With my extensive travels throughout the U.S. on Interstate highways I will have to stress that they sure do rest stops right! Especially the welcome centres for each state. They are clean, spacious and many quite attractive, whether it be the building itself or simply the surroundings with lots of trees, plants and flowers etc. And VERY relaxing. You actually WANT to stop at them, whether you have to or not.
The rest stops in the U.S. are a vast contrast to the rest stops along HWY 401 in Ontario, where the latter are just an excuse for fast food and retail chains as well as gas stations to make an extra buck or two. There is nothing relaxing about them at all.
But as much as I enjoyed the rest stops on my travels I do have one complaint. When you have been driving for a few hours and you head to the rest room, one of the natural tendencies (after doing your business) is to wash up. And if I’ve been driving for a few hours I generally like to freshen up my face, after having washed my hands. Now this is where my complaint comes into play. Most washrooms now have these “Xlerator” hand dryers. You know, the ones that put about 10 G’s of force into the air flow and you are left wondering if the skin is going to be ripped off your hands. The problem is that the flow of air is only in a downward direction. You can’t adjust it. So now, if you’ve washed your face, you have to become a frickin Cirque du Soleil contortionist just to dry your face because gone are the days of paper towels, they are far too unsanitary! No, let’s instead make someone wrench their back trying to dry themselves off properly just to avoid un-tucking their shirt and using it as a towel instead.
In lawsuit happy land, I smell a class action brewing!
