After I envisioned the concept and design of Road Trip Potty, I found myself doubting whether there was a true need for a portable female urinal that you keep in the car. I knew I needed one because I frequently had to pee, especially when I traveled. A Porta Potty was not an option for me whne at all possible. I even had a strategy of locating possible restroom stops whenever I knew I needed to be in the car longer than 30 to 45 minutes.
During this time of doubt, I attended an outdoor event where the only option to pee was to use a portable rental toilet, a porta potty. Towards the end of the event, I decided to visit one since we were going to be in the car for a while. As I waited in line, I overheard behind me a mother soothing her daughter who was clearly distressed about having to go inside this big blue plastic box that smelled. After a couple of minutes, two toilets became available, and ironically, they were side by side. I took one, and the mother and daughter took the other.
Through the plastic porta potty walls, I could hear the little girl crying. “No, Mommie, I can’t sit on that! I’m scared I’m gonna’ fall in. I can’t!” The more the mother tried to coax her daughter to use toilet, the harder the daughter cried. I left my portable toilet feeling sadness and empathy for the little girl.
I found my friends, and we headed to our car. When we arrived at the car, I saw the mother and daughter were parked behind us. I saw the dad trying to comfort his anxious daughter, whose pants were wet because she couldn’t use the porta toilet. While the mother was getting a change of clothes from the trunk of the car, the dad kept telling his crying daughter that it was going to be fine; but the daughter continued to cry.
As we were leaving, I overheard the mother tell her daughter to get into the back seat so she could change clothes. A new fear gripped the little girl who exclaimed, “I can’t! Someone will see me!”
From this random encounter, I was inspired to develop a Road Trip Potty Kit, which has a discretion blanket and washable, vinyl car seat cover.
