Treasures of our Town
Embark on an exhilarating voyage through the heart of America's captivating towns and cities with the enthralling travel podcast, "Treasures of our Town." Join your experienced hosts, Craig (Seemyshell) and Joshua (Geocaching Vlogger), as they unveil the hidden gems and extraordinary treasures that lie beyond the surface.
Delve into a world of cultural exploration as our hosts guide you through historical sites, natural splendours, and extraordinary local experiences. All their travels are guided by their love of outdoor games like Geocaching and Munzee. Whether you're a seasoned globetrotter or a curious beginner, our captivating city tours and off-the-beaten-path destinations will ignite your wanderlust and leave you inspired.
Are you ready for an unforgettable adventure? Tune in now and prepare to immerse yourself in the allure of "Treasures of our Town." Let us ignite your curiosity, fuel your desire for exploration, and set your spirit free as we unravel the secrets that make each town a true treasure trove.
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Website - www.treasuresofourtown.buzzsprout.com
Email - treasuresofourtownpodcast@gmail.com
Treasures of our Town
The Porcelain Pilgrimage: A Road Tripper's Guide to America's Finest Facilities
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 treasuresofourtownpodcast@gmail.com or find us on social media.
What about food? Does it have one restaurant? No, does it have two?
Speaker 2:Does it have three? No, no.
Speaker 1:It has eight restaurants.
Speaker 2:Eight restaurants.
Speaker 1:Do you love to travel?
Speaker 2:Do you love?
Speaker 1:road trips. Do you love finding hidden treasures in towns all over the USA? Hi, I'm Joshua.
Speaker 2:And I'm Craig. Welcome to Treasures of Our Town. It's a podcast that explores unique and charming towns scattered throughout the United States.
Speaker 1:Guided by our love for location-based games like geocaching, join us as we venture to some of the country's most intriguing destinations, uncovering hidden gems and local secrets along the way.
Speaker 2:On today's episode, josh, we talk about one one of my favorite places to visit in the 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:We're going to rate the toilets of the United States, not breweries, I love it, I love it, I love it.
Speaker 2:Actually, speaking of breweries and stuff too, they did have a new podcast episode out today too, and I listened to it, josh. I listened to it every single time because I'm driving everywhere, and so I listened to all the podcasts. But, yeah, again a quick shout out to the Brewery Adventure with Minnesota Boy, minnesota Boy Minnesota Boy he's only one person, and Mecca MN as well. They're two good friends from Minnesota. So, yes, that's what I've been doing. I've been traveling, josh. What have you been doing?
Speaker 1:I've been, you know, doing life. And are you segwaying into our upgrades and delays? Because if you're listening to our show for the first time, every episode we share our updates, upgrades and delays, so it's our highs and lows. So was that a segway, craig for that?
Speaker 2:Why not Let it be a segway directly into it, josh, because I am literally segwaying across the good old US of A to pick you up very soon, and that's going to be. I'll start first. That's my delay, josh. Believe it or not, that's a delay.
Speaker 1:That you have to see me.
Speaker 2:No, no, that I'm traveling so far every single day, josh, because so I was. Last weekend I was in Ohio and I was having this is the upgrade, by the way having a great time in ohio. We had a few munzee events there in ohio and um, fun, fun times with some fun people, a few breweries there, some great pizza as well. And, josh, there's one town, glendale, in ohio, great small town, and they have every saturday night. They have free local bands playing in the little amphitheater in the middle of town, in town central, and everyone takes their little deck chairs out and they sell beer, they sell wine, they give away shirts. Josh, like Glendale Ohio, they're doing things right. I'm telling you, it was a fun time, a fun time All for free as well. So that was really cool.
Speaker 1:That sounds like an absolute blast.
Speaker 2:That's my upgrade, which then led An absolute blast. That's my upgrade, which then leads into my delay.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm sure you did many blasts too while you were on. That's a Munzee.
Speaker 2:Exactly I did I did, but not as many as Rob. But anyway, that's another bug to 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 pick you up, so I left on Sunday for the events in Ohio and I had to pick you up in Minnesota on Thursday lunchtime. So I've been doing the miles, josh, I've been putting in the hours, putting in a cross-country sort of timeframe, and my delay is that, josh, I'm actually driving past several, several of my geocaching friends along through USA and I hope that they don't reach out to me and say why are you away? You just went straight past my house.
Speaker 2:And, josh, I did go straight past, literally past Hailmeister's house, because he'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 where he lives, but I'd never actually went and saw him. So if you guys listen to the show him, scott Burks, he's in Chicago as well. I do apologize, but yeah, I literally had to scream. I had people in Munzee. Josh reach out to me and say, oh, you're coming through my 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 far for too quickly?
Speaker 1:Is that a delay? Yeah, it's kind of a delay, but the end of it is going to be wonderful Because I think we can tell the people where we're going.
Speaker 2:Absolutely we should, because it's Monday by the time. This is out and about, so it's already finished by the time it's out and about.
Speaker 1: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 of geocaching. I've been there three or four times and we are going there for a very, very special reason. There's a reason why we both have to be there, and I will keep that no why?
Speaker 2:why we can say we said it, we said it in the episode before we did yeah, we did, we said it. We said it on stage in the in the. That's true in west virginia as well.
Speaker 1:That's true. We told thousands of people already okay, uh, we're going there because we're going to shoot our gif film, our geocaching international film festival entry, and so, um, and it requires for us to be in gilby, and that's all I'll say. Yeah, and so I'm excited for you to experience some of the geocaches there, but also we're going to have a good time filming as well. But we're working, it's a work trip.
Speaker 2:It's a work trip. It is actually a work trip. I'm filming. I'm not going to be doing the caches as I normally would do the caches by myself and appreciate them and, you know, spend some time and you know and effort and maybe do a TikTok-y. I won't have time for any of that. Josh, I'll be behind the camera 90% of the time. I'll be behind the camera, never in front, so pretty much where I like to be, so I don't have to use a wide-angle lens. Anyway, what's been your?
Speaker 1:upgrade, mate. My upgrade is I experienced the most amazing, creative, whimsical, quirky event that I've ever experienced in my whole life.
Speaker 2:And you've experienced events.
Speaker 1:I know I've experienced a lot of events, so on one of my videos if somebody frequents my youtube channel, I, there's this very special thing where there's a giant 20 foot pencil in the front of a man's yard. So four years ago the the tree got blown over by a storm and it was an old Oak tree and instead of like just taking it all out, the guy that owned the house commissioned an artist to create a giant number two pencil out of this, out of this piece of wood.
Speaker 2:Yes, so it is actually. So it is actually in the ground as a full tree.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, it's a tree. It's still a real tree, it's not Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he had. It's a tree, it's still a real tree, it's not wow. Yeah, and he had. He carved it on site because they were talking about that. He could have just cut it down, took it to his you know workshop, yeah, and then, and then brought it back. No, he carved it, painted it and 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 have a ceremony, they have a ritual where they decide to sharpen the pencil. So I went to the pencil sharpening ceremony. They had a gigantic, humongous sharpener. They had people dressed as pencils dancing. It was Prince's birthday, so they were shooting out purple smoke everywhere. There was people that decided to ask the pencil questions, so the kids submitted questions and then there was a pencil interpreter to ask the pencil questions.
Speaker 1:Like one of the questions. The kids was does it hurt when you get sharpened? And the answer was no, it's just simply like a haircut, haircut. Yeah Anyway, it was so awesome.
Speaker 2:So I saw this, josh, on your social media. You posted that on your I think it was Instagram, you posted on as well, and even on TikTok as well. Brilliant, it looked fantastic, it had a DJ there and everything. But do they actually physically sharpen the pencil or do they just so they actually cut off? So, literally, this giant pencil is actually getting shorter each year.
Speaker 1:The yes, it's a sacrifice. The artist was, like you know, in biblical times. This is a ritual. In biblical times they sacrifice animals. We don't do that anymore, so we have to sacrifice the part of the pencil and I understand like someday it'll just be a nub, but that's a part of it, that's a part of the pencil. And and the artist had this like super inspirational, like speech where he said wow, through the whole year we have, we have written notes to one another and we've written in the margins, metaphorically, and through this year, the our pencil has gotten dull and we take time to sharpen it, to better ourselves, to make us better humans as we go further into this year. It was so inspirational.
Speaker 2: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 they shave off. It wouldn't be that much that they shave off around the top. Therefore, I'm thinking your great great great grandchildren may, may see the nub, but you definitely will not see the nub they said it's about eight inches every year that they oh oh, I think that's eight inches a lot really when you think about yeah yeah wow wow, it was really cool, and there I didn't say this.
Speaker 1:It sounds like a quirky thing that maybe like you, you know, a handful of people show up at. Yeah, oh my gosh, Craig. It was a party. There were probably 3000 people there.
Speaker 2:Did they have to close the street down? Everything is in these guys.
Speaker 1:No no, but that became a problem because, the people block the street.
Speaker 2:They would have just put the police should have showed up. Uh, you know, they would have literally. Okay, the police would have blocked the streets in the end after all that because they couldn't move that many people on. No, but yeah, no, there was a dj, the party, I mean. They even had these guys dressed up in pencils doing the.
Speaker 1:The pencil trust fall and stuff yeah, their trust fall, their pencils diving. It was so, it was so me, you know I love I love a roadside attraction, but to have a whole celebration around a roadside attraction? I was in the front row and I was so close to catching the shavings. The kids catch the shavings oh, so you can actually catch shavings as well shavings fall off, wow, and the kids are like surrounding it trying to catch a shaving what happens is shavings is a little bit too large and it's clunk on their heads.
Speaker 2:Yeah, who gets sued? Then? Wow, the pencil gets sued. I know.
Speaker 1:Oh well, anyway, that was a good upgrade.
Speaker 2:That was a big, good upgrade, josh. So what's been your delay this week, if that's been the upgrade?
Speaker 1:So the pencil is in somebody's front lawn and this is. This is connected, because my front lawn is looking a little shaggy, why my lawnmower broke oh, that's my delay.
Speaker 2:Oh, from one to another fix it's kind of segwayed in with the yeah I know front yeah, yeah it works. You did well. You did well.
Speaker 1: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:That's a double Look at you. Anyone call your podcaster from now on. Wow, we're on fire. Anyway, George, that's our upgrades and our delays. Let's move on now to the actual the duck's guts of the show. I know you like me saying that which is all about the USA and their rest stops. Now, Josh, why? Why did we pick a show about rest stops? First and foremost?
Speaker 1:Well, you know we love our good road trips. I mean, your whole life is one big road trip, greg, and when you're on the road, I love a good rest stop because you know like the bathrooms are clean typically. Yeah, there's sometimes really cool things to see there. Sometimes there's food, there's often geocaches.
Speaker 2:Yeah, at rest stops Almost every one is a geocache somewhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yes, for sure, they're typically, you know, safe. There's fun things to see and do. Often they're used. You know they're owned by the state 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 essential great part of a trip.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you think about it as well. The safety mechanism most for me, being ex-police officer as well and that is to get out and walk around. After you know, we have in Australia this whole thing two hours every two hours you must rest, revive, survive, and that's the whole saying in Australia. And, yeah, you shouldn't drive any more than two hours at a time. Before you get out of your car and walk around the car at minimum, uh, let alone these rest stops. And when I say safety, there's the safety in you, you know, keeping awake and not falling asleep at the wheel. But there's also the safety in the fact that most of the rest stops are very well lit. Some of them have security guards there.
Speaker 2:So you, you find you can walk around a rest stop, josh, and most rest stops, especially in the us, have munzee walks all around the actual light poles and all that sort of stuff too. So you can really you can get some points, you know, and and actually do a dedicated walk. But but, as you said before, josh, some have like museums. I'm currently in a rest stop as we speak, so I'm in wisconsin, wisconsin cheese. I got some cheese today.
Speaker 1:Cheese and beer. Cheese and beer.
Speaker 2:Cheese and beer. I digress, but this rest stop, josh, it's like a military sort of rest stop area and an homage to the military and the police, and actually you walk through this beautiful bushland area, over this, this beautiful bridge, and out onto this massive, big, gorgeous overlook that you don't see at all from from the rest stop or anywhere. It's actually, you know, half mile or so hike into the bush, um, but it's well covered and stuff as well, um. So of course there's a munzee there at that location. Then you are up further. There's a little old beaten track. You can go up the old beaten track and there's a geocache up the top there as well too. So I got those today. Get out of the car, the van and stretch the legs, go for the walk. Fresh air, sunshine, nothing beats it, mate. Nothing beats it too.
Speaker 1:I've been at that rest stop. I have taken that hike and gotten that cache. Oh, you have it was one of those situations where somebody's waiting back at the car and then you're halfway up the hill and you're like, oh my gosh, this is going to take me longer than I thought.
Speaker 2:It's not an LPC, uh-uh it was a hike. It's a hike, but yeah, so that'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:That's another thing to note. But then also, if you have a dog, a lot of them have dog walking areas that are designated for dogs too. So the American rest area is a travel factor, and so we are going to rate our top 10.
Speaker 2: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 a few Our top 10. Our top 10 also consists of the ones we've been involved with, but also the ones that friends of 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 on in the show, all over social media, and it's one that I've never, ever, been to, but it's on my radar to go to.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's coming up later on. And here's the thing Some of these I think actually two of these have been possibly entries in roadside attractions or we've talked about them on the show before. Yeah, yeah, and here's the thing these are not. This is not a show about roadside attractions, but however, there can be a roadside attraction inside of a rest stop, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2: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 the beaten path, but there's bathrooms there and stuff too. So, absolutely, mate, do you want 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:Is it in particular order? I'm looking at this list.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you kind of write it.
Speaker 1:I helped curate the list. Yes, Yep. And I think you know these lists are debatable, right it's?
Speaker 2:subjective it is subjective.
Speaker 1: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:Yep, absolutely, and I'll say this as well Listen up to all our listeners as well. We, how many of these top 10 have you actually been to? So send us an email later on in the show with which ones? Just give us a number One to 10. Yeah, or zero to 10. It makes no difference.
Speaker 1:Or what rest stop are we missing?
Speaker 2: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:All right.
Speaker 2:Number to. It's fairly close to me. It's about, oh, I'd say probably some seven hours away, eight hours away. For me, I guess it's not fairly close.
Speaker 1:It's the state over. It's a state over from my state and 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 the highway. Let's just say that some of these rest stops are owned by the government, yep, and some of them are commercial.
Speaker 2:They're not owned by the government.
Speaker 1:This one is owned by the government, and one of the things that makes a good rest area is the location, and the location of this is beautiful. It's up kind of on a hill and it's overlooking the missouri river, and this is one of those that is really dedicated to american history. So inside this rest area there is a essentially a museum about lewis and clark, because lewis and clark uh sailed.
Speaker 1:they didn't sail, they rode their boat, paddled they paddled they paddled past here, um, and so there there is a tribute to lewis and clark um, but there is this really beautiful roadside attraction. It is a sculpture and it is called dignity of earth, and it is a sculpture it's quite large of a native woman and it's just, it's kind of one of those. It's a beautiful piece of artwork and it's a fairly large statue, um. So that is a must must see and it just has a beautiful um trail that gives beautiful looks of the of the river um, and I and I do believe this place has very good, reliable bathrooms because it is run by the government. I think this is a location where there's always somebody working there. You mentioned that, craig.
Speaker 2:Yes, somebody is always there. Yep, yep, absolutely. I've seen so many yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as far as food goes, there's no restaurants there and we're going to talk about some that actually have restaurants. Yeah, it's just mainly vending machines, but there's. It's a great place to stop and have a picnic, yep, anything else that that I didn't cover. That you, uh, because I don't know if you've been to this one, have you, I think I certainly have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't think I've actually been to the south dakota one. I've been to it all the way through North Dakota because when I went across, I went directly across North Dakota and then came south and went past and through the Enchanted Highway Remember, we've had that on one of the episodes as well yeah, and so I came south via Enchanted Highway, then through South Dakota and then into Wyoming and I saw a good friend, dave Smile Makers, in Wyoming. So that's the route that I took. So I didn't actually do the I-90. I did the one in North Dakota instead. So, yes, and when you say as well, 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 dot care. What's dot care, care, what's dot care? Is that department of transport? Yeah, dot dot is department of transport, transport, yeah, so that's when you know it's government owned itself.
Speaker 1:So yes, exactly, and they usually have like a brown sign yeah, that's yeah, as an arrest stop, yeah. One more thing I'll say too the 50 foot. By the way, the native woman, the, the sculpture, the dignity of earth, is 50 feet tall. That is very large, large, but you will see it from the road, from i-90, because for years there's been a tp sculpture there so oh yeah yeah, the whole thing is themed native american and then also lewis and clark.
Speaker 1:So this is uh, this is a great kind of history. Beautiful location. If you're driving to, it's on the way to the black Hills of of South Dakota.
Speaker 2:Right, right. Is this the one with the? The? Actually the woman, and she's got a geocache under a skirt. Is that the one or is that wrong? No, that's different. Again, I'm picturing something different. No, that's Pocahontas. That's different.
Speaker 1:It's a Pocahontas statue in Pocahontas, Iowa.
Speaker 2:Iowa. Oh gosh, when you travel so much, it all molds into one.
Speaker 1:But yeah, there is a June Cash under her skirt.
Speaker 2:Exactly, mate.
Speaker 2:I'm going to move on to number nine, and this one's called the Sunset Point Rest Area. It's in Arizona. Yes, the hot desert of Arizona. Now this one here.
Speaker 2:I've been to this one as well, it is true. Yeah, I've absolutely been to this one. It's a really really nice rest stop and one of the reasons why it's really nice too is because it's all fully air-conditioned inside so you can go inside the actual, because all new renovations as well, all new inside. You go in and you get some nice cool air conditioning to get out of that desert heat, as we all 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 you know I'll pull into a rest up, just sometimes I'll, I'll make the rest stop my destination for the night and I'll pull into a rest stop, josh, sometimes I'll make the rest stop my destination for the night and I'll pull in. Sometimes.
Speaker 2:Today I pulled in at 2 o'clock this afternoon, 2 pm, I pulled into the rest stop. I'm staying here the entire night. You're allowed to in 99.9% of the actual rest stops, unless they're dedicated otherwise, as they say. So, yeah, I pulled in at like 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I went for my walk and everything as well. But this one here, josh, if you can be here during the what do you call it? The golden hour, the sunset hour? Golden hour with the sunset and the panoramic views I think it's the Bradshaw Mountains is where you can actually look out over the Bradshaw Mountains as the sun sets behind them itself. It just gives it that glow. It's beautiful, josh, you know what you're like with Instagram and stuff as well, so it's absolutely Instagram-worthy pictures et cetera, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:Now, when it comes to food, as you said before, again it's just vending machines and snacks and drinks. But I do like with these ones where they've got the picnic tables undercover and stuff as well, so you can get out of there in some shade and if you pack a picnic with your family and stuff too, I do like good, fresh, clean picnic tables as well to get out of the car sometimes. So that's Sunset Point Rest. Have you been to this one, Josh, in Arizona?
Speaker 1:I have not. How are the bathrooms? Bathrooms are very clean.
Speaker 2:It's brand new. It's brand new, so the bathroom is always going to be clean there for the time being. Yeah, brand spanking new. But also when, uh, when I've been, when I was there as well. There's animals there too, desert and josh, like wildlife, lizards and hawks, and the bird life is really nice too. Even though he's still in the desert area, he is there. You can still see him, if you, if you sit, relax and just observe, get off your phone, get off any device, put your feet up and relax and you'll see. You'll see what's going on around you. That's good for anything, to be honest with you. So, yeah, that's the rest area in Arizona.
Speaker 1:This one's similar, different sort of topography, but this one also seems to be very much about the location, location, location.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:All right, should we move on?
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:I'll do the next one, number eight. I thought you absolutely. I'll do the next one, number eight.
Speaker 2:I thought you're moving on to the next one because the next one's got a great location location location as well. Okay, okay, number eight number eight.
Speaker 1:I've been to this location. I don't know if I've been to this rest stop, however, but maybe you have craig. Yeah, and this is the western new york welcome center in, uh, the new york thoroughway, and this is, I believe, right outside of niagara falls is that correct yep, yep or close to niagara falls, and so this I I have not been there. Yeah, I looked up some of the youtube videos of this place. Craig, this place is classy yes yes, it is, it's classy yeah we're not talking.
Speaker 1:We're not talking just vending machines. We're talking like, like, fancy, like, yes, new york market artisan snacks like yeah um. Have you been here?
Speaker 2:yes, yes, and the reason for it, josh, is you said it and when you actually mentioned it as well, you said rest stop and welcome center. As soon as there's a welcome center 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 welcome center there, which then has the, sometimes has the food courts and stuff like too.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, and I'm sure you know niagara falls is fairly touristy too. Oh yeah, absolutely. This place in my research also has historical exhibits. It has murals. This is fun for the kids. It has a shipwrecked-themed playground. So it's like a playground, that's like a ship. Your kids can pretend to be the Goonies, for example, and then in there there's also a Niagara Falls virtual experience.
Speaker 2:What do you think that is Craig? Oh, I didn't see that one when I was there.
Speaker 1:A Niagara Falls Virtual Experience. Oh, what do you think that is Craig?
Speaker 2:Oh, I didn't see that one when I was there, a Niagara Falls Virtual Experience. That would be like if it's inside the Welcome Center itself. You go inside the Welcome Center and have, like you know, along a wall or something, maybe like a video monitor through the wall or something the actual of the Niagara Falls like a webcam. You know, screen possibly possibly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so this is very classy. As far as the bathrooms, my research with the bathrooms is that the building is inspired by the 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: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 visit niagara falls. So, but I think predominantly it's before, because you're going towards niagara falls, if I do believe so. But then again, is some of these rest stops, josh, they're either in the center of the highway or there's. There's ways you can get to them, these big ones, like we're saying, there's ways to get them from either north or south, or east or west. Whichever direction you're going from, you can always should be able to get to one of these rest stops that we're talking about here too. So this one, josh, I'm going to move on if you're ready to move on.
Speaker 1:This one's kind of similar. This one's a little bit similar.
Speaker 2:It's similar because this one here it's in Beckley, it in the name marketplace, not just a rest area, it's a marketplace. It's built, though, for high traffic, so it is actually a rest area. It's got a good-sized parking lot area et cetera as well. But, josh, this is a whole complex 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're talking pottery. We're talking pottery, quilts, painting. This is classy, classy stuff as well oh my gosh, there's live glass blowing.
Speaker 1:Yes have you ever seen live glass blowing?
Speaker 2:that's really absolutely that's really cool, and I actually watch a netflix show on glass blowing too. That's really cool too, um, but uh, yeah, the music performances as well, from normally from local bands as well. They play there too. So this is like it is a full-on marketplace per se, so some people don't just stop here to go to the bathroom, for instance. They locals will stop here as well, so you know what I mean. So it's a meeting place for locals as well as tourists alike too. So, yes, that's what I like about it too.
Speaker 1:There is a full-service restaurant and you know, Craig, we were just in West Virginia and so this is very familiar. This is what they feature with food the pepperoni rolls. I am ashamed to say that we didn't. I didn't have any pepperoni rolls, you did. How were they?
Speaker 2:I did on Sunday. I had an original pepperoni roll, because it's very different to the pepperoni rolls that I can kind of see that were okay. Not, they're not fake pepperoni rolls, but they're the, the touristy pepperoni rolls. You know, these pepperoni rolls were actually made on a like a homemade bread sort of style, which was cut, you know, directly down the center and they had this pepperoni mix in the middle. So it wasn't interesting, it wasn't the pepperoni roll like you think about. You know, literally physical bits of pepperoni and it's rolled up into like a dough and then that dough is baked. That's what I first thought about it. But no, these here, they've actually their pepperoni mix in the middle of these freshly cut roll. So that's the pepperoni rolls that I had. Apparently that was one of the original ones.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah. And then the other thing that they feature there is a rainbow trout. Oh, is it trout?
Speaker 2:That's local.
Speaker 1:Appalachian fare. Oh, true, true Rainbow trout. So again Tamarack Marketplace in Beckley, west Virginia. This is class. This is a classy rest stop.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and our West virginian friends too, josh like danny and danny or buckeye casher car, so they might know about this one too, being from west.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they probably do yeah, exactly and I'm guessing it looks like there's also some outdoor sculptures which just shouts, shouts. Adventure labs there's gotta be a venture lab there screams, adventure lab screams it.
Speaker 2:So because if you don't know uh, we don't know what we're talking about. Adventure Labs is like geocaching, but there's no actual physical container to find. It's all done on an app on your phone and you get to a location. You must answer a question in regards to the location that the user has set up, and once you answer it correctly, you then get a find for your geocaching account. But there's no actual container to find, like a box or peel bottle or any of that sort of stuff too.
Speaker 1:So all right, are you? Ready to move on six, oh, always number six. Number six is our first truck stop. Now there's rest stops, yeah, there's truck stops, yeah, and there's welcome centers, that I think that's like the three kind of categories, three main ones truck stops, welcome centers, and I forgot what was the last one.
Speaker 1:I said rest areas rest areas and and there's also like private, privately owned complexes, yes, and we'll get to that as well. So this one is the jubits truck stop in outside of portland oregon or in portland oregon, and I I have not been here.
Speaker 1:I've been to portland oregon, but I have not been here yeah um, but this, this sounds like kind of your typical sort of truck stop. Yeah, okay, but it feels like we're gonna get to another truck stop later, yeah, but this feels like kind of like a mini village. Get this, get this. This is some of the things you can do at this truck stop. Karaoke there's a things you can do at this truck stop. Karaoke there's a karaoke. You can do karaoke. Craig, you can sing your go-to song, or should I say speak your go-to song.
Speaker 2:I come from a land down under.
Speaker 1:Yes, I do yes, yes exactly that's the one.
Speaker 2:But you think about it, joshua, these truck stops, these are literally for truckers. They are, and they're there for them to rest overnight, normally as well. So normally they've got really good overnight stops locations for their trucks and their trailers. I never really try and stop in a truck stop because mostly those trucks are running all night long, which can get a little bit loud for my van. But other than that, though, I do like a good truck stop. And, josh, not only that, who knows, who knows these truckers, they might have a beautiful voice for this karaoke, because they can probably sing to themselves all day long as they're driving down the highways. That's right. So what else does it have apart from the karaoke?
Speaker 1:Okay, get this. It has a 52-seat movie theater at a truck stop and I looked this up. They do six. This is a deal, craig. $6 movies, really $6 movies, wow.
Speaker 2:I wonder if you can actually watch the movie like whatever movie you pick, or is it they've actually got screening times? No, I think it's an excellent movie theater, so I think they show current, current releases, I believe, and screening I don't know that yes, wow, exactly.
Speaker 1:Um, there is a lounge and diner called the ponderosa lounge and in this obviously they have food, all that stuff, but there's country music and dancing this is a good time, that's, this is a good time um there's also an art in portland oregon that's.
Speaker 2: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 from texas, right? Everything's bigger in texas, that's right. So maybe?
Speaker 1:um, there's a driver's lounge with arcade games. A lot of these trucks out to have arcades, um, and then there's a pool like a swimming pool. Wow yeah, in the driver's lounge apparently. So this sounds to me like a truck driver's heaven.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and see a lot of these truck stops, actual real truck stops. Love's, for instance, is one of the big truck stops across the US as well, whereby you can actually pay for a decent shower, and it's a shower that's in your own locked room.
Speaker 1: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 get to. We're gonna get to another one of these that has something even better oh, you're gonna love it.
Speaker 2: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 12 dollars, um. So for a shower you think, oh, that's a bit pricey. But you know, you, you book your shower, you pay for it, you get your ticket and then it calls you out. You know, you know ticket number 33 in um shower number I was ready showers, ready number three.
Speaker 2:And so you go in there, close the door behind you, you got a full bathroom area and I'm talking huge, normally bathroom area, like three times the size of a normal bathroom. You've got beautiful showers in there. They're very fresh, very clean itself as well, because they clean, cleaned out after every person, uh, has not had their shower too, which is really nice. So you can take your time in there. You can have a shave if you need to have a shave, you know you can go to the bathroom. You need to go to the bathroom and then have a decent, hot, good shower, because sometimes they are hard to find on the road, josh.
Speaker 1:So so you know that's really interesting to hear and I believe it because I've heard that before. But initially, whenever I thought about, whenever I walked into a truck stop and I saw that they had showers, all I could think was that must be the most disgusting place on earth.
Speaker 2:But it's not, no, it's not they, they've got it.
Speaker 1:They've got a system. They got probably somebody. Their job is to clean it.
Speaker 2: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, really good. All right, josh, we're gonna move on now to, uh, utah, utah. Have you been to this one?
Speaker 1: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 here and actually I know I haven't been here because I've looked at the pictures.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, If you look at the pictures of this place.
Speaker 1:You're going to be like oh my God, this is heaven.
Speaker 2:This place. Although there's not many amenities, we'll say what is first, bear Lake Rest Area and Overlook on Route 89 in Utah. And yes, the restrooms are very clean there, you know, vending machine only, so you don't have that big restaurant sort of style. But the main thing here is the views. We're talking about the water view, blue water views in Utah, josh, it's high up in the desert and most people go there just literally for the views and to get out and do the panoramic photo. You know how you do your panoramic photo all the way across and stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:So you need panoramic photos all the way through. You can do selfies and stuff as well. So, yeah, that's that's this one here, Josh. Um, you have a question?
Speaker 1:I don't, oh, I don't I'm just listening, no questions. I'm just listening to you, but I'll just say this uh, I think the reason I we have ranked this so high, yeah it's because many travelers say that this is the most beautiful rest stop they've ever seen yeah, yeah, it's the views, it's the views, yeah, and bear lake, if you, and Bear Lake, if you look it's huge.
Speaker 2:It's gigantic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's in the mountains, that's right Mountains lake beauty.
Speaker 2:Yep, it's the place to go and there's nothing there because it's a Bear Lake, but anyway there's also hiking. I know there's also hiking trails that you can do from, so you can park the car there, leave the car there itself and do the hiking trails all the way through and down towards the Bear Lake. So I do believe forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think there may be a little beach thing you can go down there onto the lake as well, nearby, I think, it said.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, nearby there's like a beach sort of area which you can hike down to as well, so that would be really, really nice.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, this one's on my list josh for the views alone. So absolutely for the views alone. I'll say this, though for food it's only vending machines yes, machines, but that's okay, it's. I mean, come on, this is the most beautiful place for a picnic I was gonna say picnics, and that's what rest stops are mostly used for.
Speaker 2:I've seen all the time, josh, when I go through the rest areas all across the us. Nothing you nothing warms my heart more than to seea beautiful young family with two young kids, or three young kids, et cetera, and the kids are out and they're playing around with a ball or something, and then they all come out and sit at the picnic table, no devices in their hands. All of them are sitting there having a beautiful picnic in the sun or in the shade or whatever, and they're all talking and laughing with one another. That is really nice to see, and you see it often, josh. I actually see it often on road trips. That's nice.
Speaker 1:Yes, and people that are taking road trips. I mean, they're not flying right, so they're trying to pinch their pennies, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1:A picnic is way cheaper than going to a grocery store.
Speaker 2:It's way cheaper than eating out all the time it's grocery stores way cheaper than than eating out all the time it's. It's cheaper than mcdonald's nowadays too. You think about mcdonald's trips these days for two two adults and three kids. Wow yes, you know compared to what 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:This is gonna be controversial yes, I know, because there are gonna be some people listening to saying I. There are going to be some people saying this should be number one.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's true, but it's number four. Four, yeah, but then again what's going to be? Three, one, two and three, then that's what they.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're going to be good. So number four is we've talked about 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 I think I've been to a Buc-ee's three or four times. It is Buc-ee's, buc-ee's, the Buc-ee's gas station in mostly in Texas, but beyond various locations, and let's just say Buc-ee's is expanding. Rumor is that there's going to be 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: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 in total across the US? Wow, 51 in total, and this is as of June 10th. So they'll be building more as we go June 10th 2025,.
Speaker 2:if you're listening, yeah, yeah, oh, 2025. True, true, they're spread across nine different states. Texas has 36 stalls in Texas alone, wow, but there's also ones in Alabama, florida, Georgia, kentucky, south Carolina, tennessee, missouri and Colorado. So I think I've been to all of those, except I haven't been to Colorado, and that's all I haven't been to all the ones in texas.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so my, my theory, not my theory. My life rule is you never pass up a bucky no, I don't care if you don't need to go. I don't care if you don't need to go to the bathroom. I don't care if you're not hungry, 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're all the same. They're so kind of Kind of.
Speaker 1:We just saw one. I just saw one in I can't remember where we I mean we might have been together where it was like the world's largest car wash.
Speaker 2:It was so long yeah that was yeah, it was the world's largest car wash. Yeah, we were there together.
Speaker 1:Where was that? I can't remember where we were. We were in Texas. Yeah, that's right, Texas.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, that was a good one. I just picked it up from the airport. We're on our way, okay.
Speaker 1:So, first thing, first thing. We're going to go back and forth on this.
Speaker 2:We're going to spend some time on this time the restrooms, craig.
Speaker 1:Believe the hype. Believe the hype. These are the most cleanest bathrooms in America. They brag of it and it's also, I believe, true.
Speaker 2:Absolutely true, and the reason for it, Josh, is so Buc-ee's actually pay their staff really really well, and I'm talking forgive me if I'm wrong, because I'm just pulling this out of somewhere where it shouldn'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 and foremost, these bathrooms, Josh. If you haven't been to a Bucky's before, we're talking over 50, if you're in the men's room, 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.
Speaker 2:You go in the men's room, you're talking over 50 stalls almost, and each stall itself is separated with a closed individual door like, but it's fully enclosed. It's not the, it's not the american doors where there's, you know, two or three inches gap. There's no gaps in these doors. You know these are actually high quality doors. You've got, you know, 30 or 40 urinals at the same time. Then normally down the center is where you've got all your hand washing basin areas with a mirror and towels and stuff too, but there's always an employee in the bathroom. As soon as the employee sees someone.
Speaker 2:I mean, I wouldn't like to do it, josh, to be honest with you as soon as someone sees someone coming out of one of the cubicles they go in and clean it up and to make sure that there's no things left behind, so to speak Streaks, skid marks, whatever you want to call them left behind, and make sure the toilet paper is filled correctly. The whole lot so that's the reason for it, josh is that there's full-time bathroom attendants, male and female, in these bathrooms too.
Speaker 1:Last time I went I was at the location close to Bowling Green and my mom I was with my mom, yeah, and she had never been to a bucky's and I forced her. I said, mom, you gotta go to the bathroom. She's like I don't have to go to the bathroom, no, you have to go.
Speaker 2:Just go in there and have a drink.
Speaker 1: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 the cleanest bathrooms in america poor mrs johnson yeah, all right, craig, let's talk about the food oh my gosh brisket on the board brisket on the board I'm saying it like with a your accent you are.
Speaker 1:Well, that was actually an english accent, but that's okay, I'll take it what does it mean when, when the people that work at bucky say brisket on the board, what, what is happening?
Speaker 2:so what's actually happening then is the fresh brisket is actually coming out of the oven smoker, wherever it is that they're bringing it out from, and they, they put it, they literally jiggle it on, and you, 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 on the board, because it's fresh brisket on the board, and then everyone, all the other staff, say brisket on the board, brisket on the board. So everyone knows in the store there's fresh brisket and you can smell the brisket too.
Speaker 2:Josh, it's a barbecue, texan, smell like it's good brisket and so what they do with the brisket, that depends on what they need. But they'll slice the brisket for the sliced brisket sandwiches, um, or they'll. They'll shred the brisket, so for the shredded brisket sandwiches, you know so. And then they make up all the different fresh sandwiches, uh, for with these briskets as well. But they don't have just brisket. They've got chicken there, they've got turkey turkey yes, they've got all the pork, the whole yep, the whole.
Speaker 1:I would. I would argue the turkey is just as good. The barbecue turkey with the barbecue sauce. Oh my gosh, if you go here, I mean I would encourage people to don't eat like, but this is a place where you can eat and have a meal like you get your sandwich, just go out to the parking lot. That's what we do, craig yeah, you tailgate it.
Speaker 2:You tailgate, I didn't know what tailgating was until I came to the USA. We don't do tailgating in Australia, really yeah, because we don't have our utes don't fall, we don't sit on the back of the actual ute wall. You call it a trough here.
Speaker 1:We don't do that sort of thing in Australia. So no, no, we don't tail. They have a wide jerky selection Huge jerky selection.
Speaker 2:Huge jerky selection, huge Teriyaki. Yes, what do you call it? Peppercorn, peppercorn and all the different types of jerky you can imagine.
Speaker 1:So yeah, they have fudge Mm-hmm. If you like soda, they have almost every kind of soda, just like the rows and a huge row of of soda and it's cheap.
Speaker 2:The soda is their cheapest thing till to this day. Even you get an extra large soda. We're talking like a bucket, almost, of soda for, like you know, a dollar something. A dollar plus tax is ridiculous how 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 you believe it or not, but I'm not a fan of this, josh. I don't know if you believe it or not, but I'm not a fan of this. And it is the. What do you call them, those little popcorn-y things? What are they called, josh? Oh, my gosh, nuggets or something.
Speaker 1:This is the best Beaver nuggets. The beaver nuggets, the beaver nuggets are so good I always have to get the beaver nuggets. I always have to get them. And basically what the beaver nuggets are, it's like caramel, puff corn.
Speaker 2:Oh, puff corn, that's what it is.
Speaker 1:That's what it is. You know puff corn. It's caramel puff corn, but it's the Bucky's caramel puff corn it's beaver nuggets yeah. It's so pop. These beaver nuggets are so popular, people sell them on TikTok. I get ads for people saying have beaver nuggets sent to your house? I live in Minnesota. There's not a Bucky's near me. I need my beaver nuggets. 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 it cups? It's like a kiwi pie cup.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly Key lime pie, key lime pie they've got.
Speaker 2:They've got banana pudding ones, they've got like a uh, a chocolate mousse with uh, with um 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've been to, except for bar one, has had a five-stage adventure lab in buckies as well. So it's been really cool. You will find that a lot of the actual um munsies or geocaches as well, they've actually been removed from buckies because buckies are so high end with their staff that their staff always, always, always out in the parking lots cleaning everything, and so they they clean off any QR codes. They see someone hiding something under a lambskin, they go what's that? And get rid of it. So it's very rare that you actually 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:Some fun things to do. Every Buc-y's has a giant beaver statue.
Speaker 2:Bucky beaver statue we didn't say, we didn't say. That's the reason why because the uh bucky's is a beaver, their, their logo their brand is beaver, beaver, the bucky the beaver.
Speaker 1:So everyone has a beaver statue. If you're lucky, there's like the person dressed like in a furry costume of bucky I've I've experienced bucky walking around 90 of the time the bucky's walking around.
Speaker 2:90 of the time.
Speaker 1:90 of the time I've been there, he's walking around, so yes, yep, yep, yep, and you can get bucky's branded everything swimsuits. Yeah, you name it.
Speaker 2:You name it, you can get it josh, you can get goliath a little jacket a, a Bucky's jacket for his. Oh yeah, absolutely Anything Dog 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's stickers throughout my van itself as well, to try and prove that I've been to almost every Bucky's that there is in the US, I know.
Speaker 1:So here's the thing. I know you're sitting there thinking, come on, it's a gas station. I know, I was in the same position. 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 believe the hype. I believe the hype. People Believe the hype about Buc-ee's.
Speaker 2:Exactly, Josh. How many gas pumps do you think Buc-ee's have on average? How many do you think I would?
Speaker 1:guess over 100. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Buc-ee's locations typically feature around 100 gas pumps per station 100 gas pumps per station. The larger ones have over 120 gas pumps per station. And this is what's going to blow any Australian minds out there, or even the UK minds as well, and that is this gas stations here in the USs predominantly. You, where you, you park your car at the gas pump, you pump the pump, the gas itself, and then you leave the car there and go into the store. That same thing happens here at bucky's josh. People use the gas pumps as they just leave your.
Speaker 1:You can just leave that your car there, because there's so many pumps.
Speaker 2:There's so many pumps. People just like so many pumps. People just like I didn't know that. Yeah, some people even leave the 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:Right now, number three Okay, this next one we have talked about before we have this one is, uh, south of the border in dillon, south carolina oh, south of the border is the name of it, not south of the borders in mexico but it's mexican themed.
Speaker 2:Oh, in south carolina it's mexican themed wow so like there's a.
Speaker 1:There's a. You'll see from the distance a giant climbing tower of just like a gigantic sombrero. Basically, it's very quirky. Why hasn't this?
Speaker 1:been around at least, but anyway, I know, I cannot believe, craig, that you have not been here because this is it's, it's a, it's a comp, it's complex. It's been there for 70 years, craig. Wow, and the people have been there. If you were there 70 years ago, they say it's very similar to what it was 70 years ago, like it hasn't changed do they upgrade the pint at all on the on the sombrero?
Speaker 1:yeah, this is what you call. Yeah, exactly this is what you call a tourist trap. Okay, in all the best ways. Okay, you can climb the gigantic 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 love it all right, I'm just good at it.
Speaker 2:I don't love it. I was good at it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true, there's a reptile lagoon. Okay, oh, there's the souvenir shop. It has everything and anything you don't need but you want to get, because it is weird, strange, amazing. You're talking Americana. This place is tacky, it's nostalgic. It's weirdly wonderful, craig. 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:In Dillon Dillon, south Carolina.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's Mexican themed in Dillon, South Carolina.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can honestly say, josh, I haven't actually spent that much time in South Carolina, unfortunately, spent that much time in south carolina. Unfortunately, like I haven't done, I haven't done much time up and down the south coast. I've been predominantly in the midwest. You know, a lot of my travels have been, uh, south to north, along and through the midwest itself, that's, I mean even even the west. You know, I haven't driven in california, for instance, with my van. You know that sort of thing too, so I haven't even been over that far yet. I've literally been following all the, the geocaching and munzee big events throughout the, throughout the state. So that's what I've been doing too. So, yep, all right, josh, we're gonna move on yes, yes, but I'm sure some of.
Speaker 1:Can I just say this? I'm sure some of our listeners have been to south of the border I actually think I think we've had people comment about this when we've talked about it before. Yeah, so this is somewhere we need 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't think we didn't go.
Speaker 2:We didn't go. This was a botch. How did we not go? This is a botch, we didn't do our research, josh.
Speaker 1:This is a major botch.
Speaker 2:When we were at Geo Woodstock last year not the recent one, but last year it was in Flagstaff Arizona, and that's where this one is. It's called Little America in Flagstaff Arizona. How did we not go to this one, josh?
Speaker 1:You know why we didn't go? Why? Because it's like a resort. Oh, it's very classy.
Speaker 2:That's what it is. We had our Airbnb, but this is like a classy resort. So it's basically because their tagline says Josh as well is what happens when a hotel meets a rest area. So it's a great place to stretch your feet. You get out there, stretch your legs, et cetera, as well, or you're just passing through. There's shaded pine, forest trail systems as well. You can even go in the outdoor pool, josh, but I think that's for guests only, I do believe. So that's maybe why we didn't go to this as well, because it may have looked to us just like an actual hotel rather than a rest stop. So that's maybe the reason why we didn't go.
Speaker 2:But, josh, the food here apparently the food is the reason why you stopped, because it's very trucker friendly. And then we know what trucker friendly is like. I know what trucker friendly is like. I know what trucker friendly is when it comes to their breakfast huge, big. You know we're talking bacon, we're talking eggs, we're talking hash browns, we're talking pancakes. You know the works is all on the the breakfast. But they have, uh, restaurant style meals. But they've got 75 cent soft serve cones. Josh, I love old school, I love that old school 75.
Speaker 1:Where can you get a soft serve ice cream cone for 75 cents?
Speaker 2:nowhere, not even mcdonald's ones are like three bucks now wow, really, I remember oh, I'm not gonna die I remember, and that was a. That was australian sense as well, so it's very different. So yeah, so this one here you shot josh's. Apparently it's got a gift shop as well with all the memorabilia. It's got all the route maps as well, because they're through Flagstaff Route 66 sort of stuff. So I can't believe we didn't go. I think maybe because we thought it may have been part of the hotel rather than a restaurant.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Maybe that's the reason why.
Speaker 1:Can I say something, yeah, about, like the restroom shower situation? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, because you're going to love this, craig, this is why next time you're there, you're going to want to stop.
Speaker 1:I will, because this just shouts Craig Shouts. See my show. Does it have a bath? Does it have a bath? Okay, yeah, I watched a YouTube video of a couple people that have a YouTube channel about their truckers. Yeah, and they're visiting and and they're visiting and this lady she was like this place has the most amazing baths that you can rent. So it's like you were talking about renting showers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is she's like she's like you can rent a bath, but it's not just a, it's like a jacuzzi bath oh, I'm on my way. I'm on my way, so it's like it's like a hot tub, but a it's a hot tub bath that you can rent. And she's like this is the maybe. This is why I rank this so high. She's like this is the best place to take a shower or a bath at a truck stop in America.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Wow, yep, she said that and this is from a trucker.
Speaker 2:She knows, they know, they absolutely know, they absolutely know.
Speaker 1:All right, josh, she knows, they know, they absolutely know, they absolutely know. All right, josh. Moving on to number one, you can take number one, josh. What's drum roll, please? Number one is the great state of iowa, the birthplace of joshua johnson, geocaching vloggers, uh, and that is in walcott, iowa. I have been here before. It is iowa 80 truck stop, which is named as we've talked about this before. I think it was on, I think it was on roadside attraction um it was madness it was.
Speaker 2:I think it might have been one of courtney's entries. It might have been.
Speaker 1:It might have been yeah but this is the world's largest truck stop. This place is not just a rest area, 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 down your volume, but it has its own zip code. It's its own city, okay.
Speaker 2:We're talking with the other truck stop. Josh had like the 52 seat theater and the karaoke. That's all well and good, but this one, josh, you can get a haircut, it's got, but this one.
Speaker 1:Josh, you can get a haircut. It's got Barbershop Barbershop.
Speaker 2:You've got dental cleaning as well, so you can go to the dentist or the orthodontist as well and you can get your dog washed there too. It's a dog wash Grooming area. Oh my gosh, gift shop there is huge too. Very similar, I think. Maybe Bucky's sort of got their ideas, maybe from when it comes to gift shop, maybe from from iowa 180.
Speaker 1:So it's a possibility, a possibility also here there's a museum, but guess what kind of museum is? It's a museum dedicated to trucking it's a trucking museum. Trucking museum and it has over a hundred historic rigs. So there's trucks, there's a museum filled with trucks. I mean, if you're a trucker, this is like. This is your paradise, this is your heaven. Yeah, it's amazing heaven. Yeah, it's amazing. It's basically like a small town for truckers, but it's not just for truckers, it's for anybody, anyone, it's just huge.
Speaker 2:I've seen plenty of videos on this too, on van life videos.
Speaker 1: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 eight restaurants. Eight restaurants, including buffets, diners and, of course, all the fast food options as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so this we know truckers love a buffet. Josh too. Truckers love a buffet, let's be honest, because they get a little box takeaway for their truck for the next trip. So yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So if you're wondering where this is, if you're on I-80 crossing Iowa, it is between Davenport and, I'd say, des Moines. I think it's right before Iowa City. I've been here before and it is a must stop. It is the. This is why it's number one. It's the rest stop of all rest stops. It has the most amenities. There's a lot to do, there's a lot to see and that is why it is number one. You must stop, you must take your pee there.
Speaker 2:And, Josh, the reason. You know the reason why it has its own zip code. Why? Because it has its own post office 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 your own zip codes if you go, if you've got your own post office there too, so it has its own post office there. That's the reason why it's got its own zip code too.
Speaker 1:So so there you go. It makes sense where it is because it is like almost like smack dab in the middle of the middle of like between the two coasts. I mean this smack dab in the middle of between the two coasts, I mean this is right in the middle. So it makes sense that they put the world's largest truck stop right there.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. Josh we have a couple of honorable mentions. Do you want to talk about them now, or are we going to do a golden nugget?
Speaker 1:It's time to wait for the golden nugget.
Speaker 2:We're going to do that for the golden nuggets, Josh. Wow, Honorable mentions for the golden nugget. We're going to do that for the golden nuggets, Josh. Some honorable mentions. People are going golden nuggets. What's a golden nugget, Josh? What is a golden nugget?
Speaker 1:A golden nugget is like you go and you see your treasure and you open the treasure chest and you're like, oh my gosh, I didn't realize there are golden nuggets in here, which is for our patrons, so anybody that supports us this podcast, they get extra stuff and so we're going to record a mini little episode about a couple other bonus rest stops so so our patrons you get to listen, and if our future patrons also get to listen, so so considering supporting us.
Speaker 2:Well, josh, do you know we've actually got, before we go, we've got a new patron as well. Did you know that? We do, we do, we've got a new patron. A big shout out to Kevin Swoop. Kevin Swoop, one of our new patrons. I know who he is, you know.
Speaker 1:Kevin. You know Kevin. Yes, who's Kevin? Because he was at the Munzee event. There were the people that introduced those police to Munzee. Oh, yes, yes, yes, when we were in Uranus.
Speaker 2:Yes, in Uranus, george, it's a smack banner in the middle of Uranus. Kevin and his wife oh, kevin and his wife. Yes, lovely people, I'm almost certain.
Speaker 1:Kevin, I apologize if that's not you, but I'm almost certain that it is you, because I just sent your wife a path tag.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's all right.
Speaker 1:How many people are there named?
Speaker 2:Swoop, have a Swoop, Exactly. Thank you so much for Kevin Josh. Otherwise how can people sort of be on the patron list?
Speaker 1:How were you saying If you want to unlock the treasure trove, that is, the golden nuggets and all the stuff behind the paywall, as we say, as others say, scott Berkson, yes, we would really appreciate your support. It is on Patreon. If you support us, you help us create even better content. You keep this free for everyone. You're not going to hear commercials on this yet no, unless there's somebody that approaches us that we really love, like Miller.
Speaker 2:High Life.
Speaker 1:Or Airbnbs. Yet no, unless there's somebody that approaches us that we really love, like miller highlife, or airbnb, or airbnb, airbnb. That would be sweet. Uh, so here's how you find it patreoncom, backslash, treasures of our town, and that's where you'll find us, and there's several levels, levels that you can support us there very cool.
Speaker 2:Otherwise, josh, how can people reach out to us and let us know how many of those rest stops they've been to on this episode?
Speaker 1:How can they do that? Or the ones that we forgot?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, let us know which ones are your favorites Exactly.
Speaker 1:So feel free to reach out to us at Treasures of Our Town Podcast at gmailcom, or you can follow us on Facebook, instagram, x and YouTube, or on Google just search Treasures of Our Town On our Buzzsprout page. There's a little button that you can contact us.
Speaker 2:Exactly and when you contact us on that button, make sure you let us know who you are. So Buzzsprout doesn't do that to us, but anyway. So that's it for our show today. Please subscribe, rate and review on your favorite podcasting app and, as always, Josh.
Speaker 1:Fair travels always lead you to the most amazing unexpected bathrooms, toilets around the country. See you next time, everybody.
Speaker 2:Bye, bye, bye. I'm going to get a good sleep.
