Picking perfect potty pit stops during Thanksgiving travel

There are a lot of ways to pick a pit stop while traveling: easiest on and off, friendly people, lowest price for gas, but one method reigns as king.

“Honestly, clean bathrooms,” said Beth Murray.

She and her family were taking their road trip break at the Buc-ee’s on FM 362 off 290.
She was just outside the restroom, holding her year-old son, Gibson.

Why are clean bathrooms important to her? “Um, hello? I’ve got this guy," she said. "I want to take him into a good place to change. It’s nice.”

“We definitely ensure that it’s no competition with other convenience stores when it comes to our bathrooms,” said Clifford Maddox, the store's assistant general manager.

Nearby stops have accepted the challenge, including Love’s just south on FM 2920.

Does Love's general manager feel the need to compete?

“Absolutely not," Lisa Mazyn said. "We have no competition when it comes to our bathrooms, to our customer service, to our commitments to our customers … It’s important for us, for them, to have a clean bathroom, especially during this Thanksgiving season.

We’ll have a lot of people traveling up and down 290 and we want their experience to be a great one at our location.”

Back up to FM 362 on the other side of 290 is Waller County Line BBQ and its general manager, Overton Stewart.

“Our bathrooms stand up to anybody that’s on the road,” said Stewart.

What does Clifford think about his competitors’ claims?

He believes that if everyone is focused on the cleanliness of their restrooms, “that’s a good thing. That lets us know that we’re definitely doing something right.”

Because the competition for nature’s call has given cautious travelers cleaner options
, these stops will have to set themselves apart in a different way, such as with barbecue.

“We still use wood, we still use the old pit, we’re still cooking, going through the method of cooking it every morning,” said Overton.