Outhouses

On my great search for any toilet on any road trip - planned or unplanned - I almost always end up at one of these:

A roadside turnout outhouse.

Some of you might be looking at this photo thinking that it is the most disgusting possible place to go to the washroom, and that you wouldn't go there even if someone paid you.

To me - this is a shining beacon that allows me to go to the washroom, in a fit of urgency and near incontinence, in privacy!!!
There were quite a few outhouses on this random drive to the mountains, but this one was the most pristine (for an outhouse), and I just had to take a picture.
Outhouses have also come a long way in recent years.
1) They now all include at LEAST two rolls of toilet paper at any given time.
☆This one had 5.
2) They almost always now include that hand sanitizer dispenser on the wall.

Number 2 (haha don't mind the pun) is a total game changer.
As someone who always travels with hand sanitizer for these very moments, it is lovely to be provided that in the middle of nowhere.

I don't often have a choice of where or when I have to go to the washroom.
At 4 in the morning, in the mountains, it's not like there is a gas station every 5 miles that is open at that time. And, speaking from experience, some of the worst washrooms I have ever been in have been gas station washrooms - many are worse than outhouses. So what are my choices?? I have the side of the road - the ditch or a hike to find the nearest concealing tree - or an outhouse.
Sure there are instances when going behind a tree seems much more sanitary, but that's not often. And at 4am in the Rockies, a bear encounter is pretty high. Last thing I want to do is try to scare off an inquisitive black bear (or god forbid a grizzly) with my pants down squatting behind a tree.
So I look for that extra little symbol on the "Roadside Turnout 1km" sign.



*insert angelic voices*

For someone who has an unclear and very quick time limit to get to a washroom, this sign is absolutely a beacon.
And when there is:
• a lock on the door
• a set of multiple rolls of toilet paper
• 2-ply toilet paper
• a full hand sanitizer dispenser
• more than one toilet available
• a closed lid
• a screen that actually blocks out flies and mosquitos
• no sign of spiders/flies/wasps/mosquitos etc...

You must give it the respect that it deserves.

Thank you for roadside turnout washrooms that have great upkeep and more than just the cheapest and thinnest possible toilet paper. I am grateful to those people who have the tedious job of filling hand sanitizer and toilet paper in roadside turnouts on every major highway.
You are the real heroes.