Socialist Arizonans demand free bathrooms for all

[barnesfoto]

PHOENIX — The people of Arizona kept their upper lips stiff when officials mortgaged off the state’s executive office tower and a “Daily Show� crew rolled into town to chronicle the transaction in mocking tones. They remained calm as lawmakers pondered privatizing death row.
The rest stop on U.S. 60 near Wickenburg, Ariz., is among 13 the state closed in a cost-saving move. Many people are not happy.
But then the state took away their toilets, and residents began to revolt.

“Why don’t they charge a quarter or something?’� said Connie Lucas, who lives in Pine, Ariz., about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from here. “There was one rest stop between here and Phoenix, and we really needed it.�

Arizona has the largest budget gap in the country when measured as a percentage of its overall budget, and the state Department of Transportation was $100 million in the red last fall when it decided to close 13 of the state’s 18 highway rest stops.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/us...tstop.html?hpw

[EMG]

Well, well now you have hit on one of the relatively few disadvantages of Arizona.

If you're somewhere on a long stretch of rural highway [[at least in the southern half of the state where most of the population lives), there isn't much available in the way of woods or bushes into which to sneak behind for an emergency bathroom break, as there might be in Michigan.

We only have saguaro cacti, which aren't wide enough to provide sufficient privacy, except possibly for the slimmest minority of the population.

Of course, this is offset by the fact that it's very dry down here, so most of us tend to be dehydrated and therefore not as likely to need bathroom breaks on the highway.

[barnesfoto]

Why not install bathrooms in your cars or negotiate the use of privately owned bathrooms?

Or simply plan for your journey by not eating or drinking?

I think that this is an example of what Rush Limbaugh refers to as an "entitlement mentality".

[Gannon]

Wow, Barnes...I wouldn't expect to hear this from you.

I used to travel across the country very often. Only way to insure water and food quality was to pack my own, and picnic at the rest stops. I even developed a habit of walking them from one end to the other once I learned what 'deep vein thrombosis' was...and it made a HUGE difference in my clarity and safety on the road.


Taking these rest areas away will have greater bad effects than some older folks messing themselves...but I suspect this decision was more founded on eliminating the potential for criminals to prey on civilians, and the staffing necessary to police them.

My only bad rest stop experiences were in Arizona...my friend was nearly molested in one.

But one of my most favorite stories of folks I've met on the road were in one, too. Crossed paths with an old deadhead and his wife who were stranded, helped them out and had a wonderful experience hanging around with them...this dude had been very close to Jerry Garcia when he was alive, the stories he told of the early days simply couldn't have been made up.


Without these, driving to California will be a much more bland and costly experience...

[barnesfoto]

Sorry if I swing to the right a bit on this issue, G, but the idea that society has to provide free restrooms for people only leads to misuse..Consider the example of a certain social conservative in the Minneapolis Airport a couple years back. Also, everybody knows that illegals sneak into Arizona from Mexico,[[ a country with much lower taxes, fewer public restrooms, and a socially conservative president) and then use American Restrooms at taxpayer expense.

So you see, providing public restrooms is really a slippery slope to subsidizing homosexual acts and illegal immigration.

[Gannon]

LOL...now I know I owe you a drink or two next time we cross paths.

Thanks for the humor...your dry wit is sorely missing around these parts!

[Jimaz]

The filthiest restroom I've ever seen was in Tuba City, Arizona. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in decades.

Oh, and it was a capitalist restroom at a gas station.

[Retroit]

If they're really concerned about saving money, why don't they close off the bathrooms in the State Capital?

[Ray1936]

If I leave my home in Las Vegas and head for Detroit via I-40 [[the preferred route), there are no rest areas in all of Arizona or New Mexico. The first one is just past Amarillo, Texas, about 900 miles from home. It's pretty nice, though. Marginal in Oklahoma and Missouri, and non-existant in Illinois. Indiana has some nice ones. But the nicest rest areas I've ever come across are those in Kansas and in.....Michigan. Frequent and clean.

Oh....there are no rest areas in all of Nevada. But it's so desolate outside of Las Vegas or Reno that you can whiz anywhere with no problem. Ladies, too. Nearest car is a county away.

[jiminnm]

Ray, there are several rest stops along I-40, including a nearly new welcome center a few miles inside the Texas state line. I think there is also one near the Arizona line. I think they all have free toilets.
http://www.nmshtd.state.nm.us/main.asp?secid=11135

[Ray1936]

Never noticed them, Jim....and come to think of it, yes, there is one just on the eastern border of AZ. I've even stopped there. Dah. It's on the north side of the freeway just before all that tourist trap stuff there. Perhaps I was thinking of the northern route through Utah....can't recall any there. Love that sign at Green River, UT...."No services next 120 miles"........

[Diehard]

The filthiest restroom I've ever seen was in Tuba City, Arizona. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in decades.

Oh, and it was a capitalist restroom at a gas station.

Indian reservation, right?

[Diehard]

Sorry if I swing to the right a bit on this issue, G, but the idea that society has to provide free restrooms for people only leads to misuse..Consider the example of a certain social conservative in the Minneapolis Airport a couple years back. Also, everybody knows that illegals sneak into Arizona from Mexico,[[ a country with much lower taxes, fewer public restrooms, and a socially conservative president) and then use American Restrooms at taxpayer expense.

So you see, providing public restrooms is really a slippery slope to subsidizing homosexual acts and illegal immigration.

Awesome troll. *golf clap*

[Jimaz]

Indian reservation, right?

Yeah. Capitalist Indians.

[Jimaz]

Never noticed them, Jim[innm]....and come to think of it, yes, there is one just on the eastern border of AZ. I've even stopped there. Dah. It's on the north side of the freeway just before all that tourist trap stuff there....

Yes, that's the rest stop where I saw a caretaker carefully mowing the rocks. Why? I have no idea.

There was another pair about 15 miles west of Winslow, 2 miles east of Meteor Crater Road. They had some interesting small red rock formations scattered about. Maybe they're closed now though.

[Ray1936]

I've made the I-40 round trip NV to MI probably 30 times and loved each moment of them. But my last three trips have been at an altitude of 32,000 feet or better, and it sure is easier on these old bones. I'd like to do it one more time, though, before age just says 'no way'.

I've done the northern route via I-70 & I-80 a dozen times, but I just hate that drive through Colorado. How in the world can it be totally uphill, no matter which way you're going? And Eastern Colorado is the armpit of the states.

[Jimaz]

Ray, you might consider hiring a driver. Maybe AAA could recommend one.

My wildest drive through Colorado was on Highway 160 through Wolf Creek Pass. It has the most gorgeous vistas I've ever experienced. At one point I felt I was seeing the curvature of the earth.

The surprising thing was how terrified my [[now-ex) wife was of the altitude. I wasn't aware that people could react like that. She had never experienced mountain driving. She was afraid of driving off the edge of the road but it was perfectly safe. [[It was summer.) When she first learned of runaway truck ramps she panicked. I had to drive the rest of the way to Phoenix.

That route goes by Mesa Verde National Park with its Cliff Palace, Four Corners [[which isn't exciting but it's only half a mile from 160). At Kayenta, AZ a 30-mile detour up 163 gets you to Monument Valley then south on highway 89 takes you through the San Francisco volcanic field north of Flagstaff.

[Ray1936]

Done 'em all, Jim. I was amazed when atop Pike's Peak at over 14,000 feet how short of breath I became with a short walk. I've had admiration for the stamina of the Everest climbers ever since. One thing I've not done that I've meant to on every trip was to detour down Meteor Crater road and view the crater first hand. Gotta put that on my bucket list.

[Jimaz]

... One thing I've not done that I've meant to on every trip was to detour down Meteor Crater road and view the crater first hand....

I wouldn't regret missing that one too much unless you're into astronomy or meteors. It is big enough to take binoculars though. In Google Earth with Terrain switched on you can go to the bottom of the the center of the crater at 35°01'39"N 111°01'22"W then tilt the viewpoint back and pan around to see the crater walls 360° around.

According to the Interstate Rest Area Guide, the Meteor Crater rest areas are on the list to be closed. That's a shame. Those rock formations were a curious human-scale feature.

[Papasito]

No gas stations or convenience stores along the road to stop and take a whiz at?

[Ray1936]

No gas stations or convenience stores along the road to stop and take a whiz at?

Nope. It's 400 miles of this. Just wait 'till no cars are in sight and jump out and do your thing.

[EMG]

I'm not sure I'd go quite so far as that - especially in broad daylight. But at night, definitely.

And of course onto that 400 [[actually I believe 365 if I remember correctly) miles of Arizona, you can tack on 371 miles of New Mexico and 176 miles of Texas except for a brief stretch near Amarillo. A long, long period of highway just like that.

[EMG]

No gas stations or convenience stores along the road to stop and take a whiz at?

Actually when I used to make the trip from Scottsdale to Detroit, I would leave at 1 a.m. with a first bathroom stop in the gas station at Flagstaff a couple of hours later.

Later when I got more confident regarding how far my gas tank [[and my bladder) could stretch, I worked up to being able to make it all the way to a big truck stop in - I think - Winslow. Or maybe I stopped at both Flagstaff AND Winslow. It's been a while since I've had to make that drive.

New Mexico was even better. There were numerous tourist traps that were great places to stop at.

[EMG]

Done 'em all, Jim. I was amazed when atop Pike's Peak at over 14,000 feet how short of breath I became with a short walk. I've had admiration for the stamina of the Everest climbers ever since. One thing I've not done that I've meant to on every trip was to detour down Meteor Crater road and view the crater first hand. Gotta put that on my bucket list.

Meteor Crater is something I too never did but should have when I had all those chances. Oh well - but I wouldn't say it's something that would be a must do for my bucket list.

I actually did take a trip to Pike's Peak with my wife back in 1997. We didn't really do much walking there, but I do remember that I didn't have any problem, but my wife wasn't feeling very well up there. Of course I am a regular [[very) long distance runner and she isn't, so that made a difference.

On the same trip we went to the Grand Canyon and stayed at a hotel near there in [[I think) Tsusayn or something like that and I do remember that I was getting noticeably more tired more quickly than usual when I was doing my daily runs up there. At the time I attributed it to the inclines - I figured there was just more of a slope than I thought - but it never occurred to me at the time that the altitude [[which I had never experienced running in before up to that point) might have had a role too. I suspect now that the altitude was the major issue.

It would be interesting to go back up there sometime and see how I do now. Here I have access to a lot more hill running - especially in the McDowell Mountain area - so I'm regularly running inclines for great distances. I've come a long way from the relative molehill that is Balduck Park!!!!

[Hermod]

This is the same damn thing the educators always pull.

Not enough money in the government budget? Close or eliminate something that the people like or want and say, "you don't give us enough tax money".

What should happen is to turn someone like me loose in the government with a copy of the organization chart and a stack of "no recourse" pink slips. I guarantee you that I can eliminate enough salary out of the hierarchy to avoid having to eliminate a service.