Ok ladies.......so what do you do???

We are pretty basic campers. We enjoy playing outdoors and not messing with the dumping on our vacation. So we use a PETT toilet. My wife loves it for those 2am emergencies. We just close the bunkened curtains and let family members take care of business.

It instantly turns any waste into a sealed, odorless biodegradable rock, which makes it ideal for pups. In the a.m., just toss the sealed bag in the dumpster. The stool also collapses for easy storage.

A little pricey, but convenient and eco friendly. http://www.thepett.com/

 

Since we've had our pup ('83 Coleman Shenandoah), I've just trekked to the CG bathroom, day or night. However, during our last camping trip, I tripped and fell going into the bathroom, broke the lantern I was carrying, and reeeeeealllly hurt my knee when I fell right on it onto the very hard concrete landing of the bathroom. Pretty sure I woke half the campground, too. Therefore, I will be asking Santa for a potty this year. Will still trek to the CG bathrooms during the day and for "extended business". Also leaning toward a "pee pee tee pee" so it doesn't take up precious room in the pup.

 

heheh I hope you didn't hurt yourself!

DO get that pee-pee tee-pee! You'll be glad you have it!

My pup has a shower and a potti. SO glad to have them.

Happy camping!

Kim

 

Oh I forgot to mention the time that I took the minivan to the bathroom for a middle of the night major #2 emergency. Drove down to the bathrooms half conscious, took care of business, drove back around the loop. We had some friends camping with us in their tent next to the pup. Didn't want to wake everyone at the site with the headlights, so as I pulled into the site, I killed the lights. And proceeded to hit our friends' car. I guess I cut it too close, and basically ran their bumper all the way down the side of my minivan.
Thankfully, their car was fine. I still have a scratch and a small dent in mine.

Needless to say....no more car trips to the toilet.

 

This thread has been so enlightening. We dont have a place for our porta potti so we were thinking of using the shower/changing tent. To those of you who do use them, where outside your pup do you place it? We usually camp in SP or KOA or places like that. Never really anything without at least electric but I do have to go in the middle of the nightI with out fail. I hate that long trek to the bathroom and it is scary at night.
Thanks for any ideas..suggestions, etc.

 

Since we're long-time tent campers, I am used to trekking to the facilities in the middle of the night. For rainy nights, I do have a pee funnel and a dedicated Nalgene bottle, but most of the time I prefer to walk. I have very seldom felt leery about heading off to the potty, though there have been a few campsites where a good 10-minute lead time was necessary. I was warned about going alone at a CG in Colorado, because a mountain lion had been in the vicinity, though not in that CG. DH was off on a backpack trip, and I'd left the pee funnel home, since I was supposed to be bping too (bushes are much handier in the back country!). Although I prefer not to use the bushes in a front country site, figuring there is a lot more use there, I did on that trip after the warning.
I don't usually wake DH up to go with me, though he sometimes does if my moving around has woken him up. I have him escort me this past summer, I was still taking pain meds at night after shoulder surgery, so I didn't trip, fall in a hole, or get lost while groggy.
Actually, DH is the one who has had "events" while on a potty trip. One time he was looking at the stars on the way back, and walked off a 4 foot stream embankment, he thought he was on the ramp to the bridge (sprained ankle, but he still hiked 15 or so miles the next day). Another time, I wondered why it took him so long to come back - he'd walked right past the potty, it was a CG with no lights and we didn't shine flashlights until close to the potty as they would have been raking through someone's tent or camper. He finally realized what he'd done when he reached the sign at the CG entrance!

I'm glad to hear the PETT toilet works well. We think that will be the route we take if/when we get an actual potty. The bags are also usable without the toilet, they sell a version of them to use in canyons, etc. where you're required to carry out your poop. If we get the whole set-up, we'll need to have an enclosure for it, like a shower tent, since the pup is so small.The enclosure would also be useful if we tent camp some where it is required to be totally self contained.

 

When we bought our PUP last spring we had two requirements: a porta potty and an outdoor stove. some things are non-negotiable as we age.

 

Grab a flashlight and give it a hike. I have never felt threatened at any CG. We
tent camped for years before the pup. Even though we have a built in potty in
our camper, if it is not too far...I will still get up and go to the facilities at night.
If that makes you uncomfortable...I would invest in a potty. Either way, your are
camping and it is all good!
Dawn

 

Years ago when I drove a big truck with a co-driver, I woke up relatively early needing to go to the bathroom. We pulled into the dock-area when it was dark and it seemed to be pretty secluded. The sun was up but it was still really early. I didn't want to wake up my co-driver, so I quietly snuck out of the truck, without my glasses, to relieve myself behind the trailer. I climbed back in the truck and fell asleep. A bit later, I got up and put my glasses on to get the paperwork together. It was then that I realized that I "mooned" a fairly busy highway.

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman.

 

We have a shower toilet unit, but we usually don't bother to set it up. So during the night, it might be a bit of a pain to get in if it's not opened up. I use it when it was closed for storage - 5 people ='s a lot of stuff.

We planned on using the toilet for emergencies anyway. It seems like a bit much to set it up and take down when we're camping for just a weekend. With 3 kids, we try to get fairly close but not too close to the bathroom anyway.

The kids haven't gotten up too many times in the middle of the night, either, thankfully. We don't let them drink too much water before bed. . . But, when they do, it's DH's job to take them; he doesn't get cold easily like I do, and he also falls back asleep very quickly, unlike me.

It will be interesting camping with my 12 year old this year, now that she has the thing that she "never wanted to have." I plan to be nonchalant about it and I hope there won't be too much complaining about camping.

Good Luck!

 

i have a porto pooper but no pooping in the pup . For a $162+ I will get up and drive you to a place to go . I don't give a poop what time it is .

 

We usually request a site near the bath house. However, there have been times when we had to walk a little to get there. I usually keep a flashlight by the door and walk very quickly there and very quickly back. It's creepy out there in the middle of the night all by yourself!!!

 

We have a spot in our Shanandoah for a porta potty and I am getting one this week for the DW. Never had one in our old Starcraft, but we are trying to make things alittle more comfortable in this pup.

 

I ended up buying the Reliance folding potty, and have some of the PETT (or whatever the new name is for them] and Reliance bags. They have the stuff that gels the liquid. We'll take it when we go to the Grand Canyon in mid-April (assuming we get the renovation finished in time), so there is an alternative if it is too cold at night to walk. Once the temps are near freezing, it can be difficult for me to get warm enough to fall asleep again. Otherwise, I won't get to experiment with it until I take my solo trip east; having the potty will mean not having my m-i-l leave a door open at night for me. [Last year, she was sleeping on the couch and I heard her chuckle as I tried to sneak through to the bathroom, so I guess I wasn't very good as a cat burglar.]

There have been only a couple of campgrounds that have made me uncomfortable to walk to the bathroom at night, other than weather conditions. I do use a small flashlight so I don't trip or unexpectedly encounter wildlife. On one camping trip, the facilities were a good 10 minute walk away, and DH was stargazing so we didn't have the flashlight on. After he went into the men's side, I walked around to the other & in the little light-spill from the windows, saw a bit of movement. Turned the flashlight on, and it turned out to be a skunk, who quickly left, with no defensive motions.
By being out in the dark, I have seen fantastic star displays, unlike anything near town lights, as well as a huge fireball (meteor) streaking across the sky.

 

When we bought this pup we had the option of a bath/cassette potty. We decided we didn't want to give up the storage space. We did purchase the smallest, least expensive Thetford cassette potty. We went out three times last year before we had to put the pup up for the winter and didn't use it.

I have never felt uncomfortable walking to the bath house in the night. I keep a flashlight by the door and grab it as I leave. I usually don't bother turning it on. This summer we have one trip planned where the bath house will be a long trek and I know I will want that potty in the camper. DH is going to make a stand so it is a more comfortable height.

 

I keep a Thetford porta potty in my camper. If I'm at a campground and the walk isn't too far away I don't use the potty during the day, however at nights I will use it. I sleep in a sleepshirt and don't want to go out in that at night. We camp in NC for the races and I use it alot there...way too far to walk to bathhouse. When we get home from camping I empty it immediately.

 

Last year on Memorial day we were at a CG and the bathroom was to far away, I tried to wake DH with no luck, The kids didn't want to go with me. I felt like I had the lake in me and it was Tsunami time I had to go BAD ! So I grabbed my dog (Candy) and took her with me ! She went and we both went back to the tent empty and happy! !

 

If there are no rattlesnakes in the area I will often scoot to the edge of the campsite and pee near a bush, if rattlesnakes are around I will walk on my own to bathroom. If there are bears in the area hubby will get woken up to walk me.

 

I use for #1 only a 2.5 gallon bucket with a toilette seat with a wag baq, or kitty litter! keep it in the pup at night if it's just the family, but put up my outhouse tent with company there, that way I don't have to walk too far. It emptyies easily with no cleanup if you make sure you double line your bucket with trash bags! toss and throw in dumpster, (carefully) haha!

 

I usually just hike it the bathroom in the middle of the night, or if we're secluded use the woods. NO flashlight is even better because your eyes are adjusted to the dark, at least for me. Now we have 2 young girls 7 and 3 so we actually have a little kids potty seat in the camper just in case the little one can't make it. But let me tell you I have been know for squeezing onto that in the middle of the night if its raining! We have a small popup with nowhere to get a big potty so I guess this will have to do.