Abandon All Hope - Yee Who Visit Indio

The morning of the race came, and I CRUSHED it. Maybe not by most people’s standards, but absolutely by mine. I cut down my half marathon time by 50 minutes from my last (and also first) one. And by the end of it, I really wasn’t too tired. I completed my goal. Got my Disney Coast to Coast Challenge bling, a hot dog on the way from race finish to the hotel shuttle, and we were ready to roll on home after we checked out of the hotel. I knew the lines for any of the nearby food places would be ridiculous, so we decided to leave and get food later on the road.

For some reason or another, we decided to stop in Indio, California for food and gas. We had an interesting experience at the iHop there; interesting enough that I didn’t want to spend the extra minutes it would take to check out their bathrooms. We thought about stopping by McDonald’s for coffee, but the drive thru line was intimidatingly long; when I went to get out of the car to go inside, a woman stopped me by lifting her shirt and asking for money for some alleged medical treatment. So I quickly got back in the car and told my dad to drive away quickly.

We ended up stopping at the AMPM in order to fill up on gas and so I could get snacks and check out their bathroom. Read on if you would like, but let me sum it up right now: DO NOT STOP HERE FOR THE BATHROOM, OR PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING.

This place was dirty and disgusting. The floor had foot tracks all over it, random sprinkles of water (which I still strongly hope was sink water), toilet paper on the floor and a dirty sink.

The general stock seemed adequate, though they just had to worry about soap, toilet paper and toilet seat covers (air dryer for hands). The toilet seat covers were in a state of disarray however.

I did notice the obligatory ‘wash hands’ sign to notify employees to wash hands before handling food or after using the bathroom. The sign did not address washing hands after smoking or other compromising activities.

So – Let’s Break It Down

Cleanliness

1/5 No way, no how. Disgusting.

Smell

2/5 You could smell that you were in a unsanitary bathroom.

Stock

3/5 Appeared adequate, but items were in disarray

Space

4/5 Adequate in size, especially for a single-occupancy

Lighting

4/5 Bright. Bright enough to highlight how disgustingly dirty it was.

Environment

2/5 I generally felt uncomfortable in most of the locations we visited in Indio. But I was also uncomfortable here.

'Wow' Factor

1/5 If we accept that ‘wow’ can be a negative connotation, this may have earned a ‘4’. But a higher number indicates a more positive experience, so ‘1’ it is.

So out of the potential 35 total, the AMPM in Indio’s women’s restroom came in at a surprising 17. Surprising because I was shocked I actually gave it that many points. There are several places to stop between Arizona and California. My word of advice – make sure Indio is on your ‘do not travel’ list.