The Truck Stop

The American truck stop is a major condition of the automobile community culture. Anyone who has taken any major road trip -- which should beat least 6 out of 10 of people reading this according to census numbers -- has experienced the truck stop. You pull over for gas and end up eating, shopping, showering, or even staying the night there. Some truck stops have become so elaborate as to even include 24 hour dentists (because you can't wait another week to replace that crown or shine up your pearly whites).

And trucks stops have a distinctive regional identity. Ask any trucker who has trecked the great highways and he'll tell you about his favorite state to stop in. Your first hint that you have entered a new state is the state of the roads. You can literally feel the difference between Mississippi and Alabama when you cross that state line. Travel into the state and you will find truck stops that will be similar in function but filled with regional food and merchandise -- where else would you find that one last state spoon you need than in a Gas Mart along the highway.

These stops are served by a sedentary population which is as varied as the road surfaces. In some smaller stops, you'll find an older population of employees that are often coming form neighboring towns that lack the economic oomph to provide enough jobs for all who want them. Near larger cities, a younger crowd may well be serving you those truck stop breakfasts or pumping your gas (if you've ventured into New Jersey).

Without this sedentary population, the truck stop would disappear. Who would work there otherwise? This suggests that a sedentary population will always be necessary and will always be in a sybiotic relationship with the American nomad.

The relationship between the trucker and the truck stop is a window into the possibilities of opening up the transient lifestyle to a broader swath of Americans. The trucker depends on his ability to move for economic survival. Many owner/opperators will even have living quarters built into the back of their rigs so that they don't need to spend money on hotels or even invest in a stable home. But the lifestyle of a trucker is a lonely one. Their need for community and social connection must be filled at those truck stops, and they often aren't. The development of a more socially based hub system would allow for the nomadic person to continue to have the comforts of a social group that they can call their own while still allowing them the freedom to leave when they need to or want to.

To be continued...