products' names.

Local sporting goods stores say they are selling out of camping toilets as fast as they can stock them during this pandemic. These toilets are usually pretty rugged arrangements involving a toilet seat and a 5-gallon bucket, or a tube and a bottle. Whole Earth Provision Company sells Go Girl, a funnel and bag urination system; while REI Co-op sells the inexpensive Luggable Loo Portable Toilet that utilizes a 5-gallon bucket and other portable toilet systems, none of which are very compact.

One DIYer recommended a 5-gallon bucket with a trash bag partially filled with kitty litter and a pool noodle around the top edge for a seat. Pretty basic, but not very portable.

FUD to the Rescue

My wife settled on the "Su Amiga," a soft, silicone, funnel-shaped device that "gives women on the go the convenience of having a 'wing wang' without all that 'having to be a man' stuff," according to the potty training video.

After a couple of experiments, my traveling companion advises choosing a parking spot away from security cameras, pushing the front seat up as far as one can for greater room to maneuver, bringing along doggie pee pads to protect the back seat and floor just in case of an accident, and having some wet wipes and urinal bags along for the ride. (Sixteen-ounce urinal bags are made of absorbent material like diapers and are available at pharmacies.)

Fortunately, if necessary, the dog and I can continue to just water the bushes and feed the mosquitos when nature calls.

1,508th in a series. Follow “Day Trips & Beyond,” a weekly travel blog, at austinchronicle.com/daily/travel.