Old School Truck Stops

Diamonds , on I-55 illinois

 

ok its located off I-55 in illinois in a town called staunton , it had the older 60's style booths that were labled truck drivers only section , the waitresses dressed like the waiteresses from the t.v show ALICE, coffee was always free for the truckers dimmer type lighting always playing in the back round was red sovine johnny cash older type country music , the smell of ciggerate smoke,fresh coffee and fried potatoes always filled the air.I remember in the coldest of winter storms being in that place for hours enjoying good conversations with truckers off all types and c.b radio clubs having there weekly coffee breaks. It was just the best place in the world to be .

TopFlights~

 

You'll probably never visit it in your lifetime but I'll tell you about a neat "foreign" truckstop I visited.

When I was in Mexico a few years back with my dad, we stopped at a "Mexican" truck stop to eat lunch. The truckstop consisted of a little restaurant with a few PEMEX fuel pumps and a dirt lot. It was on the old Durango-Torreon highway where the route to Zacatecas splits off. A good 600 miles or so due south of El Paso.

Anyways the small restaurant had one long table with benches. My dad, our friend and I sat down with the rest of the truck drivers who stopped for the lunch special, which was all the pork chops, steak, tortillas and chili you could eat. The restaurant was run by an older couple and their two adult daughters. They kept the food coming and we ate our fill.

Most Mexican truckstops are pretty plain compared to what is offered even at the "old school" places. Usually little more than a fuel station, convenience store and parking lot. You have to pay to use the toilet (though at MX$2/roughly 17 cents) it's not that bad.

 

It has long since burned down but when I was younger I used to go to the Frontier Truckstop, bar and grill in Lindon, Utah. We used to sit and drink coffee and talk to the drivers and listen to the stories of the road.
I sure do miss that old place.
I remember when it was nothing more than an old "cracker box" smoke to the ceiling greasy spoon, then it burned down and they rebuilt it and made it a little better by changing the outside, then that burned down and that is when they added the C store and put a bar in the back. A cafe in front with booths for truckers only with the phone and all.
Now they are putting in the "Largest" Harley Davidson store in the nation...so they say.

 

White's Truck Stop in Raphine, VA @ Exit 205 on I-81/I-64 is as "old school" as it gets. Very interesting place.

 

The old lakeview truck stop north of evansville,in in haubstadt, an old lady that was a waitress for years was mildred

 

Homer's Truck Stop, I-40, exit #146 (Stamey Farm Road), Statesville, NC.

About as old school as is left in this part of the country that has an interstate exit.