Scott: Showers...or lack there of.

It's been six days now. Six days without a shower, and we are in need of them. This wouldn't be all that bad in the “real world.” In the “real world,” when you spend your summer afternoons on the couch watching t.v., you can go months without a shower and years without washing your clothes. I know. I've done it. Here, on the open road, it is a different story. Stuart Seale of the Seale family in Downers Grove, Illinois believes that this is the humans' natural state. We don't need showers. Our four fathers didn't have showers, and neither did the cave people they came from. The rest of us disagree. Matt was actually willing to spend money to take a shower yesterday, and that's where my frustration comes.

We've stayed at quite a few campsites here in Washington, and all of the campsites we stayed at have had shower access. One problem. They want you to pay for hot water. Well I for one, refuse. I can get a cold shower by standing in the rain. Hot water should be included in the price of a campsite, and I would rather smell, and be sticky, and have dirt plastered to my legs than pay one quarter for 1.20 of hot water. What if there's a warm up period? What if 1.20 turns in to 0.20? What if I spend the extra 0.20 adjusting the water to be the perfect temperature? Bam! The water is cold again and I owe another quarter. It's not worth it. Hot water is a right. Not a privilege - and I want to exercise my rights as a human being.

Matt has reached his breaking point, but I believe the rest of us can stay strong. As long as we're brushing our teeth, we'll be okay. In the “real world,” when you spend your summer afternoons on the couch watching t.v., you can go months without brushing your teeth. I know. I've done it. But here on the open road, sometimes you just want to be clean.