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In the 60's and 70's when I was in the Navy and did a lot of cross country driving we always looked for places with lots of 18 wheelers parked in the lot -- figured the truckers knew where the food was best. It consisted mainly of meat and potatoes with bread and butter, tasted really good and filled you up. I guess like all things in this country it could be different today. After all, Howard Johnson's restaurants used to be as common as gas stations on the interstates.
My dad always said; if the truckers like it we need to give it a try. They were never fancy, but we knew we could get a good breakfast for a reasonable price. I don't think we would have eaten dinner at one but breakfast and lunch, yes.
I don't know if it qualifies as a 'truck stop,' but as a child my family would go across country
every summer, from Va. to California, where we had relatives. At that time, route 66 was still useable, I remember when they began construction and and began building a parallel highway.
We would stop at great places like Stuckeys, where pecan logs and cactus candy abounded. Postcards and other souvenirs (remember Mexican jumping beans anyone?) were eye candy. There was a long, winding, baby blue counter in each of them, where you could order anything from hamburgers to club sandwiches. I always loved the food.
Ah, a trip down nostalgia lane...
good old route 66. Yep being raised in So Ca and doing our traveling the other direction was a summer event and yep, Stuckeys were along the way. I will add, we lived just a few miles from the end of R 66. Remember the song talks about AZUSA, well we lived just a few miles from AZUSA. and of course you know you are giving your age away.
Back in the day, there were so many manly hunks in there I just couldn't eat. I don't know what it is, but something about real men who look, act, and smell like REAL men...just kills my appetite (for food).
LOL, , but doesn't kill the appetite for other things. j/k
In Indiana, there was a truck stop near our house that we would go to on special occasions because they had the best Fried Pork Tenderloin sandwich. It was so huge that it didn't fit the bun. Loved eating there... but last time I checked they got bought out by a large corporation and shut down.
Now that I think about it....special occasions and truck stops don't really mix...lol
The I-80 truck stop outside of Davenport, Iowa is the 'largest in the world' and has about 5 restaurants in it. from Subway and other chains to an actual sit-down restaurant run by the truck stop.. At least, that's as of about 6 years ago.
Breakfast was quite good at that restaurant.
We used to have one that was torn down when the interstate was expanded around here.. It was the 2am place to go.. Great breakfast. Country fried steak with gravy... Eggs.. Pancakes..
You say "How can someone screw up breakfast".. But.. It happens.
I was just at a very busy truck stop in Washington state last year. The food was decent and reasonable and the service great. I was very surprised, though I heard if you see a lot of trucks in the lot, it's a good indication.
And we stopped at a tourist place in the middle of the desert in AZ and I thought it would be horrible, no competition. It was VERY good.
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My experience with a truck stop was more than 30 years ago. I was returning from the beach with my 3 year old son after a visit with my cousin when my car started to sputter and stall. I barely made it to a truck stop off a major highway in NC and actually coasted into the parking lot. I was scared and almost in tears when my son and I went to the counter/grill to ask about a payphone. I told her what had happened and why I needed to call my husband at work.
Of course, my son saw the food on the grill and loudly announced he was hungry. Some truckers had overheard us and when we returned from the payphone there were two big platters of hamburgers and fries plus milkshakes waiting for us, and nobody would accept payment (Ok, not healthy but great!).
When my husband arrived, he found 4 big guys tinkering under the hood of my car trying to find the problem. One trucker let my son sit in his cab and blare the horn. Somehow, they got my car going and off we went, with my son happily waving to his new pals.
I wonder if that would ever happen today - I would like to think so!
On a hot day, quite a few years ago, I stopped at Johnny's Truck Stop--just off of I-78 in western NJ.
Because of the heat, I wanted to cool-off with some ice cream. What the waitress brought to the table was essentially a ball of ice crystals interspersed with some ice cream, and it tasted like it had been sitting around for...decades. Naturally, I only ate a couple of spoonfuls of that garbage.
On my way out, I passed the ice cream case while another waitress was scooping some of that product for another customer, and the accumulation of visible dirt & grime encased in a huge accumulation of ice in the upper area of the cooler was...disturbing...to say the least. Needless to say, I never darkened the door of Johnny's Truck Stop again.
When I see the words truck-stop, I immediately think U.S.A., and imagine ham 'n' eggs, stacks of pancakes, biscuits, (U.S. biscuits, not U.K. ones), and gravy, and grits if down south.
I did a couple of years trucking in the U.K. as a younger man, there they are known as transport cafes, almost everything is fried, eggs, bacon, chips, (fries), I swear they'd fry the toast if they could, instead of putting it under a grill, or in a toaster.
Rarely could you get coffee, other than the cheapest instant kind, it was the norm for giant cups or mugs of tea, which I never drink, and can't stand the smell of.
I went into a transport cafe in Staffordshire once, asked for a black coffee, and got, "Coffee? Where d'you think you are, in the Ritz?"
For three years I drove intercontinental, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, a different world cuisine wise, croissants, pain au chocolat, baguettes, slices of jambon, or fromage at breakfast, with good strong coffee.
At lunch time you could get ratatouille, crêpes, blanquette de veau, onion soup etc., and what amazed me, carafes of wine to wash it down with.
I like a drink, but not when I'm punching an eighteen wheeler from Dieppe to Avignon, AND driving on the right, as opposed to the left at home.
I used to think nothing of driving from London to Newhaven or Dover, taking a ferry to France, then driving to Cannes or Nice, or across to Düsseldorf or Köln, or Berlin.
Now, if someone asked me to drive from London to Coventry, I'd say, "Thanks, but no thanks."
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, but doesn't kill the appetite for other things. j/k 
