A Shrine To The Truck Drivin' Man

May 8, 2015

Scott County Park, Iowa

I parted ways with the Mississippi River when I headed north out of Muscatine, but only for a few days. I'm going to cut across that big knob that juts out of east-central Iowa. I'll miss the Quad Cities, Clinton and Dubuque, but it will be a more direct route and, more importantly, it will take me to Dyersville--the town in which I spent my 4th through 9th grade school years.

I'd best not get ahead of myself again. TODAY is what matters, and today I rode some of those famously pastoral Iowa county roads. Peaceful, gently rolling, rural. Cornfields, soybean fields. Silos, barns, tidy farmhouses. Little towns, grain elevators, water towers visible from miles away. Little diners, farm stores, hair salons in the middle of nowhere. Friendly waves from people mowing their lawns, tending their crops, driving their tractors. In other words, another blissful day of riding my bike.

I rode several county roads, alternately turning north and east, north and east. Then one more turn north to cross Interstate 80 and . . . BEHOLD! There before me was IOWA 80, which bills itself as "The World's Largest Truck Stop." Being that I am not a truck driver, who am I to dispute that?

When you claim to have the world's largest ANYTHING, people are going to flock to see it, and The World's Largest Truck Stop is proof of that. It's a destination for some and a curiosity for others, but very few trucks or cars seem to pass this exit without having a look.

The sign says it all: World's Largest Truck Stop.

It's SO big that, in this part of the state, I-80 means IOWA 80--not Interstate 80.

Just a small sample of the row after row after row of idling diesel trucks.

This place is the long-haul trucker's equivalent to The Mall of America. It has gift shops, a complete food court, a huge convenience store, a store with truck parts and accessories, truck mechanics, parking spots for literally hundreds of semis and trailers, a motel, showers, a movie theater, a chapel, a barber shop, a dentist, a chiropractor, gas pumps galore, a coffee shop, a 24-hour buffet, and a truck drivers-only lounge. (Surly Long Haul Trucker drivers are not considered truck drivers here.)

This gigantic complex is fascinating and incredibly bizarre at the same time. It is my kind of place.

I asked a 20-ish year-old gal to take this picture. "Wait," she said after clicking the button on my phone, "it turned out blurry. I'll take another one." I took a look at it. "No," I insisted, "it provides the surreal look that this place deserves." She laughed.

IOWA 80 even has trucks INSIDE of its world's largest truck stop.

Need a huge, shiny, stainless steel exhaust pipe? Or any other trucking accoutrement? This is your place!

Thank you IOWA 80, I had an interesting visit.

I had my first serious dog encounter today. Up ahead, I saw two matching long-haired dogs in the middle of the road yapping away at me. As I got closer to them and saw just how small they were, I had to laugh. Still, I admired their chutzpah. My laughing scared them for a minute and they both dashed back to the safety of their yard. After I passed, they came back out onto the road and yapped until they were satisfied that I had learned never to pass their yard again.

My campsite tonight is in a huge county park about 25 miles north of Davenport. It rained lightly while I set up my tent and continued until dinner time. Then the gnats and mosquitoes came out.

Today's ride: 46 miles (74 km)
Total: 1,268 miles (2,041 km)

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