I love road trips. As a child, I travelled with my family cross-country several times by car. While my memory of these events fades just a bit more every year I get older, pictures, stories and movies help me to remember those times.

A hold-over from my childhood vacations is the love of truck stops, coffee shops, rest areas, motels, tourist traps and other unique establishments. Here is a collection (listed in no particular order) of such places I particularly enjoy or would like to visit.

Florida Rest Area 20122
Interstate-10 Westbound, Mile Marker 318
Status: Visited

Link: Photograph
Link: News Article
Link: Previous Relevant Mount Sutro Article

Without a doubt, 20122 is my favourite rest area in Florida. Situated in the midst of the Osceola National Forest, this rest area embodies everything I remember from travelling cross-country as a kid. The look of the place, the smell, the informational signs — all so familiar.

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Florida Rest Area 20172
Interstate-75 Southbound, Mile Marker 382
Status: Visited

Link: Photograph
Link: Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park

A close runner-up for best Florida Rest Area, 20172 is just south of Gainesville but offers the opportunity to feel as if you were in the middle of nowhere. With all due respect to Gainesville, this part of Florida is certainly no megalopolis but the nature-enriched scenery of this stop makes it worth the time. A special feature of this rest area is the ramp and observation plateau overlooking the often fog-filled plain of the Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park. Pay attention to the signs and stay on the trail as rattlesnakes frequent the area.

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Jimmies’ Auto/Truck Plaza and The Red Onion Grill
Interstate-10 at CR 255, Exit 262, Madison
Route 1 Box 3239 F, Madison, Florida 32340
Status: Visited

Link: Truck Guide Listing

Jimmies’ is a full-service truck stop, restaurant and service centre. In addition to being a clean and convenient place to stop, stretch and use the toilet, a main draw to this location for me is the large red neon sign that simply reads “Restaurant” and is quite visible from the interstate. The restaurant in question is the Red Onion Grill, the perfect greasy spoon for dining in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere (Madison is about one hour east of capitol city Tallahassee).

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The Hawthorne Grille (previously Holly’s)
13763 Hawthorne Boulevard, Hawthorne, California 90250
Status: Not Visited

Link: Cougertown
Link: Road Side Peek

A favourite local diner of Hawthorne residents since the 1950’s, The Hawthorne Grille, formerly named Holly’s is best known to the rest of the world as the coffee shop diner featured in 1994’s Pulp Fiction. I would have loved the opportunity to see the classic architecture of the building and take photographs, but unfortunately the structure was razed several years ago. Word has it an Auto Zone retailer now stands on the lot.

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Bowdarks Truck Stop Restaurant
Interstate-24, 20 Miles West of Chattanooga, Tennessee
Status: Not Visited

Link: 80’s Movie Locations

Long abandoned before dawning new life in John Carpenter’s Starman, Bowdarks is a fictional place occupying a typical roadside stop. At last report, the signage for Bowdarks remained in place after the filming of the movie in 1984. By now it is likely the entire lot has been leveled and either remains barren or has been replaced with some new building.

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Hell’s Half Acre
Highway 20/26, 45 Miles West of Casper, Wyoming
Box 80, Powder River, Wyoming 82648
Status: Visited

Link: Photographs
Link: Official Site

In the middle of Wyoming exists what many call the “baby” Grand Canyon, Hell’s Half Acre. In addition to the beautiful scenic outlook, there is a small motel, gift shop, bar and cafe. The land in this region is very flat and so the combination of high winds and the gigantic depression in the land make the area super windy. There is a normal rest area down the road that has a wishing well in the restroom lobby. You drop coins down the tube and listen for them to hit the bottom, some hundred feet below. The motel is a pleasant stay, especially to wake-up at dawn to watch the sun rise over colourful and jagged canyon.

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KOA Kampground at Devil’s Tower
Highway 110, Devils Tower, Wyoming 82714
Status: Visited

Link: Official Site
Link: National Park Service Information

Basking in the shadow of the United States’ first national monument, 1267 foot Devil’s Tower, this KOA is one campground that manages to maintain its integrity whilst being adjacent to a very popular tourist attraction. In the middle of Wyoming’s Black Hills region, the KOA features pitch-black night skies, hay rides along the Belle Fourche River and next to Devil’s Tower and nightly outdoor, campfire-side showings of Close Encounters of the Third Kind which prominently features the monument.

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Barringer Meteorite Crater
Interstate 40, Exit 233, Winslow, Arizona 86047
Status: Visited

Link: Official Site
Link: History
Link: Private Tour Photographs
Link: NASA Photographs

Also featured in the aforementioned Starman, the Meteor Crater site is more of a specific destination than a casual stop-off locale. In addition to the awesome viewing platform, there is a snack bar with decent hot dogs (probably long gone as there is a Subway Restaurant at the visitor’s centre now), theatre, gift shop and a museum featuring historical documents, photographs and bits from the crater itself.

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Salt Flats Rest Area
Interstate-80 Westbound, Reference Post 10
East of Wendover, Utah
Status: Visited

Link: Rest Area Photograph
Link: Viewing Platform Photograph
Link: The Salt Flats

Just over an hour and a half west of Salt Lake City (home to the most scenic Wendy’s restaurant I have visited) is the salt flats rest area. This simple stop-off has all the standard features of any other IHS rest area, plus an elevated viewing platform and, of course, the easy access to the salt flats themselves. Harder than walking on beach sand, the salt flats are deceptively large. As you start to walk out toward the mountains, those skyscraping landmarks seem to only get further away. Home to automotive racing and testing, the salt flats are an excellent stop for just about anyone.

I am sure there are some stops I have forgotten, so I may update this from time to time with new “must see” locations.

3 Comments on “Stops Along the Way”

1. The Masked Blogger
   

   What a cool post! Thanks for the retro road trip. :)

   Tuesday, 05 April 2005, 2125   link
2. AnnMarie
   

   I love Road Trips (without a three year old of course). I don’t foresee any kid free road trips in my immediate future (unless I flee from impending insanity) but maybe I’ll get to visit some of those places one day…

   Tuesday, 05 April 2005, 2131   link
3. Tery Spataro
   

   Very cool! I love road trips too traveling south to Florida when I was kid was so much fun. Beautiful blog!

   Tuesday, 05 April 2005, 2246   link

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