Somewhere on the I-80 Highway between Iowa City and Davenport is the World's Largest Truckstop, which comes complete with a dentist's office, a movie theater, and more. Lots more.
Our own StacyBee (she also writes for our pal mental_floss blog) investigates:
The I-80 truck stop didn’t start as such a behemoth, though. It opened in 1964, when I-80 was still in its infancy, or at least in its toddler stages. It was just a tiny white building stuck smack in the middle of a cornfield – two diesel pumps and a restaurant.
It grew as I-80 grew and now employs 450 people. [...]
Here are just a few of the delights that this wonder offers:
• Several full-sized vehicles. I counted at least five –
one semi with a mural painted on it, one semi cab, one old-timey car in the restaurant, one truck and another old-timey car hanging from the ceiling. There may have been more.
• A dentist’s office.
• A movie theater.
• A chiropractic clinic.
• A barber shop.
• A custom shop, so you can trick out your truck with embroidery, custom vinyl and laser engraving.
• 24 private showers.
• A restaurant that serves about a million cups of coffee and 90 tons of meat every year.
• A car wash for semis (so, technically a semi wash?) that even cleans the engine. A 15-minute wash will set truckers back about $50.
• 75,000 unique items to bring home to your loved ones.
Links: Article at mental_floss | More pics at Stacy's I Met a Possum blog (and what's up with that creepy doll pic at the end?)
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds
we always try to avoid it on the way home to see the family because of the insane amount of traffic going in and going out of it.