Iowa: Destination Vacation
The wine country of California. The Rocky Mountains. New York City. The Alaskan wilderness. The white-sand beaches of Hawaii. These are all legendary vacation spots contained in these United States. And, right beside these stands the Iowa 80 Truck Stop in Walcott, Iowa, aka "The World's Largest Truck Stop". I recently had the pleasure of visiting the I-80 truck stop and invite you to come with me now to a world of endless adventure and wonder.
You might be forgiven for thinking the Iowa 80 Truck Stop is just one of the nation's few remaining shopping malls. This would owe to the great many things for sale there and almost nothing else to do. But, if you peer beyond the surface illusions you'll find that the Iowa 80 Truck Stop has wonderful and unique offerings that reflect the rural cultural ways of Eastern Iowa.
Trucking, or, as it is known in the local patois, "truckin'" is the life blood of the nation. The Iowa 80 Truck stop invites to contemplate the halcyon days of yore when, as the placard in the lower right of the above picture reminds us, a loyal dog and a tiny house with a word-burning fireplace could ride comfortably in the back of one's pick-up truck.
What is that behind the reflective and protective glass? Is that a Klingon bat'leth?. No, Dear Reader! As the partially obscured sign indicates, those are Turkish Guardian Swords. I do not pretend to know the technical details of the truckin' profession, but I assume such implements of death are standard issue. If one is set upon by brigands or perhaps a roving pack of freshly reconstituted dire wolves then one best have one's Turkish Guardian Sword to hand.
The truckin' life is a life of Faith. The Transcendental Mystery of Faith is treated with solemnity and grace. And, perhaps, a tiny bit of copyright violation.
Truckers know cowboys wore cowboy hats, despite what so-called "historians" and their so called "evidence" have to say about bowler hats. Who ya gonna believe, those eggheads or The Rifleman?
Lucky tourists visiting should be sure to partake of the local delicacy of Twin Bing, manufactured by the Palmer Candy Company of Sioux City, IA. As I told the cashier, this is the taste of my youth.
The Iowa 80 Truck Stop is right next door to the Trucking Museum and there are two displays to tempt you to visit the museum. I was not so tempted.
So, the next time you are searching for an exotic trip, give the Taj Mahal a skip and head to Iowa!
jpj stories by John Jackson is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
