What if we told you that the world's largest truck stop just got even bigger? On this episode of Rollin' 18, we're excited to share the latest on the I-80 Truck Stop Museum's impressive 32,000-square-foot expansion. Located at Exit 284 on Interstate 80 in Iowa, this truck stop isn't your ordinary rest area. With its wide range of amenities, from eight restaurants to a super truck showroom, plus the addition of an expanded museum featuring classic trucks from various eras, it's a must-visit for every truck driver. Listen in as we dig into the details of what's new and why this spot has continued to be a landmark since 1964.
But it's not all fun and games on the road. Our next segment tackles a serious issue: the rising violence and lawlessness affecting truck drivers nationwide, particularly in high-crime areas like San Bernardino and Los Angeles. We recount a recent harrowing incident involving street racers and discuss the crucial need for increased driver vigilance and better law enforcement. We also focus on the unique challenges faced by female truck drivers and ongoing initiatives to enhance their safety. Wrapping up, we extend our gratitude to our loyal listeners and point you to more engaging content available on Rumble, ensuring you never miss out on our latest updates. Stay safe and keep it between the lines!
What if we told you that the world's largest truck stop just got even bigger? On this episode of Rollin' 18, we're excited to share the latest on the I-80 Truck Stop Museum's impressive 32,000-square-foot expansion. Located at Exit 284 on Interstate 80 in Iowa, this truck stop isn't your ordinary rest area. With its wide range of amenities, from eight restaurants to a super truck showroom, plus the addition of an expanded museum featuring classic trucks from various eras, it's a must-visit for every truck driver. Listen in as we dig into the details of what's new and why this spot has continued to be a landmark since 1964.
But it's not all fun and games on the road. Our next segment tackles a serious issue: the rising violence and lawlessness affecting truck drivers nationwide, particularly in high-crime areas like San Bernardino and Los Angeles. We recount a recent harrowing incident involving street racers and discuss the crucial need for increased driver vigilance and better law enforcement. We also focus on the unique challenges faced by female truck drivers and ongoing initiatives to enhance their safety. Wrapping up, we extend our gratitude to our loyal listeners and point you to more engaging content available on Rumble, ensuring you never miss out on our latest updates. Stay safe and keep it between the lines!
Text me anytime with news, suggestions, and stories at (641) 990-5641. God bless, be safe, and keep it between the lines drivers.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to Rollin' 18 Podcast. This 40-year veteran is here for anyone wanting to stay up to date with the trucking world. Grab your coffee, hop on board and let's get on down the road with Walter Gatlin.
Speaker 2:
Hello drivers and welcome to Rollin' 18. I'm your host, walter Gannon. I appreciate you drivers out there downloading my podcast. I believe I'm pretty close to 6,000 and we're also going to do a podcast Monday, wednesday and Fridays and we also do a podcast video which is on Rumble Now. Today's story is really exciting because spring is here and summer is on its way.
Speaker 2:
A lot of guys are going to be traveling across 80 and if you do get a chance to stop at the i-80 truck stop, exit 284 on interstate 80, you really need to take some time to go in and check out the iowa Truck Stops Truck Museum. Now they're adding an expansion this year. I'm not sure, completely sure if it's done yet, but it's pretty close 32,000 square foot addition. So this is going to be something spectacular. But if you've never been to the I-80 Truck Stop, I'm sure most of you have been by it, unless you're on the East Coast or West Coast only. But if you get a chance to get into Iowa and get to the I-80 truck stop at exit 284 on Interstate 80, just a little insight of what this is I-80 truck stop was built in 1964.
Speaker 2:
It is the largest truck stop in the world. Really, really cool. They have tons of restaurants I think they have eight restaurant choices a convenience store, a gift store, the super truck showroom, which is tons of lights and chrome and all kinds of accessories for inside of your truck. They have stuff in that room that you can purchase for your truck that you probably never even heard of. So that's the cool thing about that. They have a barbershop, a chiropractor, a dentist, a movie theater, a workout room, laundry facilities, gas islands, diesel fuel centers, a truck center, truck-o-mat truck wash, dog-o-mat pet wash. Yeah, that is real cool. I mean, who doesn't have a dog in their truck? Most people do, I believe. Of course they've got the cat scale, but the cool thing is they've got 24 private showers, and these showers just aren't like your Lowe's or TA or you know any type of standard truck stop. There is plenty of room. There's even a waiting area Well, 24. I mean it would be hard to fill up 24. But with over 900 parking spaces it might not be so hard anyway. They're open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, of course, and they haven't closed their doors since they opened in 1964.
Speaker 2:
You've got to check this place out. There's a curator of the museum and there are some stuff in that museum. They're at Cabover and they're an 81 Kenworth. Every time I go in there I just got to go see that sucker. I love that Cabover. It's got more chrome and more lights on it than it has paint. This is the sweetest Cabover you will ever see in your life. But I mean they've got trucks from the 40s, from the 50s, from the 60s, from the 70s. It goes on and on and on In order for them to expand 32,000 square foot.
Speaker 2:
You know they're going to be adding a heck of a lot more stuff. So obviously they have enough stuff to fill up. I'm not sure exactly how big the original building is, but I'm looking at the expansion on a picture right now and the expansion looks almost as wide as the original museum is long. So they are going to be adding a lot of stuff. You guys really need to check out the I-80 truck stop and if you haven't been there, I'm telling you what save yourself. I mean I would do it during my 10 off because you're going to want a couple of really nice hours to walk around and see all of the stuff that they have in there for sale, not to mention the amenities that won't cost you a dime. I mean there's plenty of things to do in there. I've walked around there for over an hour and a half.
Speaker 2:
They do have a really nice coffee shop there If you just want to get like a mocha or something. It's not a Starbucks I can't remember what it is, I'll think of it in a minute but it's just like a Starbucks. And I mean they're actually better than Starbucks because when I ordered a mocha there, that mocha had real chocolate. They use real chocolate chips when they make mocha. They don't use that powdered chocolate that they mix up with water like Starbucks does. It makes chocolate out of it and if you've ever had a Starbucks mocha, if you let it sit long enough, that powder will turn back into powder. It doesn't. Yeah, you get this gritty feeling in the top roof of your mouth and you're like that ain't chocolate. And one time that's how I found out they didn't use real chocolate over at Starbucks. I said why does this taste so gritty over at Starbucks? I said why does this taste so gritty? Oh, she goes the powder separating from the water, from the milk and stuff, and I'm like powder. She goes yeah, we, we pour our chocolate out of a bag and then we mix it with water and make it into chocolate and it's probably real cocoa. But nah, you know, I want, I want real chocolate. I want chocolate that you pour out of a container into my you know. So, yeah, real chocolate.
Speaker 2:
You know, I 80 truck stop this, this coffee shop. There they go one step further. They use real chocolate chips. So you know, they put it in there and it heats up with the milk and melts and it it just to me, it just blends in better. But yeah, I'm in, I would be real curious.
Speaker 2:
I don't have a dog in my truck. The last one I had my little lug nut. He's no longer with us, but uh, if I had a dog I would go there just for that too. I would like to see the doggo mat. I have no clue what that is, but I really need to get out there and take my phone with me and shoot a bunch of b-roll. And when I do one of my uh, when I do one of my podcast videos, then I can kind of show you guys what's going on. Uh, and this isn't a promotion, by the way, guys, I'm only doing this to let you know. You know the new things that's happening.
Speaker 2:
This isn't a promotion, but I've been to the CB shop there in Walcott and it is one of the biggest CB shops that you'll go into. I'm not, I don't think it's the biggest. Most most CB shops are in a truck stop and they're in a room and you know a small room and stuff. This, this, uh, cb shop over in Walcott, exit 284, interstate 80. It is actually its own building with its own technicians and it even has truck parking. You need your CB lined up with your antennas and your SWRs checked, or parts put into your CB to make it bigger and prouder and louder, and all that. Go to that CB shop first and then go across the street over there to I-80. Spend your 10 hours, check things out and I promise you you will not be disappointed.
Speaker 2:
Now I read some news the other day that a truck driver was attacked and I believe this was Monday before last, so it was last week, but a truck driver on Monday was attacked in the cab of his tractor trailer and at least part of his cargo was stolen during a so-called takeover by street racers of an intersection in San Bernardino, california. It's getting real crazy. Go to LA. I used to deliver in Compton, east LA, all them places and it was scary and bad back then. But now it's getting to the point with the lawlessness and the fact that the district attorneys are not doing their job. They're not keeping the community safe. It's almost getting to the point where it could turn deadly. So if you guys are scheduled to go to Los Angeles stuff like that we really need to rethink the way the truck companies are going to take care of us during times that we're going to deliver in very bad neighborhoods.
Speaker 2:
Most of us know where them bad neighborhoods are. Don't ever plan on sleeping in them. I would never sleep in East LA or Compton, not today. There are times I have there have been even times where I've paid gang members to keep other people from spray painting the side of my trailer. I had no choice. I had to be there at a certain time. It was early in the morning and it's scary, it's nerve-wracking, but this truck driver. On Monday he was attacked in the cab.
Speaker 2:
Witness videos of the scene. You can probably Google it, go on YouTube and check it out. Witness videos of the scene show motorists doing donuts in the intersection. I believe it was West 5th Street and Mount Vernon Avenue in San Bernardino city of about 216,000 people east of Los Angeles, and the video shows fireworks exploding in the intersection. I mean, the cops are not there for a reason. Ladies and gentlemen, if I was a cop and the district attorney wasn't prosecuting people and I took a chance on getting killed because I'm a cop, I'm not going to go to that area either. I mean, we're talking hundreds, if not thousands, of people disrupting the entire community, and I know what's going to solve this problem. I know personally what's going to solve this problem A heavy hammer. That's the only thing that's going to solve this lawlessness that goes on throughout the country.
Speaker 2:
This is why I live in a community that is a safe community. I live in a community that has their wits about them. I live in a state that values the rule of law, and I do so on purpose, because I want to be safe. My family needs to be safe. You know, when you drive truck, there's a lot of different places you have to go. If you have an option to refuse a Southern California load, I wouldn't even go there, and the way fuel's going up, try and avoid all these states that rip you off. I mean there's almost a dollar difference on fuel between my state of Iowa and the state of Illinois, which is right next door. But you know those high tax is have to pay for all these scumbags that they protect while they go out and rob other people. This is just the way these states do things. They protect the criminal over the law-abiding citizen.
Speaker 2:
Now the videos also show a white day cab with a single white trailer stopped and the crowd surging forward, opening the driver's side door and reports say beer bottles were also thrown at and struck the truck driver, who not identified. Videos also show the rear trailer door open and at least one person in the trailer throwing boxes out of the back into the hands of the crowd. All the while, dozens of people use their smartphones to take videos of the crime and it appeared that no one went to the aid of the trucker. Remember the la riots? Remember the truck driver that got beat up so bad? I don't think he ever drove a truck again in his life.
Speaker 2:
But you don't want to put yourself in that position. You don't want to put yourself in a position to where you're in that situation. Be real diligent on who you get a load to and check out the area, read the reviews always read the reviews of where you go and if it's too bad the crime rate and everything else is too bad, you just tell them. Folks at dispatch, I'm not going to take it. I hope most drivers these days have a dispatch set up to where you can refuse to take a load just about anywhere, because the last thing you want to do is lose your life over your job. This is a sad situation.
Speaker 2:
You're hearing more and more about violence every single day and I know a lot of people say, well, ain't no big deal. I've been down here a million times. Well, yeah, yeah. All it takes is once. You don't believe me, ask this guy that went there to deliver a load and ended up getting accosted and attacked. So it's something you really need to think about Now.
Speaker 2:
According to the federal government, they are raising awareness about violence against female truck drivers. There's a lot of danger out there, ladies and gentlemen. Just like I said a moment ago, the district attorneys in some of these places are allowing the police officers' arms to be handcuffed and the perpetrator to run around and do whatever they want. So we have to have this type of awareness Now. There have been an uptick in assaults against women out there on the road. We need to you know we need to get things done about this Now. They had an event in cooperation with the United States Department of Labor and the White House Office of Gender Policy.
Speaker 2:
The FMCSA participated in a virtual roundtable with stakeholders from the trucking industry to raise awareness about sexual assault and sexual harassment. It's been a long time coming Now. A survey of 426 female truck drivers conducted by the Women in Trucking Association, wit, in 2021 showed that more than 60% of them reported feeling unsafe at least once in the past year, with 20% reporting they have been threatened by a weapon. The survey also showed that 4% of women drivers said they had been raped and 46% reported that they had unwanted physical advance made towards them. Wit President and CEO, ellen Voi, shared the survey's findings at the White House Roundtable discussion on trucking industry issues. She said we need to create a safer environment if we want to bring more women into the industry. Our research has shown that women rate their level of safety as a female driver at 4.4 out of a scale of 10. This is unacceptable, as we should all feel safe in our work environment All of you truckers, real truckers out there, the ones that belong out on the road, the ones that know this is the right job for you, the ones that have committed their life to this profession.
Speaker 2:
You have no problem whatsoever coming to the rescue of anybody that is having an issue in a truck stop. I know for a fact. We have to get rid of this mentality that says we have to sit there or start up our camera on our phone. We have to stop that mentality. We need to get out of our truck and we need to get involved Now. We can call 911 before we make a move and get the cops rolling, but I'm telling you what? If people aren't you know, I don't care if there's 10 people on top of this person trying to hurt them we need 20 truck drivers to jump out of that truck and start stomping some tail. You know what I'm saying? We can't allow this lawlessness, because we're going to sit back and we're going to watch somebody's child get harmed I don't care what, how old they are, that's somebody's child and and and you know karma is going to sit back and do something to you and your kid.
Speaker 2:
Now I know you don't want that and we cannot just sit idly by in the presence of evil. I'm sorry, we can't do it. Thank you folks for listening to my podcast. If you want to check out my rumble video, you can go. I will put links down below here at Roland 18 podcast on bus sprout and I will have links everywhere and eventually rumble will show up as Roland 18 on Google as well. So when you go to do a Google search it'll show up. If you'd rather watch a video of a Peterbilt going down the road while you're listening to a good podcast, I'm your guy. Thank you guys very much. God bless, be safe and, as always, keep it between the lines. Driver.