Cottonwood Recreation Center

The previous times I've been in Cottonwood, Arizona, I've showered at the Old Town Mission. Free, with towels and soap. But the days and hours they're open didn't always mesh with my plans. Whadda ya want for nothin', right?

This time I tried the Cottonwood Recreation Center. Open every day with convenient hours. Five dollars gets you a senior citizen day pass. So if you want to work out or swim, you can do that too. You need to supply your own towels and a lock for the locker.

The showers are individual stalls with changing/drying vestibules instead of the communal multiple-nozzles-on-a-pole or rows-of-nozzles-on-a-wall type showers found in some gyms. The nozzle in my shower didn't adjust for angle or spray pattern. It took a long time for the hot water to arrive, and even then it wasn't very warm. Water pressure was adequate. The air in the locker room was either over-cooled or under-heated the day I was there, so stepping out of the shower was, woo, brisk. But there was sufficient ventilation to keep the place from steaming up, unlike at the Old Town Mission.

The rec center is next to the library and down the street from the post office, which makes it handy during runs to town from your boondocking site. And five ducks is a pretty good deal.