The Porcelain Pilgrimage: A Road Tripper's Guide to America's Finest Facilities

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We reveal our top 10 rest areas across the United States, from basic facilities to spectacular view points to full-on tourist complexes that have become destinations in their own right.

• Rest areas provide safety, convenience, and often unexpected attractions for travelers
• Clean bathrooms remain a top priority, with Buc-ee's setting the gold standard
• Many stops feature historical exhibits, museums, and cultural attractions
• Location and scenic views elevate basic rest stops into memorable experiences
• Food options range from vending machines to multiple full-service restaurants
• Truck stops have evolved into complex facilities with amenities like movie theaters, arcades, and rental baths
• The world's largest truck stop in Iowa has its own zip code and eight restaurants
• Rest stops frequently feature geocaching and Munzee opportunities
• Many stops serve as impromptu picnic locations for traveling families
• Locations like South of the Border have become iconic tourist attractions in their own right

Let us know how many of our top 10 rest stops you've visited! Reach out at [e-mail] or find us on social media.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What about food?
Does it have one restaurant?
No, does it have two?

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Does it have three?
No, no.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
It has eight restaurants.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Eight restaurants.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Do you love to travel ?

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Do you love?

Speaker 1 (00:18):
road trips.
Do you love finding hiddentreasures in towns all over the
USA?
Hi, I'm Joshua.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
And I'm Craig.
Welcome to Treasures of OurTown.
It's a podcast that exploresunique and charming towns
scattered throughout the UnitedStates.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Guided by our love for location-based games like
geocaching, join us as weventure to some of the country's
most intriguing destinations,uncovering hidden gems and local
secrets along the way.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
On today's episode, josh, we talk about one one of
my favorite places to visit inthe United States, one of many.
It is the rest stop.
Josh, the toilet, the toilet,the bathroom.
Tim, minnesota boy, minnesota,boy, minnesota, he'll be happy
about this.
It's a bathroom show just for.
Tim, so there we go.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
We're going to rate the toilets of the United States
, not breweries, I love it, Ilove it, I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Actually, speaking of breweries and stuff too, they
did have a new podcast episodeout today too, and I listened to
it, josh.
I listened to it every singletime because I'm driving
everywhere, and so I listened toall the podcasts.
But, yeah, again a quick shoutout to the Brewery Adventure
with Minnesota Boy, minnesotaBoy Minnesota Boy he's only one
person, and Mecca MN as well.

(01:27):
They're two good friends fromMinnesota.
So, yes, that's what I've beendoing.
I've been traveling, josh.
What have you been doing?

Speaker 1 (01:34):
I've been, you know, doing life.
And are you segwaying into ourupgrades and delays?
Because if you're listening toour show for the first time,
every episode we share ourupdates, upgrades and delays, so
it's our highs and lows.
So was that a segway, craig forthat?

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Why not Let it be a segway directly into it, josh,
because I am literally segwayingacross the good old US of A to
pick you up very soon, andthat's going to be.
I'll start first.
That's my delay, josh.
Believe it or not, that's adelay.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
That you have to see me.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
No, no, that I'm traveling so far every single
day, josh, because so I was.
Last weekend I was in Ohio andI was having this is the upgrade
, by the way having a great timein ohio.
We had a few munzee eventsthere in ohio and um, fun, fun
times with some fun people, afew breweries there, some great

(02:29):
pizza as well.
And, josh, there's one town,glendale, in ohio, great small
town, and they have everysaturday night.
They have free local bandsplaying in the little
amphitheater in the middle oftown, in town central, and
everyone takes their little deckchairs out and they sell beer,
they sell wine, they give awayshirts.

(02:51):
Josh, like Glendale Ohio,they're doing things right.
I'm telling you, it was a funtime, a fun time All for free as
well.
So that was really cool.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
That sounds like an absolute blast.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
That's my upgrade, which then led An absolute blast
.
That's my upgrade, which thenleads into my delay.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Well, I'm sure you did many blasts too while you
were on.
That's a Munzee.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Exactly I did I did, but not as many as Rob.
But anyway, that's another bugto bear, that I'll do a podcast
with him tomorrow morning.
Which leads into my delay, josh, and that was last weekend, and
then Thursday I've got to pickyou up, so I left on Sunday for
the events in Ohio and I had topick you up in Minnesota on
Thursday lunchtime.

(03:28):
So I've been doing the miles,josh, I've been putting in the
hours, putting in across-country sort of timeframe,
and my delay is that, josh, I'mactually driving past several,
several of my geocaching friendsalong through USA and I hope
that they don't reach out to meand say why are you away?
You just went straight past myhouse.
And, josh, I did go straightpast, literally past

(03:50):
Hailmeister's house, becausehe's got a.
He's got a Munzee out the front, so I had to get that too, just
to say, like, so I know wherehe lives, but I'd never actually
went and saw him.
So if you guys listen to theshow him, scott Burks, he's in
Chicago as well.
I do apologize, but yeah, Iliterally had to scream.
I had people in Munzee.
Josh reach out to me and say,oh, you're coming through my

(04:11):
town.
Let me know if you're in town.
I'm like I'm past it now.
Bye, so that's my delay.
Is that I'm traveling too farfor too quickly?

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Is that a delay?
Yeah, it's kind of a delay, butthe end of it is going to be
wonderful Because I think we cantell the people where we're
going.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Absolutely we should, because it's Monday by the time
.
This is out and about, so it'salready finished by the time
it's out and about.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
So we are going to Gilby, North Dakota, which is
the Disneyland of geocaching.
And I am so excited for you,craig, because you have never
been to gilby, the dizzy land ofgeocaching.
I've been there three or fourtimes and we are going there for
a very, very special reason.
There's a reason why we bothhave to be there, and I will
keep that no why?

Speaker 2 (04:55):
why we can say we said it, we said it in the
episode before we did yeah, wedid, we said it.
We said it on stage in the inthe.
That's true in west virginia aswell.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
That's true.
We told thousands of peoplealready okay, uh, we're going
there because we're going toshoot our gif film, our
geocaching international filmfestival entry, and so, um, and
it requires for us to be ingilby, and that's all I'll say.
Yeah, and so I'm excited foryou to experience some of the
geocaches there, but also we'regoing to have a good time
filming as well.
But we're working, it's a worktrip.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
It's a work trip.
It is actually a work trip.
I'm filming.
I'm not going to be doing thecaches as I normally would do
the caches by myself andappreciate them and, you know,
spend some time and you know andeffort and maybe do a TikTok-y.
I won't have time for any ofthat.
Josh, I'll be behind the camera90% of the time.
I'll be behind the camera,never in front, so pretty much

(05:47):
where I like to be, so I don'thave to use a wide-angle lens.
Anyway, what's been your?

Speaker 1 (05:53):
upgrade, mate.
My upgrade is I experienced themost amazing, creative,
whimsical, quirky event thatI've ever experienced in my
whole life.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
And you've experienced events.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
I know I've experienced a lot of events, so
on one of my videos if somebodyfrequents my youtube channel, I,
there's this very special thingwhere there's a giant 20 foot
pencil in the front of a man'syard.
So four years ago the the treegot blown over by a storm and it
was an old Oak tree and insteadof like just taking it all out,

(06:25):
the guy that owned the housecommissioned an artist to create
a giant number two pencil outof this, out of this piece of
wood.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yes, so it is actually.
So it is actually in the groundas a full tree.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yes, yes, it's a tree .
It's still a real tree, it'snot Wow.
Yeah, and he had.
It's a tree, it's still a realtree, it's not wow.
Yeah, and he had.
He carved it on site becausethey were talking about that.
He could have just cut it down,took it to his you know
workshop, yeah, and then, andthen brought it back.
No, he carved it, painted itand sculpted it right in that
front yard.
So it is such a cool thing.
That's a cool thing in itself,but every year at this time they

(07:02):
have a ceremony, they have aritual where they decide to
sharpen the pencil.
So I went to the pencilsharpening ceremony.
They had a gigantic, humongoussharpener.
They had people dressed aspencils dancing.
It was Prince's birthday, sothey were shooting out purple

(07:22):
smoke everywhere.
There was people that decidedto ask the pencil questions, so
the kids submitted questions andthen there was a pencil
interpreter to ask the pencilquestions.
Like one of the questions.
The kids was does it hurt whenyou get sharpened?
And the answer was no, it'sjust simply like a haircut,
haircut.
Yeah Anyway, it was so awesome.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
So I saw this, josh, on your social media.
You posted that on your I thinkit was Instagram, you posted on
as well, and even on TikTok aswell.
Brilliant, it looked fantastic,it had a DJ there and
everything.
But do they actually physicallysharpen the pencil or do they
just so they actually cut off?
So, literally, this giantpencil is actually getting
shorter each year.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
The yes, it's a sacrifice.
The artist was, like you know,in biblical times.
This is a ritual.
In biblical times theysacrifice animals.
We don't do that anymore, so wehave to sacrifice the part of
the pencil and I understand likesomeday it'll just be a nub,
but that's a part of it, that'sa part of the pencil.
And and the artist had thislike super inspirational, like

(08:29):
speech where he said wow,through the whole year we have,
we have written notes to oneanother and we've written in the
margins, metaphorically, andthrough this year, the our
pencil has gotten dull and wetake time to sharpen it, to
better ourselves, to make usbetter humans as we go further
into this year.
It was so inspirational.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, that sounds quite cool, and sharpen your
mind while you're there as well.
You see, yes, but I'm thinking,josh, just the sheer size of it
and literally how much theyshave off.
It wouldn't be that much thatthey shave off around the top.
Therefore, I'm thinking yourgreat great great grandchildren
may, may see the nub, but youdefinitely will not see the nub

(09:11):
they said it's about eightinches every year that they oh
oh, I think that's eight inchesa lot really when you think
about yeah yeah wow wow, it wasreally cool, and there I didn't
say this.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
It sounds like a quirky thing that maybe like you
, you know, a handful of peopleshow up at.
Yeah, oh my gosh, Craig.
It was a party.
There were probably 3000 peoplethere.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
Did they have to close the street down?
Everything is in these guys.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
No no, but that became a problem because, the
people block the street.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
They would have just put the police should have
showed up.
Uh, you know, they would haveliterally.
Okay, the police would haveblocked the streets in the end
after all that because theycouldn't move that many people
on.
No, but yeah, no, there was adj, the party, I mean.
They even had these guysdressed up in pencils doing the.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
The pencil trust fall and stuff yeah, their trust
fall, their pencils diving.
It was so, it was so me, youknow I love I love a roadside
attraction, but to have a wholecelebration around a roadside
attraction?
I was in the front row and Iwas so close to catching the
shavings.
The kids catch the shavings oh,so you can actually catch

(10:17):
shavings as well shavings falloff, wow, and the kids are like
surrounding it trying to catch ashaving what happens is
shavings is a little bit toolarge and it's clunk on their
heads.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, who gets sued?
Then?
Wow, the pencil gets sued.
I know.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Oh well, anyway, that was a good upgrade.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
That was a big, good upgrade, josh.
So what's been your delay thisweek, if that's been the upgrade
?

Speaker 1 (10:45):
So the pencil is in somebody's front lawn and this
is.
This is connected, because myfront lawn is looking a little
shaggy, why my lawnmower brokeoh, that's my delay.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Oh, from one to another fix it's kind of
segwayed in with the yeah I knowfront yeah, yeah it works.
You did well.
You did well.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
You know very good oh , and the blade needs to get
sharpened in my lawnmower.
There you go.
There's another segue for you,there's two.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
That's a double Look at you.
Anyone call your podcaster fromnow on.
Wow, we're on fire.
Anyway, George, that's ourupgrades and our delays.
Let's move on now to the actualthe duck's guts of the show.
I know you like me saying thatwhich is all about the USA and
their rest stops.
Now, Josh, why?
Why did we pick a show aboutrest stops?

(11:31):
First and foremost?

Speaker 1 (11:32):
Well, you know we love our good road trips.
I mean, your whole life is onebig road trip, greg, and when
you're on the road, I love agood rest stop because you know
like the bathrooms are cleantypically.
Yeah, there's sometimes reallycool things to see there.
Sometimes there's food, there'soften geocaches.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah, at rest stops Almost every one is a geocache
somewhere.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah, yeah, yes, for sure, they're typically, you
know, safe.
There's fun things to see anddo.
Often they're used.
You know they're owned by thestate that they're in yes, they
use it as a feature.
Sometimes there's museums there, sometimes there's certainly
often historical markers there,so a good rest stop is an

(12:22):
essential great part of a trip.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, and you think about it as well.
The safety mechanism most forme, being ex-police officer as
well and that is to get out andwalk around.
After you know, we have inAustralia this whole thing two
hours every two hours you mustrest, revive, survive, and
that's the whole saying inAustralia.
And, yeah, you shouldn't driveany more than two hours at a
time.
Before you get out of your carand walk around the car at
minimum, uh, let alone theserest stops.

(12:49):
And when I say safety, there'sthe safety in you, you know,
keeping awake and not fallingasleep at the wheel.
But there's also the safety inthe fact that most of the rest
stops are very well lit.
Some of them have securityguards there.
So you, you find you can walkaround a rest stop, josh, and
most rest stops, especially inthe us, have munzee walks all
around the actual light polesand all that sort of stuff too.
So you can really you can getsome points, you know, and and

(13:12):
actually do a dedicated walk.
But but, as you said before,josh, some have like museums.
I'm currently in a rest stop aswe speak, so I'm in wisconsin,
wisconsin cheese.
I got some cheese today.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Cheese and beer.
Cheese and beer.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Cheese and beer.
I digress, but this rest stop,josh, it's like a military sort
of rest stop area and an homageto the military and the police,
and actually you walk throughthis beautiful bushland area,
over this, this beautiful bridge, and out onto this massive, big
, gorgeous overlook that youdon't see at all from from the

(13:49):
rest stop or anywhere.
It's actually, you know, halfmile or so hike into the bush,
um, but it's well covered andstuff as well, um.
So of course there's a munzeethere at that location.
Then you are up further.
There's a little old beatentrack.
You can go up the old beatentrack and there's a geocache up
the top there as well too.
So I got those today.
Get out of the car, the van andstretch the legs, go for the

(14:11):
walk.
Fresh air, sunshine, nothingbeats it, mate.
Nothing beats it too.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
I've been at that rest stop.
I have taken that hike andgotten that cache.
Oh, you have it was one ofthose situations where
somebody's waiting back at thecar and then you're halfway up
the hill and you're like, oh mygosh, this is going to take me
longer than I thought.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
It's not an LPC, uh-uh it was a hike.
It's a hike, but yeah, sothat's the one I'm at at the
moment.
That's the one I am.
You know exactly where I am.
Oh, that's another thing.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
That's another thing to note.
But then also, if you have adog, a lot of them have dog
walking areas that aredesignated for dogs too.
So the American rest area is atravel factor, and so we are
going to rate our top 10.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yes, yes, because we've been to a few, josh Our
top 10.
We've been to quite a few.
We've been absolutely quite afew Our top 10.
Our top 10 also consists of theones we've been involved with,
but also the ones that friendsof ours have told us as well.
There's one rest stop, josh,that I've seen all over social
media, it's coming up later onin the show, all over social
media, and it's one that I'venever, ever, been to, but it's

(15:17):
on my radar to go to.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
So, yeah, it's coming up later on.
And here's the thing Some ofthese I think actually two of
these have been possibly entriesin roadside attractions or
we've talked about them on theshow before.
Yeah, yeah, and here's thething these are not.
This is not a show aboutroadside attractions, but
however, there can be a roadsideattraction inside of a rest

(15:39):
stop, absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
I mean there's even, I think, the Jolly Green Giant,
for instance.
That's kind of a rest stop.
You know what I mean?
It's a little bit off thebeaten path, but there's
bathrooms there and stuff too.
So, absolutely, mate, do youwant to get on to our 10?
We're doing a top 10, aren't we?
Top 10.
Top 10.
Here we go, number.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Is it in particular order?
I'm looking at this list.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah, you kind of write it.

Speaker 1 (16:03):
I helped curate the list.
Yes, Yep.
And I think you know theselists are debatable, right it's?

Speaker 2 (16:09):
subjective it is subjective.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
But as I look at the list, I think I do believe that
they get better and better.
That's what I think.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yep, absolutely, and I'll say this as well Listen up
to all our listeners as well.
We, how many of these top 10have you actually been to?
So send us an email later on inthe show with which ones?
Just give us a number One to 10.
Yeah, or zero to 10.
It makes no difference.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
Or what rest stop are we missing?

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yes, That'd be good too.
That'd be good too.
All right, Josh, Number 10.
You can go first with the evens, if you like.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
All right.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Number to.
It's fairly close to me.
It's about, oh, I'd sayprobably some seven hours away,
eight hours away.
For me, I guess it's not fairlyclose.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
It's the state over.
It's a state over from my stateand that is in chamberlain,
south dakota.
It is the chamberlain rest area.
It is right on i-90 and this,this rest stop, is right on the
missouri, so it's right off thehighway.
Let's just say that some ofthese rest stops are owned by
the government, yep, and some ofthem are commercial.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
They're not owned by the government.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
This one is owned by the government, and one of the
things that makes a good restarea is the location, and the
location of this is beautiful.
It's up kind of on a hill andit's overlooking the missouri
river, and this is one of thosethat is really dedicated to
american history.
So inside this rest area thereis a essentially a museum about

(17:38):
lewis and clark, because lewisand clark uh sailed.
they didn't sail, they rodetheir boat, paddled they paddled
they paddled past here, um, andso there there is a tribute to
lewis and clark um, but there isthis really beautiful roadside
attraction.
It is a sculpture and it iscalled dignity of earth, and it

(18:00):
is a sculpture it's quite largeof a native woman and it's just,
it's kind of one of those.
It's a beautiful piece ofartwork and it's a fairly large
statue, um.
So that is a must must see andit just has a beautiful um trail
that gives beautiful looks ofthe of the river um, and I and I

(18:22):
do believe this place has verygood, reliable bathrooms because
it is run by the government.
I think this is a locationwhere there's always somebody
working there.
You mentioned that, craig.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yes, somebody is always there.
Yep, yep, absolutely.
I've seen so many yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah, as far as food goes, there's no restaurants
there and we're going to talkabout some that actually have
restaurants.
Yeah, it's just mainly vendingmachines, but there's.
It's a great place to stop andhave a picnic, yep, anything
else that that I didn't cover.
That you, uh, because I don'tknow if you've been to this one,
have you, I think I certainlyhave.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
Yeah, I don't think I've actually been to the south
dakota one.
I've been to it all the waythrough North Dakota because
when I went across, I wentdirectly across North Dakota and
then came south and went pastand through the Enchanted
Highway Remember, we've had thaton one of the episodes as well
yeah, and so I came south viaEnchanted Highway, then through
South Dakota and then intoWyoming and I saw a good friend,

(19:21):
dave Smile Makers, in Wyoming.
So that's the route that I took.
So I didn't actually do theI-90.
I did the one in North Dakotainstead.
So, yes, and when you say aswell, josh, you see the signs as
you come up to these rest areas, and they actually say and I
had to work out what it was,obviously you know I'm not
American.
So it says something about dotcare.
What's dot care, care, what'sdot care?

(19:48):
Is that department of transport?
Yeah, dot dot is department oftransport, transport, yeah, so
that's when you know it'sgovernment owned itself.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
So yes, exactly, and they usually have like a brown
sign yeah, that's yeah, as anarrest stop, yeah.
One more thing I'll say too the50 foot.
By the way, the native woman,the, the sculpture, the dignity
of earth, is 50 feet tall.
That is very large, large, butyou will see it from the road,
from i-90, because for yearsthere's been a tp sculpture

(20:12):
there so oh yeah yeah, the wholething is themed native american
and then also lewis and clark.
So this is uh, this is a greatkind of history.
Beautiful location.
If you're driving to, it's onthe way to the black Hills of of
South Dakota.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
Right, right.
Is this the one with the?
The?
Actually the woman, and she'sgot a geocache under a skirt.
Is that the one or is thatwrong?
No, that's different.
Again, I'm picturing somethingdifferent.
No, that's Pocahontas.
That's different.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
It's a Pocahontas statue in Pocahontas, Iowa.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
Iowa.
Oh gosh, when you travel somuch, it all molds into one.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
But yeah, there is a June Cash under her skirt.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Exactly, mate.
I'm going to move on to numbernine, and this one's called the
Sunset Point Rest Area.
It's in Arizona.
Yes, the hot desert of Arizona.
Now this one here.
I've been to this one as well,it is true.
Yeah, I've absolutely been tothis one.
It's a really really nice reststop and one of the reasons why
it's really nice too is becauseit's all fully air-conditioned

(21:13):
inside so you can go inside theactual, because all new
renovations as well, all newinside.
You go in and you get some nicecool air conditioning to get
out of that desert heat, as weall know what, uh, what arizona
is kind of like as well.
Um, but one of the best parts,josh, is the time of day in
which you go there.
Yes, if like me, because youknow I'll pull into a rest up,

(21:33):
just sometimes I'll, I'll makethe rest stop my destination for
the night and I'll pull into arest stop, josh, sometimes I'll
make the rest stop mydestination for the night and
I'll pull in.
Sometimes.
Today I pulled in at 2 o'clockthis afternoon, 2 pm, I pulled
into the rest stop.
I'm staying here the entirenight.
You're allowed to in 99.9% ofthe actual rest stops, unless
they're dedicated otherwise, asthey say.
So, yeah, I pulled in at like 2o'clock in the afternoon.
I went for my walk andeverything as well.

(21:54):
But this one here, josh, if youcan be here during the what do
you call it?
The golden hour, the sunsethour?
Golden hour with the sunset andthe panoramic views I think
it's the Bradshaw Mountains iswhere you can actually look out
over the Bradshaw Mountains asthe sun sets behind them itself.
It just gives it that glow.
It's beautiful, josh, you knowwhat you're like with Instagram

(22:17):
and stuff as well, so it'sabsolutely Instagram-worthy
pictures et cetera, that's forsure.
Now, when it comes to food, asyou said before, again it's just
vending machines and snacks anddrinks.
But I do like with these oneswhere they've got the picnic
tables undercover and stuff aswell, so you can get out of
there in some shade and if youpack a picnic with your family
and stuff too, I do like good,fresh, clean picnic tables as

(22:40):
well to get out of the carsometimes.
So that's Sunset Point Rest.
Have you been to this one, Josh, in Arizona?

Speaker 1 (22:45):
I have not.
How are the bathrooms?
Bathrooms are very clean.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
It's brand new.
It's brand new, so the bathroomis always going to be clean
there for the time being.
Yeah, brand spanking new.
But also when, uh, when I'vebeen, when I was there as well.
There's animals there too,desert and josh, like wildlife,
lizards and hawks, and the birdlife is really nice too.
Even though he's still in thedesert area, he is there.
You can still see him, if you,if you sit, relax and just

(23:10):
observe, get off your phone, getoff any device, put your feet
up and relax and you'll see.
You'll see what's going onaround you.
That's good for anything, to behonest with you.
So, yeah, that's the rest areain Arizona.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
This one's similar, different sort of topography,
but this one also seems to bevery much about the location,
location, location.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
All right, should we move on?

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (23:36):
I'll do the next one, number eight.
I thought you absolutely.
I'll do the next one, numbereight.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
I thought you're moving on to the next one
because the next one's got agreat location location location
as well.
Okay, okay, number eight numbereight.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
I've been to this location.
I don't know if I've been tothis rest stop, however, but
maybe you have craig.
Yeah, and this is the westernnew york welcome center in, uh,
the new york thoroughway, andthis is, I believe, right
outside of niagara falls is thatcorrect yep, yep or close to
niagara falls, and so this I Ihave not been there.

(24:07):
Yeah, I looked up some of theyoutube videos of this place.
Craig, this place is classy yesyes, it is, it's classy yeah
we're not talking.
We're not talking just vendingmachines.
We're talking like, like, fancy, like, yes, new york market
artisan snacks like yeah um.
Have you been here?

Speaker 2 (24:28):
yes, yes, and the reason for it, josh, is you said
it and when you actuallymentioned it as well, you said
rest stop and welcome center.
As soon as there's a welcomecenter involved in these rest
stops, they go to the next level, I feel and so that's what this
place is as well.
It's got the whole welcomecenter there, which then has the
, sometimes has the food courtsand stuff like too.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
So yeah, yeah, and I'm sure you know niagara falls
is fairly touristy too.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
This place in my research alsohas historical exhibits.
It has murals.
This is fun for the kids.
It has a shipwrecked-themedplayground.
So it's like a playground,that's like a ship.

(25:05):
Your kids can pretend to be theGoonies, for example, and then
in there there's also a NiagaraFalls virtual experience.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
What do you think that is Craig?
Oh, I didn't see that one whenI was there.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
A Niagara Falls Virtual Experience.
Oh, what do you think that isCraig?

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Oh, I didn't see that one when I was there, a Niagara
Falls Virtual Experience.
That would be like if it'sinside the Welcome Center itself
.
You go inside the WelcomeCenter and have, like you know,
along a wall or something, maybelike a video monitor through
the wall or something the actualof the Niagara Falls like a
webcam.
You know, screen possiblypossibly.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah, so this is very classy.
As far as the bathrooms, myresearch with the bathrooms is
that the building is inspired bythe frank lloyd wright inspired
building.
It's upscale and it's just,it's pristine.
So the restrooms again here.
Fancy, this is fancy.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
Fancy pants, yeah, pants yep, yep, yep, no, it
absolutely is, and well worth,uh, well worth the stop too, um,
before or after you visitniagara falls.
So, but I think predominantlyit's before, because you're
going towards niagara falls, ifI do believe so.
But then again, is some ofthese rest stops, josh, they're
either in the center of thehighway or there's.
There's ways you can get tothem, these big ones, like we're

(26:13):
saying, there's ways to getthem from either north or south,
or east or west.
Whichever direction you'regoing from, you can always
should be able to get to one ofthese rest stops that we're
talking about here too.
So this one, josh, I'm going tomove on if you're ready to move
on.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
This one's kind of similar.
This one's a little bit similar.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
It's similar because this one here it's in Beckley,
it in the name marketplace, notjust a rest area, it's a
marketplace.
It's built, though, for hightraffic, so it is actually a
rest area.
It's got a good-sized parkinglot area et cetera as well.

(26:48):
But, josh, this is a wholecomplex now we're talking about
we're talking food here.
We're talking arts and crafts,we're talking culture tours,
we're talking galleries, we'retalking pottery.
We're talking pottery, quilts,painting.
This is classy, classy stuff aswell oh my gosh, there's live
glass blowing.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yes have you ever seen live glass blowing?

Speaker 2 (27:06):
that's really absolutely that's really cool,
and I actually watch a netflixshow on glass blowing too.
That's really cool too, um, butuh, yeah, the music
performances as well, fromnormally from local bands as
well.
They play there too.
So this is like it is a full-onmarketplace per se, so some
people don't just stop here togo to the bathroom, for instance
.
They locals will stop here aswell, so you know what I mean.

(27:28):
So it's a meeting place forlocals as well as tourists alike
too.
So, yes, that's what I likeabout it too.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
There is a full-service restaurant and you
know, Craig, we were just inWest Virginia and so this is
very familiar.
This is what they feature withfood the pepperoni rolls.
I am ashamed to say that wedidn't.
I didn't have any pepperonirolls, you did.
How were they?

Speaker 2 (28:02):
I did on Sunday.
I had an original pepperoniroll, because it's very
different to the pepperoni rollsthat I can kind of see that
were okay.
Not, they're not fake pepperonirolls, but they're the, the
touristy pepperoni rolls.
You know, these pepperoni rollswere actually made on a like a
homemade bread sort of style,which was cut, you know,
directly down the center andthey had this pepperoni mix in
the middle.
So it wasn't interesting, itwasn't the pepperoni roll like
you think about.
You know, literally physicalbits of pepperoni and it's
rolled up into like a dough andthen that dough is baked.

(28:24):
That's what I first thoughtabout it.
But no, these here, they'veactually their pepperoni mix in
the middle of these freshly cutroll.
So that's the pepperoni rollsthat I had.
Apparently that was one of theoriginal ones.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yes, yeah.
And then the other thing thatthey feature there is a rainbow
trout.
Oh, is it trout?

Speaker 2 (28:43):
That's local.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Appalachian fare.
Oh, true, true Rainbow trout.
So again Tamarack Marketplacein Beckley, west Virginia.
This is class.
This is a classy rest stop.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, yeah, and our West virginian friends too, josh
like danny and danny or buckeyecasher car, so they might know
about this one too, being fromwest.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, they probably do yeah, exactly and I'm
guessing it looks like there'salso some outdoor sculptures
which just shouts, shouts.
Adventure labs there's gotta bea venture lab there screams,
adventure lab screams it.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
So because if you don't know uh, we don't know
what we're talking about.
Adventure Labs is likegeocaching, but there's no
actual physical container tofind.
It's all done on an app on yourphone and you get to a location
.
You must answer a question inregards to the location that the
user has set up, and once youanswer it correctly, you then
get a find for your geocachingaccount.
But there's no actual containerto find, like a box or peel

(29:36):
bottle or any of that sort ofstuff too.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
So all right, are you ?
Ready to move on six, oh,always number six.
Number six is our first truckstop.
Now there's rest stops, yeah,there's truck stops, yeah, and
there's welcome centers, that Ithink that's like the three kind
of categories, three main onestruck stops, welcome centers,
and I forgot what was the lastone.
I said rest areas rest areas andand there's also like private,

(30:03):
privately owned complexes, yes,and we'll get to that as well.
So this one is the jubits truckstop in outside of portland
oregon or in portland oregon,and I I have not been here.
I've been to portland oregon,but I have not been here yeah um
, but this, this sounds likekind of your typical sort of

(30:24):
truck stop.
Yeah, okay, but it feels likewe're gonna get to another truck
stop later, yeah, but thisfeels like kind of like a mini
village.
Get this, get this.
This is some of the things youcan do at this truck stop.
Karaoke there's a things youcan do at this truck stop.
Karaoke there's a karaoke.
You can do karaoke.
Craig, you can sing your go-tosong, or should I say speak your

(30:47):
go-to song.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
I come from a land down under.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yes, I do yes, yes exactly that's the one.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
But you think about it, joshua, these truck stops,
these are literally for truckers.
They are, and they're there forthem to rest overnight,
normally as well.
So normally they've got reallygood overnight stops locations
for their trucks and theirtrailers.
I never really try and stop ina truck stop because mostly
those trucks are running allnight long, which can get a

(31:15):
little bit loud for my van.
But other than that, though, Ido like a good truck stop.
And, josh, not only that, whoknows, who knows these truckers,
they might have a beautifulvoice for this karaoke, because
they can probably sing tothemselves all day long as
they're driving down thehighways.
That's right.
So what else does it have apartfrom the karaoke?

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Okay, get this.
It has a 52-seat movie theaterat a truck stop and I looked
this up.
They do six.
This is a deal, craig.
$6 movies, really $6 movies,wow.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
I wonder if you can actually watch the movie like
whatever movie you pick, or isit they've actually got
screening times?
No, I think it's an excellentmovie theater, so I think they
show current, current releases,I believe, and screening I don't
know that yes, wow, exactly.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
Um, there is a lounge and diner called the ponderosa
lounge and in this obviouslythey have food, all that stuff,
but there's country music anddancing this is a good time,
that's, this is a good time umthere's also an art in portland
oregon that's.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
That's interesting as well, because that's I mean,
it's a truck stop, it's a truck,these truckers are coming from
all over most of them are fromtexas, right?
Everything's bigger in texas,that's right.
So maybe?

Speaker 1 (32:29):
um, there's a driver's lounge with arcade
games.
A lot of these trucks out tohave arcades, um, and then
there's a pool like a swimmingpool.
Wow yeah, in the driver'slounge apparently.
So this sounds to me like atruck driver's heaven.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
Yes, yes, and see a lot of these truck stops, actual
real truck stops.
Love's, for instance, is one ofthe big truck stops across the
US as well, whereby you canactually pay for a decent shower
, and it's a shower that's inyour own locked room.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Have shower, and it's just a shower, that's, you're
in your own locked room.
Have you ever done a shower,josh, at a truck stop?
At all?
I haven't, but we're gonna getto.
We're gonna get to another oneof these that has something even
better oh, you're gonna love it.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
I'll just quickly say , in regards to truck stops and
showers in general, they, they,sometimes they are a bit pricey.
You know they're between 10 12dollars, um.
So for a shower you think, oh,that's a bit pricey.
But you know, you, you bookyour shower, you pay for it, you
get your ticket and then itcalls you out.
You know, you know ticketnumber 33 in um shower number I
was ready showers, ready numberthree.
And so you go in there, closethe door behind you, you got a

(33:27):
full bathroom area and I'mtalking huge, normally bathroom
area, like three times the sizeof a normal bathroom.
You've got beautiful showers inthere.
They're very fresh, very cleanitself as well, because they
clean, cleaned out after everyperson, uh, has not had their
shower too, which is really nice.
So you can take your time inthere.
You can have a shave if youneed to have a shave, you know
you can go to the bathroom.
You need to go to the bathroomand then have a decent, hot,

(33:50):
good shower, because sometimesthey are hard to find on the
road, josh.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
So so you know that's really interesting to hear and
I believe it because I've heardthat before.
But initially, whenever Ithought about, whenever I walked
into a truck stop and I sawthat they had showers, all I
could think was that must be themost disgusting place on earth.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
But it's not, no, it's not they, they've got it.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
They've got a system.
They got probably somebody.
Their job is to clean it.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Yeah absolutely, they've got a cleaner there
full-time, like you know.
Uh, you know, on a shift work,you know, full-time cleaner
there.
So, yeah, absolutely.
So it's really good, reallygood.
All right, josh, we're gonnamove on now to, uh, utah, utah.
Have you been to this one?

Speaker 1 (34:30):
utah along route 89 I mean I don't think I have.
I've been to utah but I haven't.
I don't know if I've been hereand actually I know I haven't
been here because I've looked atthe pictures.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Oh my gosh, If you look at the pictures of this
place.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
You're going to be like oh my God, this is heaven.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
This place.
Although there's not manyamenities, we'll say what is
first, bear Lake Rest Area andOverlook on Route 89 in Utah.
And yes, the restrooms are veryclean there, you know, vending
machine only, so you don't havethat big restaurant sort of
style.
But the main thing here is theviews.
We're talking about the waterview, blue water views in Utah,

(35:08):
josh, it's high up in the desertand most people go there just
literally for the views and toget out and do the panoramic
photo.
You know how you do yourpanoramic photo all the way
across and stuff.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
So you need panoramic photos all the way through.
You can do selfies and stuff aswell.
So, yeah, that's that's thisone here, Josh.
Um, you have a question?

Speaker 1 (35:29):
I don't, oh, I don't I'm just listening, no questions
.
I'm just listening to you, butI'll just say this uh, I think
the reason I we have ranked thisso high, yeah it's because many
travelers say that this is themost beautiful rest stop they've
ever seen yeah, yeah, it's theviews, it's the views, yeah, and

(35:51):
bear lake, if you, and BearLake, if you look it's huge.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
It's gigantic.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's in themountains, that's right
Mountains lake beauty.
Yep, it's the place to go andthere's nothing there because
it's a Bear Lake, but anywaythere's also hiking.
I know there's also hikingtrails that you can do from, so
you can park the car there,leave the car there itself and
do the hiking trails all the waythrough and down towards the

(36:14):
Bear Lake.
So I do believe forgive me ifI'm wrong, but I think there may
be a little beach thing you cango down there onto the lake as
well, nearby, I think, it said.
Yeah, yeah, nearby there's likea beach sort of area which you
can hike down to as well, sothat would be really, really
nice.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
So, yeah, this one's on my list josh for the views
alone.
So absolutely for the viewsalone.
I'll say this, though for foodit's only vending machines yes,
machines, but that's okay, it's.
I mean, come on, this is themost beautiful place for a
picnic I was gonna say picnics,and that's what rest stops are
mostly used for.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
I've seen all the time, josh, when I go through
the rest areas all across the us.
Nothing you nothing warms myheart more than to seea
beautiful young family with twoyoung kids, or three young kids,
et cetera, and the kids are outand they're playing around with
a ball or something, and thenthey all come out and sit at the
picnic table, no devices intheir hands.
All of them are sitting therehaving a beautiful picnic in the

(37:06):
sun or in the shade or whatever, and they're all talking and
laughing with one another.
That is really nice to see, andyou see it often, josh.
I actually see it often on roadtrips.
That's nice.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
Yes, and people that are taking road trips.
I mean, they're not flyingright, so they're trying to
pinch their pennies, right?

Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah exactly.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
A picnic is way cheaper than going to a grocery
store.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
It's way cheaper than eating out all the time it's
grocery stores way cheaper thanthan eating out all the time
it's.
It's cheaper than mcdonald'snowadays too.
You think about mcdonald'strips these days for two two
adults and three kids.
Wow yes, you know compared towhat the yester yesteryear was.
So we're gonna move on.
Josh to number four.
Oh my god is a big one.
This is a big one.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
This is gonna be controversial yes, I know,
because there are gonna be somepeople listening to saying I.
There are going to be somepeople saying this should be
number one.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
Oh, that's true, but it's number four.
Four, yeah, but then againwhat's going to be?
Three, one, two and three, thenthat's what they.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
Yeah, they're going to be good.
So number four is we've talkedabout it many- a times.
You have visited many times.
I visited many, many.
I think I've been to a Buc-ee's.
Oh, I just revealed that Ithink I've been to a Buc-ee's
three or four times.
It is Buc-ee's, buc-ee's, theBuc-ee's gas station in mostly
in Texas, but beyond variouslocations, and let's just say

(38:24):
Buc-ee's is expanding.
Rumor is that there's going tobe one in Wisconsin.
You said there's another one.
They're building somewhere,Wisconsin.
I mean that's pretty far north,that's north north.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
Apparently, the rumor has it they're building one in
New Jersey as well.
But, josh, before we move on,do you know?
There's 51 Bucky locations intotal across the US?
Wow, 51 in total, and this isas of June 10th.
So they'll be building more aswe go June 10th 2025,.
if you're listening, yeah, yeah,oh, 2025.
True, true, they're spreadacross nine different states.
Texas has 36 stalls in Texasalone, wow, but there's also

(38:58):
ones in Alabama, florida,Georgia, kentucky, south
Carolina, tennessee, missouriand Colorado.
So I think I've been to all ofthose, except I haven't been to
Colorado, and that's all Ihaven't been to all the ones in
texas.

Speaker 1 (39:14):
But yeah, so my, my theory, not my theory.
My life rule is you never passup a bucky no, I don't care if
you don't need to go.
I don't care if you don't needto go to the bathroom.
I don't care if you're nothungry, I don't care if you
don't need gas.
No, you never skip no a bucky's.
No, you never skip a Buc-ee's.
No, you never skip a Buc-ee's.
You can't, even though they'reall the same.
They're so kind of Kind of.

(39:36):
We just saw one.
I just saw one in I can'tremember where we I mean we
might have been together whereit was like the world's largest
car wash.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
It was so long yeah that was yeah, it was the
world's largest car wash.
Yeah, we were there together.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Where was that?
I can't remember where we were.
We were in Texas.
Yeah, that's right, Texas.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Yeah, that was a good one.
I just picked it up from theairport.
We're on our way, okay.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
So, first thing, first thing.
We're going to go back andforth on this.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
We're going to spend some time on this time the
restrooms, craig.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
Believe the hype.
Believe the hype.
These are the most cleanestbathrooms in America.
They brag of it and it's also,I believe, true.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Absolutely true, and the reason for it, Josh, is so
Buc-ee's actually pay theirstaff really really well, and
I'm talking forgive me if I'mwrong, because I'm just pulling
this out of somewhere where itshouldn't be but I think they're
paying like $22, $23 an hour.
If you're a bathroom attendant,what you do as a bathroom
attendant is well, first andforemost, these bathrooms, Josh.

(40:43):
If you haven't been to aBucky's before, we're talking
over 50, if you're in the men'sroom, because I've never been in
the women's, so many men's room, because I've never been in the
women's so many.
You go in the men's room, you'retalking over 50 stalls almost,
and each stall itself isseparated with a closed
individual door like, but it'sfully enclosed.
It's not the, it's not theamerican doors where there's,
you know, two or three inchesgap.
There's no gaps in these doors.
You know these are actuallyhigh quality doors.

(41:04):
You've got, you know, 30 or 40urinals at the same time.
Then normally down the centeris where you've got all your
hand washing basin areas with amirror and towels and stuff too,
but there's always an employeein the bathroom.
As soon as the employee seessomeone.
I mean, I wouldn't like to do it, josh, to be honest with you as
soon as someone sees someonecoming out of one of the
cubicles they go in and clean itup and to make sure that

(41:25):
there's no things left behind,so to speak Streaks, skid marks,
whatever you want to call themleft behind, and make sure the
toilet paper is filled correctly.
The whole lot so that's thereason for it, josh is that
there's full-time bathroomattendants, male and female, in
these bathrooms too.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
Last time I went I was at the location close to
Bowling Green and my mom I waswith my mom, yeah, and she had
never been to a bucky's and Iforced her.
I said, mom, you gotta go tothe bathroom.
She's like I don't have to goto the bathroom, no, you have to
go.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Just go in there and have a drink.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
Just go in there and go there and have a seat, just
enjoy yourself just have a seat,have a rest, squeeze one out.
Yeah, something might happen.
I don't know.
But you got to experience thecleanest bathrooms in america
poor mrs johnson yeah, all right, craig, let's talk about the
food oh my gosh brisket on theboard brisket on the board I'm

(42:25):
saying it like with a youraccent you are.
Well, that was actually anenglish accent, but that's okay,
I'll take it what does it meanwhen, when the people that work
at bucky say brisket on theboard, what, what is happening?

Speaker 2 (42:38):
so what's actually happening then is the fresh
brisket is actually coming outof the oven smoker, wherever it
is that they're bringing it outfrom, and they, they put it,
they literally jiggle it on, andyou, when you see, they slap it
on the board and it's a cutting, big cutting board in the
middle of the actual store.
That's when they say brisket onthe board, because it's fresh
brisket on the board, and theneveryone, all the other staff,
say brisket on the board,brisket on the board.

(42:59):
So everyone knows in the storethere's fresh brisket and you
can smell the brisket too.
Josh, it's a barbecue, texan,smell like it's good brisket and
so what they do with thebrisket, that depends on what
they need.
But they'll slice the brisketfor the sliced brisket
sandwiches, um, or they'll.
They'll shred the brisket, sofor the shredded brisket
sandwiches, you know so.
And then they make up all thedifferent fresh sandwiches, uh,

(43:21):
for with these briskets as well.
But they don't have justbrisket.
They've got chicken there,they've got turkey turkey yes,
they've got all the pork, thewhole yep, the whole.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
I would.
I would argue the turkey isjust as good.
The barbecue turkey with thebarbecue sauce.
Oh my gosh, if you go here, Imean I would encourage people to
don't eat like, but this is aplace where you can eat and have
a meal like you get yoursandwich, just go out to the
parking lot.
That's what we do, craig yeah,you tailgate it.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
You tailgate, I didn't know what tailgating was
until I came to the USA.
We don't do tailgating inAustralia, really yeah, because
we don't have our utes don'tfall, we don't sit on the back
of the actual ute wall.
You call it a trough here.

Speaker 1 (44:02):
We don't do that sort of thing in Australia.
So no, no, we don't tail.
They have a wide jerkyselection Huge jerky selection.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
Huge jerky selection, huge Teriyaki.
Yes, what do you call it?
Peppercorn, peppercorn and allthe different types of jerky you
can imagine.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
So yeah, they have fudge Mm-hmm.
If you like soda, they havealmost every kind of soda, just
like the rows and a huge row ofof soda and it's cheap.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
The soda is their cheapest thing till to this day.
Even you get an extra largesoda.
We're talking like a bucket,almost, of soda for, like you
know, a dollar something.
A dollar plus tax is ridiculoushow cheap it is.
But, um, yeah, the soda, josh.
But I think you, personally,you are a fan.
I'm not a fan of this, josh.
Okay, I don't know if youbelieve it or not, but I'm not a
fan of this, josh.
I don't know if you believe itor not, but I'm not a fan of

(44:52):
this.
And it is the.
What do you call them, thoselittle popcorn-y things?
What are they called, josh?
Oh, my gosh, nuggets orsomething.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
This is the best Beaver nuggets.
The beaver nuggets, the beavernuggets are so good I always
have to get the beaver nuggets.
I always have to get them.
And basically what the beavernuggets are, it's like caramel,
puff corn.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
Oh, puff corn, that's what it is.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
That's what it is.
You know puff corn.
It's caramel puff corn, butit's the Bucky's caramel puff
corn it's beaver nuggets yeah.
It's so pop.
These beaver nuggets are sopopular, people sell them on
TikTok.
I get ads for people sayinghave beaver nuggets sent to your
house?
I live in Minnesota.
There's not a Bucky's near me.
I need my beaver nuggets.

(45:35):
They're really tasty.
And then there's desserts.
I mean, we could go on and on.
Have you had the desserts, josh?
Yeah, they have cups, is itcups?
It's like a kiwi pie cup.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah , exactly Key lime pie, key lime
pie they've got.
They've got banana pudding ones,they've got like a uh, a
chocolate mousse with uh, withum oreo crumbles through it too,
like oh man, and then the cream.
If you've got a sweet tooth,yeah, bucky's is a place to go
as well for the sweet tooth.
But not only that, josh.
Every single bucky so far I'vebeen to, except for bar one, has

(46:12):
had a five-stage adventure labin buckies as well.
So it's been really cool.
You will find that a lot of theactual um munsies or geocaches
as well, they've actually beenremoved from buckies because
buckies are so high end withtheir staff that their staff
always, always, always out inthe parking lots cleaning
everything, and so they theyclean off any QR codes.

(46:32):
They see someone hidingsomething under a lambskin, they
go what's that?
And get rid of it.
So it's very rare that youactually find anything physical
geocaching related at a Buc-ee's.
But Adventure Labs, hey,they're virtual, so why not?
They're really cool.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
Some fun things to do .
Every Buc-y's has a giantbeaver statue.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
Bucky beaver statue we didn't say, we didn't say.
That's the reason why becausethe uh bucky's is a beaver,
their, their logo their brand isbeaver, beaver, the bucky the
beaver.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
So everyone has a beaver statue.
If you're lucky, there's likethe person dressed like in a
furry costume of bucky I've I'veexperienced bucky walking
around 90 of the time thebucky's walking around.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
90 of the time.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
90 of the time I've been there, he's walking around,
so yes, yep, yep, yep, and youcan get bucky's branded
everything swimsuits.
Yeah, you name it.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
You name it, you can get it josh, you can get goliath
a little jacket a, a Bucky'sjacket for his.
Oh yeah, absolutely AnythingDog related.
There's everything dog related,everything Dog bowls, you know
everything.
You name Bucky's.
Is there Stickers?
I mean I've got Bucky'sstickers throughout my van
itself as well, to try and provethat I've been to almost every

(47:45):
Bucky's that there is in the US,I know.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
So here's the thing.
I know you're sitting therethinking, come on, it's a gas
station.
I know, I was in the sameposition.
I was in the same place.
People told me about Buc-ee's.
I was like, okay, whatever,it's a gas station.
But then I went and I believethe hype.
I believe the hype.
People Believe the hype aboutBuc-ee's.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
Exactly, Josh.
How many gas pumps do you thinkBuc-ee's have on average?
How many do you think I would?

Speaker 1 (48:11):
guess over 100.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
Buc-ee's locations typically feature around 100 gas
pumps per station 100 gas pumpsper station.
The larger ones have over 120gas pumps per station.
And this is what's going toblow any Australian minds out
there, or even the UK minds aswell, and that is this gas

(48:37):
stations here in the USspredominantly.
You, where you, you park yourcar at the gas pump, you pump
the pump, the gas itself, andthen you leave the car there and
go into the store.
That same thing happens here atbucky's josh.
People use the gas pumps asthey just leave your.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
You can just leave that your car there, because
there's so many pumps.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
There's so many pumps .
People just like so many pumps.
People just like I didn't knowthat.
Yeah, some people even leavethe gas pump by itself and walk
in.
So but that's separate again,that's separate again.
So, yeah, all right, josh.
Moving on to number three.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
Right now, number three Okay, this next one we
have talked about before we havethis one is, uh, south of the
border in dillon, south carolinaoh, south of the border is the

(49:20):
name of it, not south of theborders in mexico but it's
mexican themed.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
Oh, in south carolina it's mexican themed wow so like
there's a.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
There's a.
You'll see from the distance agiant climbing tower of just
like a gigantic sombrero.
Basically, it's very quirky.
Why hasn't this?
been around at least, but anyway, I know, I cannot believe,
craig, that you have not beenhere because this is it's, it's
a, it's a comp, it's complex.
It's been there for 70 years,craig.

(49:51):
Wow, and the people have beenthere.
If you were there 70 years ago,they say it's very similar to
what it was 70 years ago, likeit hasn't changed do they
upgrade the pint at all on theon the sombrero?
yeah, this is what you call.
Yeah, exactly this is what youcall a tourist trap.
Okay, in all the best ways.

(50:12):
Okay, you can climb thegigantic Sombrero Tower.
Okay, you can climb it.
There's a mini amusement park.
I looked, I watched the videos,craig, there's mini golf.
There's mini golf.
Of course there's mini golf.
You know our mini golf, we loveit all right, I'm just good at
it.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
I don't love it.
I was good at it.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
Yeah, that's true, there's a reptile lagoon.
Okay, oh, there's the souvenirshop.
It has everything and anythingyou don't need but you want to
get, because it is weird,strange, amazing.
You're talking Americana.
This place is tacky, it'snostalgic.
It's weirdly wonderful, craig.

(50:49):
There's lots of places to eat.
There's a steak, craig.
There's lots of places to eat.
There's a steakhouse.
There's a taco joint.
There's an ice cream parlor.
Wow, I mean, this is just.
This is a road trip dream.

Speaker 2 (50:59):
In Dillon Dillon, south Carolina.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
Yeah, and it's Mexican themed in Dillon, South
Carolina.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
Yeah, I can honestly say, josh, I haven't actually
spent that much time in SouthCarolina, unfortunately, spent
that much time in south carolina.
Unfortunately, like I haven'tdone, I haven't done much time
up and down the south coast.
I've been predominantly in themidwest.
You know, a lot of my travelshave been, uh, south to north,
along and through the midwestitself, that's, I mean even even
the west.
You know, I haven't driven incalifornia, for instance, with
my van.
You know that sort of thing too, so I haven't even been over

(51:25):
that far yet.
I've literally been followingall the, the geocaching and
munzee big events throughout the, throughout the state.
So that's what I've been doingtoo.
So, yep, all right, josh, we'regonna move on yes, yes, but I'm
sure some of.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
Can I just say this?
I'm sure some of our listenershave been to south of the border
I actually think I think we'vehad people comment about this
when we've talked about itbefore.
Yeah, so this is somewhere weneed to get, but we're down to
the top two.
Top two, number two.
You introduce this one.
I think we've both been close.
We've been close, but I don'tthink we didn't go.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
We didn't go.
This was a botch.
How did we not go?
This is a botch, we didn't doour research, josh.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
This is a major botch .

Speaker 2 (52:06):
When we were at Geo Woodstock last year not the
recent one, but last year it wasin Flagstaff Arizona, and
that's where this one is.
It's called Little America inFlagstaff Arizona.
How did we not go to this one,josh?

Speaker 1 (52:18):
You know why we didn't go?
Why?
Because it's like a resort.
Oh, it's very classy.

Speaker 2 (52:24):
That's what it is.
We had our Airbnb, but this islike a classy resort.
So it's basically because theirtagline says Josh as well is
what happens when a hotel meetsa rest area.
So it's a great place tostretch your feet.
You get out there, stretch yourlegs, et cetera, as well, or
you're just passing through.
There's shaded pine, foresttrail systems as well.

(52:45):
You can even go in the outdoorpool, josh, but I think that's
for guests only, I do believe.
So that's maybe why we didn'tgo to this as well, because it
may have looked to us just likean actual hotel rather than a
rest stop.
So that's maybe the reason whywe didn't go.
But, josh, the food hereapparently the food is the
reason why you stopped, becauseit's very trucker friendly.

(53:07):
And then we know what truckerfriendly is like.
I know what trucker friendly islike.
I know what trucker friendly iswhen it comes to their
breakfast huge, big.
You know we're talking bacon,we're talking eggs, we're
talking hash browns, we'retalking pancakes.
You know the works is all onthe the breakfast.
But they have, uh, restaurantstyle meals.
But they've got 75 cent softserve cones.
Josh, I love old school, I lovethat old school 75.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Where can you get a soft serve ice cream cone for 75
cents?

Speaker 2 (53:33):
nowhere, not even mcdonald's ones are like three
bucks now wow, really, Iremember oh, I'm not gonna die I
remember, and that was a.
That was australian sense aswell, so it's very different.
So yeah, so this one here youshot josh's.
Apparently it's got a gift shopas well with all the
memorabilia.
It's got all the route maps aswell, because they're through
Flagstaff Route 66 sort of stuff.

(53:53):
So I can't believe we didn't go.
I think maybe because wethought it may have been part of
the hotel rather than arestaurant.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
Maybe that's the reason why.

Speaker 1 (54:02):
Can I say something, yeah, about, like the restroom
shower situation?
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, becauseyou're going to love this, craig
, this is why next time you'rethere, you're going to want to
stop.
I will, because this just shoutsCraig Shouts.
See my show.
Does it have a bath?
Does it have a bath?
Okay, yeah, I watched a YouTubevideo of a couple people that

(54:25):
have a YouTube channel abouttheir truckers.
Yeah, and they're visiting andand they're visiting and this
lady she was like this place hasthe most amazing baths that you
can rent.
So it's like you were talkingabout renting showers.
Yeah, this is she's like she'slike you can rent a bath, but
it's not just a, it's like ajacuzzi bath oh, I'm on my way.

(54:45):
I'm on my way, so it's likeit's like a hot tub, but a it's
a hot tub bath that you can rent.
And she's like this is themaybe.
This is why I rank this so high.
She's like this is the bestplace to take a shower or a bath
at a truck stop in America.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
Wow, yep, she said that and this is from a trucker.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
She knows, they know, they absolutely know, they
absolutely know.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
All right, josh, she knows, they know, they
absolutely know, they absolutelyknow.
All right, josh.
Moving on to number one, youcan take number one, josh.
What's drum roll, please?
Number one is the great stateof iowa, the birthplace of
joshua johnson, geocachingvloggers, uh, and that is in
walcott, iowa.
I have been here before.
It is iowa 80 truck stop, whichis named as we've talked about
this before.
I think it was on, I think itwas on roadside attraction um it
was madness it was.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
I think it might have been one of courtney's entries.
It might have been.

Speaker 1 (55:38):
It might have been yeah but this is the world's
largest truck stop.
This place is not just a restarea, it's not just a truck stop
.
It a city.
It has its own zip code.
It does.
I'm sorry.
I shouted that very loud.
I know you just turned downyour volume, but it has its own
zip code.
It's its own city, okay.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
We're talking with the other truck stop.
Josh had like the 52 seattheater and the karaoke.
That's all well and good, butthis one, josh, you can get a
haircut, it's got, but this one.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
Josh, you can get a haircut.
It's got Barbershop Barbershop.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
You've got dental cleaning as well, so you can go
to the dentist or theorthodontist as well and you can
get your dog washed there too.
It's a dog wash Grooming area.
Oh my gosh, gift shop there ishuge too.
Very similar, I think.
Maybe Bucky's sort of got theirideas, maybe from when it comes
to gift shop, maybe from fromiowa 180.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
So it's a possibility , a possibility also here
there's a museum, but guess whatkind of museum is?
It's a museum dedicated totrucking it's a trucking museum.
Trucking museum and it has overa hundred historic rigs.
So there's trucks, there's amuseum filled with trucks.
I mean, if you're a trucker,this is like.
This is your paradise, this isyour heaven.
Yeah, it's amazing heaven.

(56:51):
Yeah, it's amazing.
It's basically like a smalltown for truckers, but it's not
just for truckers, it's foranybody, anyone, it's just huge.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
I've seen plenty of videos on this too, on van life
videos.

Speaker 1 (57:04):
What about food?
Does it have one restaurant?
No, does it have two?
Does it have two?
Does it have three?
No, no, it has eightrestaurants.
Eight restaurants, includingbuffets, diners and, of course,
all the fast food options aswell.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
Yeah, so this we know truckers love a buffet.
Josh too.
Truckers love a buffet, let'sbe honest, because they get a
little box takeaway for theirtruck for the next trip.
So yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
So if you're wondering where this is, if
you're on I-80 crossing Iowa, itis between Davenport and, I'd
say, des Moines.
I think it's right before IowaCity.
I've been here before and it isa must stop.
It is the.
This is why it's number one.
It's the rest stop of all reststops.

(57:49):
It has the most amenities.
There's a lot to do, there's alot to see and that is why it is
number one.
You must stop, you must takeyour pee there.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
And, Josh, the reason .
You know the reason why it hasits own zip code.
Why?
Because it has its own postoffice there.
So did you know that?
I don't doubt it yeah, yeah,it's got its own probably yeah
that's it.
That's how you must have yourown zip codes if you go, if
you've got your own post officethere too, so it has its own
post office there.
That's the reason why it's gotits own zip code too.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
So so there you go.
It makes sense where it isbecause it is like almost like
smack dab in the middle of themiddle of like between the two
coasts.
I mean this smack dab in themiddle of between the two coasts
, I mean this is right in themiddle.
So it makes sense that they putthe world's largest truck stop
right there.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Josh we have a couple ofhonorable mentions.
Do you want to talk about themnow, or are we going to do a
golden nugget?

Speaker 1 (58:45):
It's time to wait for the golden nugget.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
We're going to do that for the golden nuggets,
Josh.
Wow, Honorable mentions for thegolden nugget.
We're going to do that for thegolden nuggets, Josh.
Some honorable mentions.
People are going golden nuggets.
What's a golden nugget, Josh?
What is a golden nugget?

Speaker 1 (58:58):
A golden nugget is like you go and you see your
treasure and you open thetreasure chest and you're like,
oh my gosh, I didn't realizethere are golden nuggets in here
, which is for our patrons, soanybody that supports us this
podcast, they get extra stuffand so we're going to record a
mini little episode about acouple other bonus rest stops so

(59:22):
so our patrons you get tolisten, and if our future
patrons also get to listen, soso considering supporting us.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
Well, josh, do you know we've actually got, before
we go, we've got a new patron aswell.
Did you know that?
We do, we do, we've got a newpatron.
A big shout out to Kevin Swoop.
Kevin Swoop, one of our newpatrons.
I know who he is, you know.

Speaker 1 (59:42):
Kevin.
You know Kevin.
Yes, who's Kevin?
Because he was at the Munzeeevent.
There were the people thatintroduced those police to
Munzee.
Oh, yes, yes, yes, when we werein Uranus.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
Yes, in Uranus, george, it's a smack banner in
the middle of Uranus.
Kevin and his wife oh, kevinand his wife.
Yes, lovely people, I'm almostcertain.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Kevin, I apologize if that's not you, but I'm almost
certain that it is you, becauseI just sent your wife a path tag
.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
Oh, that's all right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
How many people are there named?

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
Swoop, have a Swoop, Exactly.
Thank you so much for KevinJosh.
Otherwise how can people sortof be on the patron list?

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
How were you saying If you want to unlock the
treasure trove, that is, thegolden nuggets and all the stuff
behind the paywall, as we say,as others say, scott Berkson,
yes, we would really appreciateyour support.
It is on Patreon.
If you support us, you help uscreate even better content.
You keep this free for everyone.
You're not going to hearcommercials on this yet no,

(01:00:47):
unless there's somebody thatapproaches us that we really
love, like Miller.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
High Life.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Or Airbnbs.
Yet no, unless there's somebodythat approaches us that we
really love, like millerhighlife, or airbnb, or airbnb,
airbnb.
That would be sweet.
Uh, so here's how you find itpatreoncom, backslash, treasures
of our town, and that's whereyou'll find us, and there's
several levels, levels that youcan support us there very cool.

Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
Otherwise, josh, how can people reach out to us and
let us know how many of thoserest stops they've been to on
this episode?

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
How can they do that?
Or the ones that we forgot?

Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
Yeah, yeah, let us know which ones are your
favorites Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
So feel free to reach out to us at Treasures of Our
Town Podcast at gmailcom, or youcan follow us on Facebook,
instagram, x and YouTube, or onGoogle just search Treasures of
Our Town On our Buzzsprout page.
There's a little button thatyou can contact us.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
Exactly and when you contact us on that button, make
sure you let us know who you are.
So Buzzsprout doesn't do thatto us, but anyway.
So that's it for our show today.
Please subscribe, rate andreview on your favorite
podcasting app and, as always,Josh.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
Fair travels always lead you to the most amazing
unexpected bathrooms, toiletsaround the country.
See you next time, everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Bye, bye, bye.
I'm going to get a good sleep.