I have to say that the TA in Jessup is in dire need of police over site, board of health oversite, and just plain oversite in general! I stopped going there a while ago and had to stop there recently. In the restroom there were homeless people washing themselves in all of the sinks. The smell was god aweful. I took a shower there and I caught the worst foot fungus I've ever had. It took nearly 2 weeks to go away even with all the spray I used. I never can sleep in this truckstop because someone is always knocking with some kind of issue. I wonder if there is a way we can petition TA to take away the franchise from its current owner as they run it like a getto convenience store. If that's the business they want then they shouldn't be a truckstop.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

I sleep at the pilot a few exits down. That TA used to be a lizard haven. Is it still as bad as you say? I never get in a shower without shower shoes on. I do not want jungle foot.

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!

You better get a gripe on yourself.

That place has been like that forever. I can well remember it being a real ^&*8hole in the 80's

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I'm gonna kill the next SOB who tells me I look stressed out.

--Unknown

The lot lizards are still bad there. A friend of mine was there several months ago. She videoed this 6 wheeler receiving the services of a lizard and emailed it to the company he drove for. I laughed my butt off when she showed me the video.

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Keep that diesel burnin' and those tires turnin', but get there safe to keep on earnin'!!

Yep sure is. I had my flip flops on too! They are also attempting to redo the toilets in the fuel island shop. They had 2 commodes outside. Only 2! One had a sink full of urine, the other plastered with toilet paper and feces. I was ignored when I brought this to their attention.

I had the same issue with the Pilot in Clive Iowa a few years ago. Huge "glory holes" and explicit instructions written in a stall on how to "molest" an 11 year old. I brought it to the attention of the Manager, and was ignored to the extent it hadn't been taken care of several months later, so I took pictures, posted them on one of my web sites and sent the link to the Corporate office. It was taken care of in a few days after that.

Try videoing the "bad stuff" posting it on YouTube and send the link to Corporate, I guarantee it will be taken care of real quick.

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I have only stopped there once, and I felt dirty for having even done that. The showers were nasty, lizards everywhere, and the parking lot flooded, turning it into a giant replica of a half-flushed toilet (complete with the occasional turd). If there were more T/Ss in the area, I would agree that that POS needs to be closed.

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It's just a shame you have two TA's so close to each other and neither one is in decent shape. I used to refuse to fuel at the both of them for safety reasons more than anything else. I've actually seen large rats(live and dead) in the Baltimore lot. I've never once been to the Jessup location, I'd heard enough of the horror stories to know not to go near there.

Lord I remember both of those places. I was there in 91 when I drove for North American. Those were the only fuel stops, TA's I mean. That was where I absolutely HAD to fuel per company. Try being a 21 year old tiny blonde with a big chest driving a truck and having to go in there at any time of day.

Either one of those places give meaning to the term hell on earth. Talk about dens of iniquity, sin, filth, and general scum. I don't know how many times I saw people out there in broad daylight shooting up drugs. Then just throwing the used needles down in the parking lot.

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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketsup.


Somewhere there is an energy leak.

It's a dog eat dog food world.

Holy Crap I am glad I found this thread!

I am a Marylander, born and raised and from the bottom of my heart I want to apologize to any trucker that has had to deal with either of these places....they are not a true representation of our Beautiful State but more a representation of the ####### Stepchild city we call Baltimore. If Maryland were shaped like the human body, Baltimore would be right smack in the A--Hole!

I will post experiences I have had with these places.....

Baltimore Travel Plaza (T/A I-95 Exit 57): I pull into there after loading coil at Sparrows Point headed for Rochelle Ill. I am sweaty, smelly and in dire need of a shower and a meal. I am out of hours so I can't make it to Hancock or Hagerstown. So I pull into the Travel Plaza (the road into it reminds me of pictures I have seen from Afghanistan...littered with potholes and bumps) and I pull in to scale. Well, in order to scale you have to come in, make a sharp right behind the fuel island and pull onto the scale. There is an Ignoramus Werner driver blocking the scale lane.....I holler on the CB for him to get out of the way, some of us work for a living and need to scale. He moves, well, I pull in behind a PAM truck who is on the scale.....we are sitting there for a while....the PAM driver comes back to me and asks me if I am in a hurry....I said yes...kind of, I am hungry. He says there are 7 Sea Container Morons blocking the scale parking in front of him and he can't get out. Far be it from me to chastise anyone's job, but Morons pulling Sea Containers from the ports rank right behind RV's and Expediting Trucks on my "Dumb A-- Driver" lists. This gentleman is elderly and doesnt look like he wants a confrontation, so I exit my cab....and begin banging on doors.....being from Maryland, I know how to deal with these idiots. They finally move (45mins later) and we scale. I go in to get my ticket, and the AC isnt working in the fuel area and the four "Shaquanda's" working at the counter are talking amongst themselves ######## about their jobs or on cell phones. I go to the counter, dripping sweat after another 30 minutes waiting in line and I say to Shaquanda, "You know, this is a steel city, a port city and a major shipping area, why in the F--k aren't your scales ever accessible?" She laughs at me and gives me my ticket. I shake it off and go back to find a parking spot. I enter the parking lot after taking a ticket (they expect me to pay to park in this Bomb Crater) and find a spot. The first thing I see is a Rat that resembles the size of a small Boxer Dog. I go in to get my shower, I take my shower in the filthy shower area and as I am exiting, a black gentleman approached me and asked if I left a "Tip or Donation" in the shower room! I said "dude, I just paid 10 dollars to use WATER and you are asking me for a tip?" He replied that he works for tips cleaning the showers....I said "Here's a tip, don't work for free in a TRUCKSTOP!" Needless to say at 10 hours and 30 seconds later, I was South bound on 95 (after refusing to pay for parking and just ignoring the toothless woman in the booth and driving off...I still didnt eat)

Ha! T/A in Jessup....first mistake is that it is surrounded by the Maryland House of Corrections.....notoriously nicknamed "The Cut" for the high number of Inmate Stabbings. I pull in there, and I hadn't even exited the cab yet and a toothless gentleman with no shoestrings comes to my door and says "Hey man, can I ask you a question" I reply, "Can I ask you one first?" he says sure.....I pull out my large folding knife with a serrated edge and ask him "If you needed a shave, would you trust me to shave your neck with this knife?" He had no reply and proceeded to go harass the young Team from Covenant that pulled up at the next pump over.

The sad thing about Jessup is that it is NOT a bad area. It is a Middle Class to Upper Middle Class area that has a high number of Military Families living there due to it's proximity to Fort Meade. If you continue east on Rt. 175 you will hit the base after you cross MD295. I cringe when I think that all Truckers see of Maryland is these two Dump Hole Truck stops.

Please do not think that this is all we have to offer. There are several nice places to stop in Maryland. The Truck Stop in Hancock Maryland is old school and has good eats, and there is one on US301 in Bel Alton Maryland (Before you cross into Virginia) that is ok too. I think it is Abhorrent that these two T/A's are even in Business.

Once again, I apologize!