Today we made a momentous decision. Let's hope it doesn't turn into one we live to regret: we decided to remove our Porta Potti from the truck.
It was taking up loads of precious room (and the the only place it could sit was in the warmest area of the truck...it doesn't take a genius to imagine the wafts that promised to greet us) and the chemicals it requires may well not, we realised, be available all along our long and winding road. I was also seriously not looking forward to seeking spots to empty it, and Huw was certainly not about to volunteer for the job each time.
So there were lots of reasons to, umm, dump it, but just to check we were doing the right thing, we posted a new thread on an online forum, Horizon Unlimited's brilliant 'HUBB', which has become one of our best sources of overlanding advice. I never thought I'd be one to get into forums but believe me, they're addictive. And quick. Within minutes of us posting a last minute question regarding our loo, our kindly fellow overlanders had provided such nuggets of wisdom as:
- A tall bucket makes a good emergency loo and you can store stuff in it or use it as a bin when you don't need it. Put a binliner in it first so you can tie it off until you can empty. One of my mates has one with a seat but he is quite posh.
- Where we couldn't find facilities, a little bit of imagination and a shovel did the trick.
- How about a portable bush? Possibly inflatable, direct from a powered onboard inflator? Open your shiny ally pannier and voila, loo roll and reading material attached...
That did it: decision made. We now have a tall bucket, a small gardening shovel courtesy of my Grandma and I've treated myself to a key bit of kit, an ingenius shewee. (Babs? Lisa? Glastonbury?!)
What it does mean is that we probably won't use the same loo twice in over a year, which makes me feel strangely compelled to take a photo of every toilet or bush utilised along the way... 'Craps from Cairo to Cape Town'? Watch this space, that book'll be top of the Christmas lists in 2012, mark my words...
