Traveling with my husband Ken in his truck, has made it where I must now shower inside of truck stop shower facilities. This is nothing new to me as I have traveled in a big truck before. As with all previous experiences I was not compelled to write anything on the shower experience. This one experience however is worth mentioning. What in the world could make a shower worth writing about? Was it such a great experience that I have found myself so moved as to write an article on it? No the experience was not so great that I am compelled to write. Actually the experience was quite the opposite. This shower just happened to be the shower from the far regions of Hell.
To start with we needed to purchase a new bar of soap. Now this should not seem to be very hard, after all purchasing a new bar of soap should be an easy no-brainer. But not here at the Flying J truck stop outside of Jackson, Mississippi in what is known as Pearl, Mississippi. Here purchasing soap is like going on a scavenger hunt. This should have been a warning sign that we were entering the gates of Purgatory. Most people when going into a convenience store or truck stop would find the soap in the same area as the razors, shampoo and other toiletries items. This was not to be the case at this Flying J truck stop. We found the soap ten minutes later located next to the laundry and dish detergents. Why they put it there I don’t know, but at least they did give us the options of Irish Spring or Dove. Both bars of soaps were reasonably priced so no complaints there.
Next we had to get our shower tickets from the front counter. This usually has never been a problem in the past. This one time it was a big hassle at this Flying J truck stop. We stood there in line for 15 minutes just waiting to get our shower ticket. There was a big line and the girls behind the counter were moving at turtle slow speed. We had now made it through the gate of Purgatory but could still see our way out. If we had only known what lay ahead, we would have turn and made a run for it.
After getting our shower tickets we went to the back area where the showers were located and looked at the shower board. The shower board shows you what shower room you are assigned. Well there were five showers out of fifteen that were in use. The shower board showed that we were next in line when a clean shower opened up. So now it was time to stand and wait. This should not take long since there are fifteen showers and only five of them were being used. About ten other drivers made their way back there making a total of eleven drivers waiting for showers. The attendant was no where to be found and we all had no choice but to stand and wait for him to return and clean a shower. We had now entered Hell. We waited around an hour for our shower ticket number to be called. Why did it take so long with so many empty showers? The reason for the wait was because the attendant had spent more time outside smoking than he did cleaning and updating the shower board.
So here we are heading for our shower room completely ignorant to the fact that once we open that door and walk in we would then have made it to the far regions of Hell. Upon opening the door we walked into a very small shower room. Most truck stop showers have adequate space for moving around outside of the shower itself, complete with toilet, sink and a bench to sit on. This shower room had the spacing way to small for one person let alone two. We were bumping into each other constantly while trying to get ready to get into the shower. The shower itself was pretty decent size and fit both of us comfortably. The shower was designed so that we had to step over a low barrier that was meant to keep the floor from becoming wet. The shower curtain was cloth and was around a half inch above the barrier. This allowed for the floor outside of the shower to become completely soaked. Try getting dressed standing in an inch to two inches of water.
At the mention of water, this is really where the shower experience at this Flying J truck stop took a major descent into the far regions of Hell. The water was gross, making our skin feel slimy. I don’t know a whole lot about water to know why this happened. According to my husband, it was because the water was what is called hard water. I will take his word for it. I personally did not care what caused the water to be this way. All I cared about was the fact that I was taking a shower to feel clean and this shower was making me feel gross.
The gross feeling did not go away after we dried off and got dressed. An hour after the showering experience was over, we still could feel the slimy feeling on our skin and we were getting a little itchy. This all added together to give for the experience from Hell. The next time we are in that area and need a shower, we will bypass this Flying J and wait until we reach a different truck stop to get our showers. I would personally rather be dirty for a little longer than to ever go back to the far regions of Hell.
