The World’s Largest Truckstop & Iowa 80 Trucking Museum is AWESOME - Road Trip Interstate Rest Stop
World's Largest Truck Stop
Transcript
0:01
today's adventure begins as the
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recording of this Monday June 17th
0:05
2024 as this flock of geese well 1 2 3
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four geese I don't know if that's a
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flock they're definitely not a flock of
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seagulls well there's more geese over
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there and also in the distance is the
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bridge that leads over to Iowa now I am
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on the Illinois line right here
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Mississippi River makes up that but
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today I am going to venture across the
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state
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line through the Quad Cities area where
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I spent yesterday at very stormy bad day
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and head over to Iowa cross that bridge
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with a number of things in mind the
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first and foremost and probably the
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biggest thing will be the world's
0:47
largest world's biggest truck stop on
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Interstate 80 which evidently has a
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truck museum and massive amount of
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property I'm going to check that out and
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then make my Way North Ward through Iowa
1:02
I'm inviting you to join me it's good to
1:04
have you here shall you heading to that
1:06
bridge too huh
1:08
geese it might be Ducks but I'm just
1:10
going to assume they're de they're
1:19
geese yeah I'm going that way too
1:19
Birds either
1:22
way they're
1:25
foul guy on a
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bike oh yeah little ey
1:30
on the agenda today going through this
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very unique looking bridge over the
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Mississippi River the old
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man
1:40
Deep
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River oh here's
1:45
the welcome to Iowa State
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Line Locust Street Place probably has a
1:52
lot of bugs
2:06
I am fueling up self- pumping gas nozzle
2:06
at the world's largest truck stop $35 a
2:14
gallon I never fueled up here before in
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fact far as I can remember I've never
2:18
even been here
2:20
before been by it and never stopped oh
2:22
these geese are following me look at
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this car right here this one chooses
2:27
violence that's not good that's kind of
2:30
how geese are Iowa
2:33
80 there's the sign over there off
2:37
the of the
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interstate I 80 Iowa 80 also known as
2:46
the world's largest freaking truck stop
2:49
in the world couple different entrances
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this is the one I'm going to go through
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has the globe see the globe right there
2:57
the Iowa 80 globe world
3:12
star oh wow since 1964 yeah I've never
3:12
been in here before I've never been in
3:14
here here's some fun
3:17
facts did I know Interstate 80 is the
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second largest interstate in the US
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2,990 miles from New Jersey to San
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Francisco Iowa 80 serves an average of
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5,000 customers a day there are 3.5
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million truck drivers in the US the
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average Long Haul driver drives 100,000
3:37
m per year if you got a
3:40
truck brought it if you got
3:43
it if you got it a truck brought it if
3:46
you got okay that okay I was confused by
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how I was reading that if you got it a
3:50
truck brought it I was thinking I was
3:53
reading it it's it's all how you read it
3:54
this truck stop open in 1964 it is never
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closed never closed since 19 1964
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continuously continuously opened all
4:04
cardboard from the office or and
4:06
distribution center are recycled Iowa a
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Interstate automatically has automatic
4:11
faucets and toilets to use less water
4:14
fun facts here in Iowa at Iowa hati all
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right now stepping in they got the
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little Marquee down on the got the logo
4:21
down on the on the ground right
4:25
there all right all
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right huge gift shop when you first walk
4:31
in here and evidently there's a truck
4:34
museum as well a trucking Museum as well
4:37
which is ajacent to this I'm going to
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check that out appropriate merch through
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here exit 284 W Walcott or wcot Iowa
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exit
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284 and then look there's even more
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appropriate merchandise over here in the
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form of pant legs here that you could
4:55
wear to bed it's probably well you could
4:57
wear them out and about but it's more
4:58
for like a pajama Style
5:00
there's no hands and I need one of these
5:04
for my metal cabinets I have and
5:07
my gym
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SL
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garage look at this little ice cream
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shirt right there holy crud I haven't
5:16
seen an Orange Julius at a DQ in a long
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time it's not the original formula
5:20
Orange Julius but you rarely ever see
5:22
the name Orange Julius I'm going to go
5:25
with some Caribou Coffee Caribou Coffee
5:28
time all right I changed mine on the
5:30
Caribou I think I'm just going to get
5:31
some regular coffee from the truck stop
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itself like this little mural over here
5:35
on the side in the eating area and if
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you don't know where the eating area
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begins and ends they have these stanions
5:39
up for anyone that is confused oh they
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actually have DVDs for sale in here for
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$3.99 previously viewed DVDs you don't
5:47
see that too often okay I'm not exactly
5:49
sure what that is but it says it's like
5:50
a light l so I'm going to go ahead and
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go with this light blend here and they
5:55
even have the the cup down here as well
5:58
the Iowa 8
6:00
there's also a restaurant in here and
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this is a Jeep down here it says do not
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sit in the Jeep yeah in fact there are
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more than one sign there's a sign in the
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front and there's also a sign in the
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passenger seat and then there's this guy
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here behind the wheel now I'm not going
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to get a bite to eat over in the kitchen
6:16
I think my coffee will suffice but I do
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want to take a a peek over here in the
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Iowa 80 kitchen we have a classic truck
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alert over here here as well just
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classic vehicles all over the place
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through here looks like it's the full-on
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buffet style nice oh if you want to you
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can sit in the Torso of a pig right here
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with the
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corn the corn behind you can sit in the
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Torso that that pig has been hollowed
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out it's not a real pig it's a fake Pig
6:42
but yeah and walking down these stairs
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is a whole other area a whole other Wing
6:46
over here that is massive as well
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there's all the different sides of it
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and there's a big mural over there as
6:52
well and this this logo is everywhere
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all right I am incorrect this is not a
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mural on the wall it is actually a big
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painting a mural if you will on the side
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of a truck of an 18-wheeler look at that
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right there America the Beautiful tile
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work down here and then you got I80 got
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the Statue of Liberty up there you got
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the I love Chrome on the front of that
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truck if you bought it a truck brought
7:15
it okay that with the punctuation makes
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a little bit more sense there got the
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Goodyear blimp up top got the trucks
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going down the freeway you got the I80
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and Walcott right over there and then
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you just kind of continue on you got all
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these different landmarks going through
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another truck going past the Buffalo
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there and the Bison you got San
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Francisco up there one end of I80 and
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the other one you got Mount Rushmore
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right up top okay yeah so it's starting
7:40
in New York over there with the Statue
7:42
of Liberty and it's just showing all the
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different areas that Interstate 80 goes
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through oh there's the field of there's
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the freaking Field of Dreams right there
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in Dyersville Iowa that's the Field of
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Dreams there's the house where the porch
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swing was right there been there quite a
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few times I'm not going there this trip
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but I've been there quite a few times I
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went there once with my dad and then I
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once went there about a couple months
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ago I was back in this area and I went
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there with my mom it was pretty awesome
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so I've been there with both my parents
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and I've been there a couple times on my
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own as well definitely some fond
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memories that go in there with my family
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and I love Field of Dreams if you build
8:17
it they will come if you build it then
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you get over in here and you got all
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these different things that you can
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utilize for road tripping and traveling
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but most especially for Trucking you
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know you can get things to for regular
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automobiles as well but it is geared
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more towards Trucking and
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truckers you get like headlamps filter
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bars a water melon right here clearance
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Amber clearance and marker to Blue
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auxiliary look at this whenever I
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sometimes I see a truck I think a lot of
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different things my dad was a trucker
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for a while I was a minister for a good
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portion of his life he was also a
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trucker for another good portion of his
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life this is spinning around completely
9:00
but I also think of Lincoln Hawk from
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Over the Top is it's like I'm like a
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machine this is spinning around on a
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circular I've never seen this I've never
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been to a place that had a truck like
9:14
this spinning around on a
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revolving circular
9:23
display
9:25
right oh it's even got like not to bring
9:28
up link and Hawk and over the top again
9:30
but it even has something similar to
9:32
that this isn't what he had soone had on
9:34
the front of his truck but but yeah look
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at that's a very angry duck is that
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another
9:40
goose and out the window over there you
9:43
can see the water tower off in the
9:47
distance this a beautiful truck I
9:49
thought I know anything about trucks but
9:51
yeah yeah turn my head around it's like
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a it's like a switch I become a a
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machine like a like a TR also think of
10:00
he's big adventure Large Marge was
10:03
driving a truck and I also think of
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Adventures in Babysitting the Chicago
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scene when their car breaks down and
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that trucker with I think he had like a
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hook for a hand showed up those are the
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three movies that remind me of
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truckers oh and then Eastbound and Down
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of course yeah yeah all right walk over
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here walk around the perimeter know
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something I've noticed it's not that
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it's a good or a bad thing I'm just kind
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of been different on the whole thing but
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just a weird thing that I've noticed by
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traveling going in convenience stores
10:35
gas stations rest stop not rest stops
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but gas stations mostly gas stations
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convenience stores truck stops when you
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go to ring up your items if a sales
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associate has another worker anywhere in
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the next register over they will speak
10:49
more to the person they're working with
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they do to you they'll say you how you
10:54
doing today they'll ring it up and
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they'll give you your total and all that
10:57
but I would say nine times out of 10
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they will just be having a conversation
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with the person that works next to them
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over there I just wonder if it's just
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like I don't know I've just noticed that
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in all my travels can't be the only one
11:08
that notices that they're just engaged
11:11
in personal conversations throughout the
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day while I think customers are just
11:16
they're so used to them that they just
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just keep the conversation going there's
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an old standard
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the old pumps out front here look like
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it has some prices from back in the day
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at 19 cents a
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gallon see the globe right
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there know what's
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interesting here at the world's largest
11:48
truck stop in Walcott
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Iowa if this was originally here cuz it
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looks like the gas pumps could have been
11:56
there I'm going to say no but you you
11:59
never know you never you never never
12:03
know you never you never know got some
12:07
Jerky Boys reference all right for
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posterity documented my face in front of
12:13
the globe I80 Iowa 80 also refers to the
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interstate that runs parallel to the
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Iowa 80 truck stop which according to
12:24
the signage is the world's largest truck
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stop anywhere not just in the US
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but
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also in the world that's a bold
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statement there's the water tower over
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there they also have an ATM cast machine
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which is kind of like when I say q line
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I'm saying the word line twice whenever
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I say oh I'm going to ride for a line
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I'm going ride for a q the q
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line it's kind of the same thing as an
12:56
ATM cache machine cuz ATM is an
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automatic teller machine which is the
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same thing as a cash
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machine I guess we're all kind of guilty
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of saying things twice and it wouldn't
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be a truck stop if you didn't show
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trucks look at all this space actually
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told my dad I was going to be going by
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here said oh I stayed there a couple
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times well he stopped here a couple
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times I'm not sure if he slept over but
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you can sleep over here in the parking
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lot I saw a sign on the way in saying
13:27
they had overnight 900
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spots saying that almost as I'm saying
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it as a question but I believe it said
13:34
it would had 900 as you're rolling down
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the interstate lots and lots signage
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want you to stop
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here it's a little windy
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out it's windy as yesterday a little
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minivan right there had the
13:55
advertisement of the truck stop on the
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side
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you can even drop off some FedEx or
14:34
United States Postal Service in the
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front here
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too just don't park on this side park in
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the allotted spots not on this
14:46
side woo they are really doing their
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best to stop anyone from driving through
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this window you got these massive pylons
14:54
here don't want an 18-wheeler driving
14:57
right through
15:02
window may be like that Roadhouse
15:02
monster truck see Trucking Museum's
15:05
right over there I'm hoping it's open so
15:08
I can pop
15:09
in just finishing up my perimeter around
15:13
the world's largest truck stop look
15:18
that's that window there the showroom
15:19
window where that truck is spinning
15:26
around again they're doing everything
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they can to get any truck a personal
15:29
vehicle of any kind stay away from those
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big glass
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windows big concrete
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it here's the
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Museum address is
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505 they have their own little parking
16:04
lot but you can also park over there and
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walk
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follows all right I was expecting an
16:21
admission fee but there is no admission
16:24
fee for the truck museum
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Eldridge okay I like this place already
16:47
this is really awesome the old gas
16:57
poms okay looks as if they might have
16:57
where the gas pump came
17:07
from this is from the rapid I90 truck
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stop South
17:12
Dakota okay I think I'm incorrect on
17:12
that I don't I don't believe that these
17:14
are from those photos but they are
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showing a lot of really classic old gas
17:19
station and Truck Stop convenience store
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type of places on these photos like this
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Cafe here the pig is carrying the car
17:37
coffee cannot beat the price of
17:37
admission there's a
17:46
Bowman I think of Bowman I think of the
17:46
baseball cards
17:49
Bowman like a service vehicle
17:52
specializing a hotel restaurant club and
17:54
Hospital services
18:05
this is featuring women truckers Four
18:07
Women pioneers of their time stood proud
18:09
in the pursuit of Passion of the
18:10
trucking industry long before women make
18:12
great strides in those
18:15
areas Luella Bates I like the business
18:19
and I expect to stay in it was her
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quote but here's the other three over
18:24
here Lily drenan
18:29
Rusty da and bitsy Gomez bitsy Gomez
18:33
it's a great name all them had a couple
18:35
nicknames Rusty da and bitsy Gomez you
18:38
don't want to mess with
18:45
them I feel like this should be a a
18:45
movie
18:47
made maybe there was maybe there was a
18:50
movie okay this is
18:53
impressive oh my gosh yeah I've never
18:57
ever been in here before
18:59
nor the world's largest truck stop
19:01
here's some Saratoga Potato
19:04
Chips this is awesome look at this thing
19:23
there oh this kind of reminds me of the
19:23
Fall Guy truck it's not well as far as I
19:27
know it's not the original Fall Guy not
19:30
the not the new movie I still haven't
19:31
seen the new movie I need to watch
19:37
it one thing I remember about The Fall
19:37
Guys he never spent much time in school
19:39
but he taught ladies
19:41
plenty Lee Majors sang the theme song
19:44
There were his
19:59
thing this is a really good music Museum
19:59
of classic
20:07
trucks here's Bills moving and
20:07
storage and it's a localized truck it is
20:11
in the same so sometimes you'll see
20:12
places that are transplanted in trucks
20:14
transplanted in classic cars
20:16
transplanted in from other places but
20:18
that one is from
20:20
here there's a Patty wagon I always hear
20:23
about those Patty it's a it's a real
20:25
Patty
20:27
wagon what
20:29
look at this I don't know if I've ever
20:31
seen a Patty Wagon in in
20:44
person I got to say it all my travels I
20:44
don't know if I've ever seen a real
20:48
wagon I get excited
20:50
easily this a 1930 Ford a
20:54
snowmobile there's no tires on the front
20:58
or the back well there are tires on the
20:59
back that rotate the chain back there in
21:02
the back but then the front are
21:04
snowmobile
21:06
front Model
21:08
T a diamond
21:15
t21 and they're all in really good shape
21:16
all of these are in really really good
21:17
shape here's an armored
21:28
truck I highly recommend stopping here
21:28
High highly recommend stopping
21:34
here now that I have over the top on my
21:34
brain whatever happened of that truck
21:37
Stallone's truck in over the top I feel
21:40
like this would be a place you could
21:41
just find it if it was going to be
21:43
anywhere it might be in here this is a
21:44
bulldog in the front of this 1939 Mac
21:47
there's a stuffed Bulldog there behind
21:49
the
21:50
wheel giv Tunes a run for its money I'm
21:54
just using a lot of Pop Culture
21:55
references today I mean that's part for
21:56
the course but yeah Luma
22:10
often wow it goes all the way over into
22:10
another section over there
22:12
too 1952 Kenworth the only reason I'm
22:16
able to spout off what these are is
22:18
because of the little placards in front
22:19
of them don't think I know anything
22:21
about these 1915 macab a 64
22:24
International here's a unique one has
22:26
the rider emblem over on the side it's a
22:29
1974 ryer
22:35
paym
22:35
ooh Hanks Highway Hilton this has to
22:38
have some serious backstory
22:45
too Hank good bought his first truck in
22:45
May of 1976 about the same time that
22:48
Kenworth introduced their new vit2 200
22:50
later named the
22:53
aerodine that's Hank right
22:56
there he entered his first truck show
22:59
the time Hank number one went to his
23:01
last truck show was
23:03
2001 Hank had accumulated 121 trophies
23:06
and awards over 18
23:09
years and now it's sitting here in this
23:11
museum for everyone to
23:22
see that is really
23:22
cool that is really dang
23:26
cool Hanks Highway Hilton age of
23:38
perfection Henry AR good also known as
23:38
Hank he was part of the truckers against
23:42
drugs as shown right there on that
23:44
wooden
23:45
sign it's a king K Whopper
24:29
okay this is kind of frightening
24:29
Jeepers Creepers
25:09
FJ love the signage on the side there
25:09
mixed concrete sign here's a sterling
25:12
1923 just popped in my head but I almost
25:15
forgot about Spielberg's first movie
25:21
Duel also Maximum Overdrive is that
25:23
feature a lot of trucks also
25:38
it's an old taxico that's been relocated
25:38
over here salvaged and
25:48
saved old Navajo
25:48
sign file this one under serious
25:52
Nostalgia Americana
26:23
beautiful look at got the air pump over
26:23
here
26:44
again I know nothing about trucks but I
26:44
like the style of this just how narrow
26:46
it is like it's just enough for the
26:47
driver there's no like bed cab behind
26:51
it I just like the look of that be
26:54
pretty cool driving that thing down the
26:55
road with nothing attached to it like no
26:57
trailer on the
27:04
back the engine must be right underneath
27:16
seat what's that they need one of two BR
27:16
newes in here yeah instead of all the
27:19
old ones
27:25
see just talking to a gentleman that was
27:25
in here he was saying that he thinks
27:27
they should have a couple NE trucks in
27:28
here also but him and I share the same
27:31
sentiment that this place is a lot
27:33
better than we expected it would be just
27:36
how impressive everything is clean
27:38
and all even though they're all old
27:41
Vehicles they're all in great shape from
27:44
the you know appearance--
27:51
Wise again I'm really impressed with
27:51
this
27:56
place you see so many things are here
27:56
you don't even see anymore
28:23
sometimes if you eat truck stop
28:23
food you could get some highspeed gas
28:27
you might get high speeded gas
28:36
gas it's the Antioch Packing House
28:36
incorporate also known as the meat
28:37
specialist over there on the
28:57
side like they're the process of
28:57
rebuilding building a relocated Shell
28:59
Gasoline
29:01
vintage gas station
29:18
here they have T-shirts for sale I might
29:18
have to buy some merchandise simply
29:20
because the mission to get in here was
29:21
free this is
29:23
awesome pure as
29:25
sunlight it's old Coca colola
29:29
truck oh my gosh there's
29:33
the the flats down there that you put
29:35
the bottles
29:38
in I love it I love retro Coca-Cola
29:41
stuff in general my grandpa my dad's dad
29:45
worked for the co Coca-Cola company in
29:47
abine Mississippi for many years he was
29:50
a truck driver for Coca-Cola he was a
29:52
delivery
29:59
driver my dad would tell me stories
29:59
about how my grandpa back when he was
30:01
younger he would just lift these up like
30:04
they were nobody's business he was such
30:06
a strong guy just delivering the bottles
30:09
and then when I would go
30:10
there as a youth as a kid over to their
30:14
home in Mississippi they'd always have
30:17
miniature small Coca-Cola like 8 or 10
30:20
ounz bottles like these and I always
30:23
recall on my Grandma's kitchen cabinet
30:26
underneath the kitchen cab cabinet there
30:29
was a bottle opener I thought it was the
30:32
neatest thing to open a bottle of
30:34
Coca-Cola drink it with my
30:48
grandparents this is a
30:48
1944 it's just kind of waxing nostalgic
30:51
there for a
30:58
moment yeah I am just walking deep
30:58
through the middle of nostalgia got the
31:00
service station over there got the
31:01
Coca-Cola truck over
31:03
here not a bad place exit through the
31:07
gift shop I think I'm going to either
31:09
buy a magnet or something like that in
31:13
here some
31:21
postcards oh here we go it still has
31:21
little largest truck
31:23
stop well there an Iowa one I thought
31:26
maybe they'd have something for the
31:27
museum
31:29
all right they do have some hats all the
31:30
magnets were for the truck stop they do
31:34
have the stickers maybe I'll buy one of
31:37
these stickers here I think I buy I'll
31:39
buy the
31:40
sticker all right got the bumper sticker
31:43
it's like five bucks but head out now
31:46
look like somebody's in checking out
31:48
some of the trucks but look at these old
31:49
classic bicycles in the back of their
31:52
bed nice all right head now Iowa back
31:56
roads
31:58
a lot of gridlock happening a lot of lot
31:59
of traffic through
32:01
here well not
32:04
really plenty of Elbow Room cruising
32:08
along past the
32:09
Farmland Ranch
32:18
houses back roads h a couple small
32:18
towns as the day
32:28
progresses like a road trip clear the
32:28
mind a little
32:30
bit stretch the
32:33
legs not be on
32:47
air the open road this is
32:47
Dixon they have chicken and fish served
32:51
right there every Friday 300
32:55
p.m. it's the American Legion here in
32:57
Dixon
33:03
possibly the city hall up here or maybe
33:04
the post
33:12
office nope it is the Savings Bank I
33:12
just pulled over here as a moment of
33:15
peacefulness watching a
33:55
hillside sometimes it's just the little
33:55
things that are nice to see
34:03
no hustle and
34:03
bustle just peaceful out
34:06
here passing through Wheatland now
34:09
Wheatland where's the water travel oh I
34:12
hear a
34:13
train there's the Wheatland grosser
34:17
right
34:53
right clock not telling the correct time
34:53
look at this building Jr's place
36:37
Toronto
36:37
Iowa hey
36:49
mister all right through another town
36:49
believe it's called Lost Nation is the
36:51
name of this
36:53
town pulling in downtown Lost Nation
37:31
all right continuing on pulling through
37:31
another town this seems like a little
37:33
bit bigger of a small town definitely
37:35
not a city by any means but is a bigger
37:38
small town yeah I like the bank right
37:40
here First National Bank which is
37:42
located right
37:44
here look at the little side building
37:46
here the little tiny stretch between the
37:48
bank and this other realy
37:53
building Main Street continued on a
37:57
little bit check out this church St
37:59
Paul's Lutheran
38:00
Church think the name of this place is
38:05
lamote there a Petro stop up here check
38:08
out the Circle C Saloon up here I like
38:11
the porch of it little architecture of
38:14
the porch you got the dra grain
38:17
elevators off in the distance little
38:19
farm
38:20
town like so many others in this area
38:45
wide open pastures you got some cows
38:45
down
38:47
there pulled over
38:51
here very windy again I apologize for
38:53
the wind
38:58
just wanted to show the rolling ples
39:01
here natural beauty round hay
39:11
bales this church
39:11
building it's a magnificent steeple that
39:14
I could see from miles away as I was
39:16
coming over the
40:12
built in
40:12
1903 St Teresa