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Truck Stop - FCD - 06-05-2025
Truck stop.
Now, we've all been to truck stops before, truck drivers or not. To eat, or just to stop for a bite to eat and get fuel. My story here is about real 'trucker' truck stops.
The place was known as the "Outlaw", and it lived up to its name. Barely bigger than four phone booths glued together. Maximum seating was about (12). Every 'outlaw' trucker on planet Earth stopped there. It was situated along Interstate 80 in SW Wyoming (my home town). The "Outlaw" was a rough place; it only opened up at midnight and stayed open until 7am. All carryover fights from the bar were sent to the parking lot to settle the score outside. This was a usual occurrence.
Inside, the Outlaw served breakfast (generally); anythng you wanted. But they also had one other specialty...Egg Foo Yong and Chicken Chow Mein (the resident cook was Chinese). The egg foo yong was to die for...it was beyond excellent. AND, it was worth even staying up late to go get EFY from the Outlaw even if you weren't hungry! It was THAT good!.
Anyway, at the time, I was working as a truck driver...oilfield truck driver. We carried stuff out into the oilfields whenever the companies needed it. Our days usually started at 2am and we went to the Outlaw for "breakfast" (or dinner, whatever). We would see all these fights start with the roughnecks looking to one up each other, but most of us were driving for Halliburton or Texaco, so we stayed out of this.
Our trips would take us 100 miles out into the high Wyoming desert, out east of Rock Springs, Wyoming. The area was remote (understatement of the week). You ate at the cafe, or you didn't eat for maybe two days. We always ate at the Outlaw, before driving out of town.
My most memorable thing was "why" we went there so early in the mornings. Simply put, we wanted to park our trucks next to other running trucks, to warm them up. It was -35F below zero on many of those days, and even though we had tank heaters, those old diesels were just begging to stall at a moment's notice. If they ever did, you'd spend two entire days trying to get one started again!~!
I'll never forget the Egg Foo Yong at the Outlaw! Must have been loaded with 5-6 eggs, just to mix in with all the veggies and chicken in those omelet-pancake like things! Saved my 'bacon' more than once! That ol' Chinese chef knew us, and he did us right every time!
RE: Truck Stop - EndtheMadnessNow - 06-06-2025
Some of those tiny hole-in-the-wall truck stop/diners have the best damn food.
As an outsider whenever I hear Wyoming, three things come to mind. Yellowstone, REMOTE and Devils Tower. Drove across it once on my way to Deadwood, South Dakota.
I'll admit I know next to nothing about that state.
RE: Truck Stop - FCD - 06-06-2025
(Yesterday, 04:31 AM)EndtheMadnessNow Wrote: Some of those tiny hole-in-the-wall truck stop/diners have the best damn food.
As an outsider whenever I hear Wyoming, three things come to mind. Yellowstone, REMOTE and Devils Tower. Drove across it once on my way to Deadwood, South Dakota.
I'll admit I know next to nothing about that state.
Wyoming is definitely not a state for the 'dependent / needy' types. People are expected to look out for their own. There's no written rule about it; if you do it wrong you just die...alone. Life goes on. Truly life as it should be.
The two (possibly three) exceptions to that rule are Yellowstone, Jackson Hole and maybe Devils Tower. I can't say for sure about Devil's Tower because I never went there. My haunts were primarily on the western side of the state.
I love Wyoming.
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I have a funny story about my sister from NYC who visited once. Her husband and kid came along too. They were both university professors. Where did they want to go? Yellowstone of course. That's where everyone who visited Wyoming wanted to go it seemed. I was of course given the task of being the tour guide and driver.
About 10 miles out of town, riding along quietly, my sister looked at me and asked..."What happens if we have a flat?"
I chuckled, and answered..."Well, we get out and change it to the spare!"
This answer worked for about another 10 miles. Then she asked..."Ummm, what happens if we have ANOTHER flat?"
I could see where this line of questions was headed.
I said..."Well, that's never happened, but if it did I'd just catch a ride into the next town with the flat and have it fixed"
My sister got this terrified look on her face and said..."Catch a ride with WHO?"
This game of 20 questions wasn't going to end well, I could tell.
"This is Wyoming, Kris; the first truck or car who comes down this road will give me a ride! That's just how it works here."
"But, but...what if they're a murderer or something???? (gasp)"...her voice rising to panic stricken tone.
Well, Kris (my sister) didn't realize it at the time, but she'd just given me the ultimate answer to her line of questions. And, I said...
"Let me ask you something. If you were to have a flat tire, where would you rather have that flat tire...here, or in NYC? You see, if you want to know something which terrifies me, it would be having a single flat tire in NYC! My chances of survival there would be about 10%. I'd either be hit by another car, murdered or car-jacked. I'll take having flats all day long in Wyoming, compared to even a single flat in NYC!"
She sat there in silence for a moment or two, and then said..."I suppose you're right. I hadn't thought about it that way. Flat tires terrify me!"
I couldn't resist my coup de grace response..."And that's why you don't live in Wyoming, Kris!"
About 20 miles later she said..."How much further is it until we see some other people, like humans, not like antelope and wild animals? I need to see some other people; this desolation is driving me crazy. "
(THUD!)
I made the mistake of telling her about a little General Store which sold homemade ice cream about 70 miles down the road.
All I heard for the next hour was..."How far is it to that General Store you mentioned?? I want need some ice cream...like badly!"
Once there, I thought I was going to have to use some dynamite to blast her ass out of that joint! She kept finding excuses not to leave. "Oh Look! Look at these cute metal pot scrubbers! Oh, and, and, I've never seen this kind of laundry detergent before...let's read the label. Betty Crocker cake mix! Wow! We need to look around some more!"
Me..."No, Kris. No, we don't need to look around and do an complete inventory of the entire general store, just so you can have an excuse not to get back in the truck. We're going to Yellowstone...for your son...remember? Do you want to go to Yellowstone or not? Because we can stay right here at the General store in Farson, Wyoming (population 6), but there probably ain't any hotels around here which would suit your fancy. Now, get in the truck!"
The whole time I was dreading the drive north of there, because it was 100 miles before we got to 'civilization' (everything was 100 miles in Wyoming)...and there was no General Store which sold ice cream along the way this time!
The End
edit - Every vehicle which passed us going the opposite way on the highway that day my sister would furiously wave "Hi!" to. I mean like this really super-animated, climb up on the dashboard, type of wave. I dunno what these other people thought, but from my perspective she looked like a complete psycho person! Wyomingans were accustomed to the perfunctory steering wheel wave, or the nod, as you drove by but my sister's greeting was, well, over the top by a factor of about 9x. If they only could have heard what she was saying..."LOOK! Another person, a human...YIPPEEE!" LOLOL!
RE: Truck Stop - F2d5thCav - 06-06-2025
Camped near Devil's Tower once. Quite a sight. Also saw Mount Rushmore on that trip, my only trip to the Dakotas.
