Truck stops and travel centers

personally i like the petros, when i have some money handy the iron skillet is the best major truck stop food out the imo. usually there is a good drvr lounge and it all works pretty well, although more then not parking is a bit tight.

 

I think some 4 wheelers go to truck stops to meet their truck driving other half, for a meal and to exchange clean clothes and a quick grocery restock. I did this for many years with my ex, as that was one of the few times I got to see him during the week with his schedule. We had one or two other meeting places, but depending on the size of his load, usually the truck stop was just easier logistically for him to park.
How about 4 wheelers (pickups or should I correctly say 'trucks') parking in the truck lanes? Wonder where their head space is?

 

We've stopped at Flying Js and Petros... I prefer the Flying Js but some are just icky. So far they both have clean showers but the food - ugh. I'm SO not used to all the smoke in a lot of these places, either, because there's NO public smoking in Nova Scotia any more. If it's clean, I'm okay. Otherwise, we go elsewhere.

 

no smoking...that's the way it should be everywhere. not all the J's have bad food. Some are better than others.

 

Wal-mart is good for restock, Flying hook is o.k. as well as Road King, Loves and Pilot work for fuel and coffee. When your ready to hit the bed they all work!

 

The Flying J's in Ft. Pearce, Fl, the one at the 2 exit on I-75 (Fl-Ga State Line), and Gretna, Ne, have excellent cooks. They use the same foods, but flavor the entees and sides so that they taste like something Grandma would take the time to cook. Good stuff. There are probably others around, but not aware of them.

Coffee; Pilot and T/A sucks. Too strong. Love's; pretty good, and I use my Love's reward card to pay for it, which means I always get my coffee free. Clean showers, too.

 

I like Pilots coffee, but thats the only thing about them I like. As other drivers can attest to, when Pilot put in a truck stop or buys one from someone, the first thing they do is rip out the resturaunt, drivers lounge, and make it a quick get your fuel and get out place. Also I hate Pilot because regardless of what you read in Pilots magazine, it seems that they train their workers to ignore the customers. You have a line of drivers trying to pay for fuel, items, whatever and only 1 person handling the line while 3 others stand behind the counter and do nothing but watch the commotion gathering. Also I think Pilots are poorly designed in one aspect is that the fuel desk, is all along the front and the isles are right up to it and people have to zigzag around isles just to go by the lines that have stacked up. I prefer to visit MOM n POP truckstops for some of the very same reasons ohter drivers do. better food, atmosphere, ect. Just one thing drivers....stop destroying the very places you visit...do you really feel the need to write and also "carve" your graffitti into the doors and walls of their property???? Plus, please have the courtesy to stand closer, it aint that long, so quit peeing on the floors and wipe up your messes around the sinks( you dont have to have the water on full freaking BLAST) and wipe up your messes on the toilet as a courtesy for other people to use the commode. Some of you guys are just plain NASTY and you know who you are...if this offends you, then just maybe your the one im talking about. Have some respect for the truck stop owners property, it takes so much time and money to clean up the messes the undesirables leave behind. Help them out, if you see trash, pick it up, if the counter is messy, wipe it up....Its time for us truckers to bring back the pride and repect we used to have many many years ago.

 

It depends on where your company fuels, your hours end, when you get hungry, ECT.
The List goes on and on!

 

the things that determine whether or not i'll be returning there in the future, or not are:

accessibility- is the lot a complete cluster most of the time, parts of the time, or ALL the time? is it a straight up pain in the ### to get into? if so, i won't go in there. i want to be able to get out when it's time to go. i also want to be able to get on to the lot without any trouble.

pot holes- i hate pot holes. so do many others. nothing worse than going through what you think is an innocent puddle of water, and only to feel your steer tire go half way down, cracking a corner piece of your bumper, and then feeling like a fool. also, bottoming out due to uneven surfacing, sometimes scraping the landing gear. if there's an excessive amount of pot holes that can't really be avoided, i won't stop in there.

dregs to society- lizards, junk dealers, beggars, and drug dealers. if the place has them, i won't go there.

safety- do i need to look over my shoulder when i exit my truck. do i also tend to worry while i'm inside getting a shower? if so, i won't be going there. the t/a's in ontario, california come to mind. one of my then time swift comrades got stabbed in a botched mugging attempt at the t/a east. they figured he's white, so they'll stab him anyway. one of the crapbags didn't make it out so lucky. he ended up with a cracked skull. the other fool was later located and charged with murder. my friend survived and doesn't feel one bit of remorse for having killed the dirtbag.

pilot- need i say more? lets include loves to this list, too. i hate going to either place. however, sometimes, they're unavoidable. i'd choose a rest area over these establishments any day. the ONLY pilots i like are the towne pumps in montana. in those lots, you can park however you like as long as you aren't blocking somebody, something. their lots are HUGE, too.

food- i don't really eat truck stop food anymore. most of the places give me diarrhea. the only exception to the rule is johnson's corner in loveland, co off of i-25, exit 254. that place rocks and has the best #### cinnamon rolls in the world. it's a dirt lot, but it doesn't have any annoying uneven surfaces. plus the dirt is pretty dense, so you'd have to be going fairly fast on it to stir up a mess.

does it have paid parking? if so, i probably won't stop in there ever again. however, when in the seattle area, most of the truck stops are a cluttered mess. your hood will be rearranged at the flying j in tacoma. my only other option is the rip-off shell in sumner or the knight yard in tukila, and there isn't much around there. the trick with the shell is to pay for a 12hr deal as 0600 rolls around, stick it on your windshield, and you can stay overnight. just make sure to renew it before 0600. the guy who works there is pretty vicious about the parking, and his accent is extremely difficult to understand, which will make things more irritating.

there's more i can list. i chose to list my main ones about choosing a place to park. i don't park at the sleazy truck stops. if you park in those ones, you're asking for your truck and/or trailer to be broken into. amarillo, tx is nothing but sleaze. i will NOT stop there. the only time i do is to refuel. that's it.

 

The other day I was in a Walmart in Il. on the 80. There were 50 rigs there. I counted them. I talked to the security guy and he said that the sales to the truckers made it worth it. I hope that all truckers will respect anybodys property that is nice enough to let us park there.