general on-the-road complaints

ah, florida, with your partly cloudy/partly sunny demeanor, your barrier beaches with "no parking" signs left and right, migratory senior citizens, paragliders, and funny looking aquatic birds, how doth we count the frustrations?

1. public restrooms with automatic flushers/sinks/etc
okay, i understand the trend toward a less germy bathroom experience. in fact, usually, i appreciate it. yay, i don't have to touch a faucet that's been touched by countless people before me! yay, i don't have to grasp the flusher/level/button that may or may not contain someone else's poo! but sometimes, these facilities just end up doing more harm than good, i.e. when the automatic flusher operates on a *timer*, and while i sit there doing my business, the damn think flushes four times, thereby disrupting my momentum AND sending down the drain gallons more water than necessary! then there are the sinks, whose sensor apparently likes you to have superlong arms, for even as i stood several feet from the actual faucet, the water gushed out with more pressure than i had in my last shower. now, as my current lifestyle demands a finite water supply, i've learned since being on the road how much water is adequate at any given time, and how much is just a waste. all in all, systems such as these restrooms i've encountered are nothing if not infuriating.

2. florida state park fees
here it is, the middle of february. andy and i have been on the road for over two and a half months and clocked in well over 5,000 miles on our darling flippermobile. we've grown accustomed to pulling into state parks, stopping at the entrance booth, and inquiring about dump stations and water hookups only, no campsite necessary. and we've also become quite fond of the friendly employee saying "oh sure, here's a map, drive right in!" or giving just $1 to use said facilities and then be on our merry way. however, in this portion of our trip, in the home stretch, the southernmost, tourist-infested, anomaly of a state that we now find ourselves in has exorbitant fees for each person, for merely entering the park, plus filling up the water tank, showering, plus using the dump station...yikes, said we. so, the random townsperson's garden hose has come in handy from time to time-- no, no, don't worry, just kidding there.
nay, this has merely caused us to be more frugal with letting water from things such as tooth brushing and dish washing go down the drain, plus using public restrooms (meh. see aforementioned gripe) whenever possible rather than our own funny lil toilet.

3. there's steam coming from the engine!
hey, who here has a car that's ever overheated? isn't it such a fun time...? ah, no. it's especially not fun remembering your AAA gold membership card, calling up, and being informed that rv coverage is not included, then having the tow service call you and say it'll be $200 plus $5 per mile towed...ha! who can afford that?? a "we'll call you back", fitful night of sleep, driving a mile or two at a time, letting the engine cool for three quarters of an hour, and a trip to advance auto parts later for a new fan belt, and we're good to go. yay for a garage open on a sunday and them being out of fan belts so they had to use ours! yay for the battery now being charged properly and no more embarrassing squeal coming from the engine! yay for saving a couple hundred dollars!
so this last one started out as a gripe but turned into a yay. we should have more of those :)

also, yay for marinas that have free wifi.