A Picture Is Worth...........

Pretty awful, isn't it?  It was so dirty that I took a large plastic bag to put on the floor just in case I was to drop something.  It actually worked and my clothes were very clean.  And we didn't expect a laundromat at this campground anyway so it was a bonus!

You Meet The Most Interesting People!

This looks like a pretty nice laundry room doesn’t it?  It was clean and bright with nice windows.  Kirby helped me carry my two loads up; it wasn’t very far.  I knew the code to the door because I had called the office the day before to ask what it was.  I couldn’t find it anywhere in all the papers they gave us.  “Oh, it is the same as the restroom!” he said.  “Which restroom, the men’s or the womens?  They have different codes.” I said.  “Either one”, said he.  Now why didn’t I just know that?  Dumb me.

I had also asked how much they cost so that I would have enough quarters.  I had counted them out and had just enough!  Yea!  So, Kirby gave me his load of dirty clothes and went on to walk our dog.  There were two standard washers that I dumped it all into.  There were also two super washers but one had clothes sitting in it.  I didn’t want them anyway – I didn’t have enough quarters even if I had wanted the big heavy duty ones.

I put my quarters in the first machine and pushed all the right buttons and the water started flowing just like you would expect.  Then I moved on to the next one – put my quarters in just the same, pushed the buttons, closed the lid and nothing!  Nothing at all happened.  Even when I slammed the darn thing. 

So up to the office I walked.  They were very nice about it and mentioned to each other that they really need to get that fixed.  I was so angry.  They KNOW it doesn’t work and yet they let me think it would.  That darned machine ate my money.

In the end they refunded my quarters and threw in a couple extra for good measure.  I had to wait for my first load and then start my second so it all took longer than it should have.

Oh, and then when I went to put it in the dryer a nice old lady showed up with her laundry.  I asked one nice question of her and now I know everything:

They have been full timing in their RV for 2 years.  That is when they sold the house.

They just adopted their dog last Saturday and they were given the Senior Rate and it really didn’t cost them that much.  She had wanted a Teddy Bear but did you know they cost about $450?

They have four grown children.  One is a policeman here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and his picture is on a billboard.

One lives in Texas and teaches at Rice University.

One lives in Omaha and has a 29 year old daughter and……..

One lives in Clovis, New Mexico and oh, the wind there is terrible.

This park used to be a mobile home park.  They used to stay at the little one up the road and one time……..

That is doing the laundry my way!

Crazy Making

This is what makes me so crazy about going to a public place to do my laundry.  I took my 3 loads and drove to the RV Park Laundromat.  (It is too far to walk carrying all that stuff!) I had checked it out and knew that there were 3 machines.  My neighbor had been in there earlier so I knew that she should be finished.

So, I get there and there are dry clothes in a dryer and two washing machines had clothes in them and were finished and just waiting for someone to put them in the dryer.  I swear they were watching me!!  The neighbor came to collect her dry clothes.  She had taken them down there over 2 hours ago.  At the same time a dripping man and his child arrived from the pool to put his things in the dryer.  Now, his stuff won’t be finished until way after my wash is so I will have to wait and that delays my getting into the dryer (no, not me personally, just my stuff) and therefore it also delays when I get to start happy hour!  It is not nice to mess with my happy hour!

OK, I wrote that a while ago and now I must admit I am calmed down.  I went to get my laundry out of the dryers and had such a nice visit with a local woman.  Well, she isn’t really a local because she has only been here since November but she and her family live here at the RV Park and they work and their son graduates from high school next week.  She was so nice and it was just very refreshing.  Good things can come from the Laundromat!

State Park Laundromat

For the past month I have done my laundry at my daughter’s house.  Once Kirby even did it for me while I had lunch with a girlfriend.  (Isn’t he awesome?) Today we decided to use the Laundromat at a state park again.  It really is pretty convenient and this one was relatively cheap; a dollar to wash and a dollar to dry.  But I had to use two dry cycles to get my stuff dry.

I have to admit, it was pretty easy and hassle free but it was far from clean.  Oh, I guess it could have been worse – I have used worse.  We placed everything in two washers and went into the information center; we had brought our Kindles with us.  But about 30 minutes into our laundry as we sat enjoying our books we were sort of kicked out of the nice comfy seats.  The office was closing and we had to leave.  So, it was outside to the hard benches to wait out the dry cycles.

It was too dirty to fold on the counters and no paper anywhere to wipe it down with so everything was carefully “kind of” folded and placed in the laundry bags.  Clean stuff again – not bad!

Rust

We are staying at a pretty scuzzy place but I decided to use the laundry anyway.  You have to remember, I love doing laundry!  It was dirty and old and we are near the coast so everything is rusty.  No one else came in the whole time and I only used one machine.  It was easy and quick. I was able to carry it myself as we are very close to it.  I went back to the rig and set the timer.  The real trick was not letting any of my nice clean clothes touch anything!

The people in this RV park live here.  They are not traveling like Kirby and I.  They don't have very much and they probably are not very happy with what their lives are. Don't you just love what our economy has done to the people of this country.

Enjoy my photos!

Outdoor Laundry

We are currently at Paul B. Johnson State Park in Mississippi.  Not many state or federal parks have laundry facilities so I was really excited when we discovered two washers and two dryers this morning on our walk.  We immediately returned to our camper and scooped up two loads of laundry, some quarters and detergent.  It was further than I wanted to walk carrying all that so we hopped in the truck with our dog, chairs and books and off we set.

The hot and cold valves were all mixed up and all the equipment was dusty dirty but the machines worked pretty good.  Well, the one on the left was missing a foot or something so when it was spinning I had to almost sit on it to keep it from walking away with my laundry.

Yea!  Clean jeans and clean underwear!  I am a happy camper!

Back to the Laundromat

All winter long I had my very own washing machine and dryer.  And I LOVED them.  I used them all the time and everything was always clean.  Just before we left our winter home I washed everything I could think of to wash.  But 8 days have gone by, we are looking at staying at campgrounds with no laundry facilities for the next couple of weeks so when we arrived at the RV park today I decided I would check out the laundry and maybe do a load or so.

The bathrooms were nice too.  Private and all tile!

Kirby helped me carry my two loads over to the RV park laundry. It was nice.  It was clean and it was cheap.  Only $1.25 to wash and $1.25 to dry.  And it was not crowded and there were two machines ready for me.  We got them washing and went back to the rig and I set the timer....heaven forbid I forget to go back and switch them to the dryer!

Twenty-five minutes later I was on my way to put all of it in the dryers.  But, when I got there, two of the three dryers were in use.  (there were 4 washers and 3 dryers).  But they were finishing up. There was a very nice man in there doing his laundry.  He had 2 of the dryers and one of his loads was finishing.  I got excited!  I put my first load into the empty dryer and then waited for him to get his out of his dryer so I could load up the remainder of my wash.  He was talking to me all the time.  Where are we from, what kind of rig do we have, etc.  And at the same time, he had ONE sheet out on the folding table and was making sure there were NO wrinkles in it.  NONE!  He was making me crazy.  Just fold the dang thing, OK?  He just kept smoothing it out.  Finally he began to slowly fold it.  I was getting almost excited....he was finally getting it finished.  But then I saw him move to the dryer.  He had more in there....sheets and towels.  I knew he was going to be doing this smoothing thing for quite some time yet.  Finally I couldn't stand it any longer and asked if he could take it all out so I could use it.  He did.  I was happy!  Life can be good at the laundromat!  I am back in the swing of it!

The Laundromat Matron

Do I look like a Laundromat Matron? I don’t feel like one but yesterday as I enjoyed the quiet of being the only customer in the local Laundromat a gentleman comes in with one load of laundry to do.  He began with “Does internet work in here?” and he kept on until I was gone. 

“Which washer is the best one?”

“How much does it cost?”

“How long does the washer run?”

“Are any of the dryers better than the others?”

“How long does the dryer take?”

Do you think he was hitting on me or do I just look like a Laundromat Matron sitting reading my book?  I am surprised he just ask me to do it all for him!

Gumbling and Groaning

I am still trying to figure out why I dislike Laundromats so much.  I had to go to one today and it puts me in such a sour mood. 

There were three machines available when I arrived.  I would have preferred four but they were pretty large so all of my laundry did fit.  There were a few old men hanging out and I was really glad when none of them wanted to have a conversation with me.  Once I had everything loaded I went in search of a place to hang out. 

We are at an “RV Resort” so the Laundromat is next to the pool – again.  But this time it was early in the day and no one was there so I found myself a shady picnic bench and settled in with my book.

Next thing I know the place is filling up with old people in swimsuits….not a pleasant sight even if I am one of them.  They were all there for pool exercise and soon the CD player was leading them in movement.  It was distracting.  And the dogs in the dog run were barking and the people taking group tennis lessons were bouncing balls all over the place.

Now normally these things wouldn’t have bothered me but I get irritable when at a Laundromat.  So, I went back inside to await the dryers to finish.  (It had been necessary to crowd all of my laundry into 2 dryers because all those old men were using the rest of the machines).

I began folding on one of the two tables and then one of the old men started folding on my table.  Irritating again.

Finally I finished and got home with over a week’s worth of clothes and towels to deal with.  I put on some nice music and am calming now.  Thanks for listening to me whine!!

Bright and Shiny

I wish I was still feeling the frustration that I felt earlier today because then you could feel like you were there with me.  I have recovered and my laundry is done for the week and I am relaxing – but that wasn’t the case earlier today.

I used the public showers at our RV park this morning and when I finished I checked out the Laundromat.  It was empty and shiny and bright and clean.  What a pleasure!  I went back to the rig and began to sort my dirty laundry and collect my quarters and detergent.  Then I enlisted the help of my husband to carry it over to the Laundromat.  Darn, I had 3 loads and in my absence someone had put their laundry in and there were only 2 empty machines.  I grumbled and groaned and then excused my assistant.

I opened the two machines and loaded them up, knowing I would have to come back later to start the remaining bag of dirty laundry.  Then I started trying to figure out where and how to insert the quarters.  It didn’t take too long to realize that quarters were not used.  I started reading every sign in the room that I could find and finally I saw it - instructions telling me that I had to go to the main office and buy a special card to use.  So, my 2 loads were ready to go and I had to leave them and walk all the way to the office.  When I walked away I saw someone heading there with his arms loaded with bedding.  I sort of panicked that he would take mine out and put his in.

The lady in the office said I would have to pay a deposit of $5 just to use the card plus whatever I thought I would need for my wash.  I purchased a card.

When I got back, my luck had changed.  The man with the bedding was nowhere in sight and someone had moved their clothes into the dryers so now I had 3 machines to use and all was right with the world again. 

I really need to learn to just have fun with this laundry stuff. It all works out.