Truck stop
- For the movie, see Truck Stop (film).
- For the song, see Truck Stop Sally (song).
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A truck stop is an eating establishment, usually located near a busy road, with a large parking area for trucks and other heavy vehicles. The stop usually offers a range of services for professional vehicle drivers to rest and refresh themselves, often with accommodation and other amenities available. While not closed to other drivers, special areas are frequently set aside for truckers. These tables may have phones so truckers can safely call families and conduct other business during their meal breaks and most also have high speed wireless internet access and/or an internet kiosk. When there is an internet kiosk, usually it is placed between the "truckers only" area and the rest of the establishment, so that drivers of personal cars can also use it. In the UK a truck stop is called a transport café (with "café" pronounced "caff").
Depending on the size of the facility, services might include a diner restaurant, a refueling area, showers, convenience stores, and possibly a motel. When a large truck stop does not itself include a motel, frequently there will be one adjacent. Often the refueling area offers dual pumps, one on each side, so that the large trucks can fill both tanks at once without turning the truck around. Newer truck stops may offer several fast food outlets in addition to, or instead of, a traditional sit down restaurant.
The retail stores in large truck stops frequently offer a very wide selection of 12-volt products which, though primarily targeted towards truckers, can also be convenient for anyone who spends large amounts of time travelling by car. For similar reasons, such shops generally offer a very wide selection of maps and road atlases.
Some very small towns in remote areas are little more than a truck stop, with the entire local economy relying on a continuous stream of travellers passing through. Coldfoot, Alaska is an example of such a town. Wytheville, Virginia is another such town, at the crossroads of two interstate highways.
Fictional depictions
Truck stops are often depicted in films and novels as being somewhat seedy, and being frequented by aggressive bikers, petty criminals and prostitutes (e.g. the "lot lizards" in the JT LeRoy novel Sarah). This is a somewhat unfair stereotype, and most modern corporate-run truck stops are generally safe.
See also
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