My Little Blue Pee Pot

On days like today my thoughts drift back to rainy days sitting in my big black van.  I would sit and read and write with no desire to leave.  I was totally self-contained, no need to go out in the rain, not even to go to the restroom because I had a little blue pee pot to take care of those needs - loved my little blue pee pot!
On one of my first solo camping trips around 1998, I  drove my big red van over to Wingham, Ontario to explore my Canadian roots.  The first night I woke up needing to go to the bathroom but no way was I going out in the campground in the middle of the night so I waited till dawn and then went.  I realized I needed some kind of pot to take care of my needs during the night.  I found a hardware store in Wingham and that's where I first set my eyes on my small blue pot which included a tight fitting lid.  I bought it and the rest is history... it traveled with me on every van camping trip (from 2000 forward my black van) until one fateful night. Through the years I had put on some weight and my rear end had expanded and I found it more difficult to sit on the pot.  In spite of that, I sat.  So one memorable night in Maine, I woke up and stumbled around, found the pot and sat down.  When finished,  I started to stand and suddenly realized my little little blue pee pot was stuck to my butt and coming up with me.  I figured out that when I  sat down on it, a vacuum had been created and the pot and I moved as one.  I very carefully went back down and avoided spillage.  My relationship with this special pot changed and soon after that strange incident, I retired it and bought a 5 gallon pail with a special attachable seat.  The blue pee pot now sits in my little house and there it will remain.  It's a momento of my early camping days.
I am now about to give more information about camping potty needs than you might need so continue reading only if you can deal with it.  Don't judge - this is my reality.  I keep a plastic bag near my pail and deposit toilet paper in it rather than in the pail.  I do this because in the morning I toss the contents into nearby bushes and can't do that if it contains paper.  I then wash the pail, let it dry and it's ready for another night of taking care of my potty needs.  Once again, I'm warning you that you may want to stop reading if you think you might might find my reality disgusting.  So, let's say I'm the only one in the campground and far away is a vault toilet and it's 2A and unfortunately, I need to poop ( hate that word but BM or "number 2" really doesn't seem to be used much anymore).  There is absolutely no way I'm going into the black of night even if I'm armed with my hornet spray and knife.  So, I take a plastic bag, spread it out so that it folds over the rim and put the seat on top.  I sit, do the "job" and put the loaded bag inside a couple other bags and in the morning throw it into the dumpster.  That's reality folks and I bet I'm not the only camper who does this when necessary.  I grew up using an outhouse so this isn't really a big deal to me.  A camper does what a camper has to do especially if it's a 71 year old grandma having a "solo camping adventure"! Onward!