What gas/food shops do you stop at on a road trip?

[snoWYmonkey]

While we often incur a detour, we try to stop at hot springs whenever possible. Lava hot springs if going the long way between Jackson Hole and SLC. Fast food veggie burritos when not stopping for a sit down meal as mystery meats are frightening to me.

 

[Amie H]

When I first started doing the 4-hour drive, 1-way, to Massanutten for ski long weekends, I was taking my 4yo daughter. Later on, my passengers included kids under 9 for several years. Always needed one rest stop and sometimes more than one. Was better to plan for a stop than wait until a kid said they needed a stop. That was before Sheetz expanded to VA but wasn't hard to decide which gas stations made the most sense.

You gotta stop - kids have small bladders!! And I've done road trips Chicago to NJ when my daughter was in diapers. Not only do you need an indoor bathroom but a good-sized diaper changing area (not just one of those fold-down things) because sometimes things get messy and they need a mini-bath before putting them back in the car.
I'll spare the gory details but I recall being SO GLAD that I opted to stop halfway on a IL-PA trip with her AND that our motel had coin-op laundry facilities!!! Kid clothes AND car seat cover needed a washing (and to be courteous, I re-ran a wash cycle with the machine empty.)

 

[skinnyfootskis]

We use McDonald's and fast food joints for bathroom stops, but not for food. Usually we'll go to Yelp and find a local place that has a decent rating and isn't too far from an exit. If there's a Wegman's (a regional grocery store) nearby, we'll stop there. They have a lot of pre-made options. And you can eat there or take out. Also, we very often take sandwiches in the car.

Wegman's is great

 

[Christy]

The Cascadian Farm Stand (at their original farm in WA's Skagit Valley) was always a stop when driving across the North Cascades Hwy, which I've done many times a year for decades. Everyone looks forward to going to the stand! It's a lovely spot with homemade ice cream, shortcakes, etc made from the berries grown there. As with Stuckney's, a bigger corporation (General Mills) bought Cascadian Farm; they closed the stand at the beginning of Covid but without explanation, have kept it closed, to everyone's disappointment. Local politicians are getting involved as it's so beloved.



I have a roster of other stops I always make on certain highways in WA on weekend trips--one for crab sandwiches, one for oysters, one for asparagus tamales...

Around the West if I need food in an unfamiliar spot I'll use Yelp to find a taqueria or taco truck. It makes driving through a place like Yakima or Fresno or some small agricultural town a lot more appealing because you know you can find great Mexican food.

 

[marzNC]

The Cascadian Farm Stand (at their original farm in WA's Skagit Valley) was always a stop when driving across the North Cascades Hwy, which I've done many times a year for decades. Everyone looks forward to going to the stand! It's a lovely spot with homemade ice cream, shortcakes, etc made from the berries grown there. . . .

When I was driving between Jiminy Peak and Boston in 2017-19, I discovered the Hager's Farm Market and Bakery. Great soups and sandwiches, and fresh donuts. Ice cream too.

 

[ilovepugs]

Howard Johnsons’s was founded in my hometown of Quincy, MA. There is a plaque commemorating the original location outside the Wollaston T station. There’s a HoJo’s motel (not restaurant) behind the expensive new middle school that was built over the defunct Catholic elementary school I attended. It was a disreputable looking place for years beforehand.

Quincy is also the original home of the New England mainstay Dunkin’ Donuts. But for road trips and day to day, I’m not a big Dunkies fan. Much rather stop at the locally owned gas station delis and I prefer McDonald’s for coffee beverages because it’s cheaper. I enjoy stopping at Tim Hortons on trips north of the border though… it’s a treat for me, haha.

Global Partners LP, a publicly traded company based in Massachusetts, owns a bunch of gas stations in Vermont (worked on two deals with them between 2017-2020), but they’ve maintained the former owners’ branding post-sale.

 

[Amie H]

@ilovepugs did you watch MadMen? They did an episode ("Far Away Places") that featured a story line of Don researching Howard Johnson's by taking Megan there, and convincing her to try the orange sherbet.

 

[Eera]

Don't have any particular places to stop in, generally we take the van down the back roads rather than the highways and you take a stop where you can. Outside of the main coastal routes Australia gets a bit rugged; we generally carry a couple of jerry cans as you can never guarantee the fuel trucks have gotten through. Husband has a weirdly encyclopedic knowledge of picnic areas, mines and and tiny little towns on the east coast, and he'll describe a journey like "Yeah, remember you go down the Bruce, past the entrance to Goonyella, there's that private road that everyone uses and there was that dead dog there; then there's gravel until you hit Undara. There. Remember?"

I really want to go on the Tanami Track before it gets sealed, but it's also over 1000km long with one servo that's closed half the time and notorious for killing caravans because of the corrigations. But the thought of bush camping in an area of total darkness in an expanse of desert has an appeal.

 

[DeeSki]

If you visit Ireland and need to travel from Dublin to the southwest, you can stop at Barack Obama Plaza, a purpose built motorway rest stop near Moneygall, the home of some of the former President’s ancestors. I have no idea what Obama thinks about this unusual honour …

 

[ski diva]

If you visit Ireland and need to travel from Dublin to the southwest, you can stop at Barack Obama Plaza, a purpose built motorway rest stop near Moneygall, the home of some of the former President’s ancestors. I have no idea what Obama thinks about this unusual honour …

Omigosh, I'm going to Ireland in September! I might have to stop there.

 

[DeeSki]

September is a wonderful time of year to visit Ireland - with or without a stop at Barack Obama Plaza If you need any advice or tips, DM me!

 

[Eera]

If you visit Ireland and need to travel from Dublin to the southwest, you can stop at Barack Obama Plaza, a purpose built motorway rest stop near Moneygall, the home of some of the former President’s ancestors. I have no idea what Obama thinks about this unusual honour …

That's awesome, I love random stuff like that - I went to visit the Frank Zappa memorial in Lithuania: he had no connection to the country whatsoever, they just decided they liked him and built a statue of him.

 

[ilovepugs]

@ilovepugs did you watch MadMen? They did an episode ("Far Away Places") that featured a story line of Don researching Howard Johnson's by taking Megan there, and convincing her to try the orange sherbet.

Never watched it, but how fun!

 

[Jenny]

Omigosh, I'm going to Ireland in September! I might have to stop there.

Ooooh, I hope you'll post pictures. I liked our Ireland trip a lot - we went in September, too.

 

[diymom]

We don’t often stop when doing the 4 hours to Maine each Friday.. we like to power through when possible to not add time. When necessary though we just stop at the rest area in Kennebunkport which has clean bathrooms, snacks/drinks, and gas if needed. It’s close to the halfway mark, so good in that way to stretch legs when we do stop.

And the gas is reasonably priced there too.

 

[diymom]

My fav rest stop at the moment is on I93 in NH, at Hookset. I have a travel mug from the Boston Ski show that gets me $1 refills, and all the food is from Common Man, so quite tasty.

 

[ilovepugs]

My fav rest stop at the moment is on I93 in NH, at Hookset. I have a travel mug from the Boston Ski show that gets me $1 refills, and all the food is from Common Man, so quite tasty.

I went to the general store there last weekend and the cookies did not meet my standards for gas station cookies. Boo!

 

[diymom]

Now you have me curious about your cookie standards ;)

 

[altagirl]

Now you have me curious about your cookie standards ;)

Me too!

 

[altagirl]

We tend to bring food, or I grab hard boiled eggs at a gas station (or occasionally chips).

But Howard Johnsons reminds me that when I was a kid we used to always stop at Bill Knapps for sit down meals in road trips. I remember their soup and some salad with blue cheese dressing. And I only ever remember going there on the drive to Chicago to my grandparents house.