Last Updated August 1, 2026
After years of traveling in our Newmar Dutch Star motorhome with the Willys Jeep in tow, Sandy and I made a big change. We sold both and bought a Ford F-150 hybrid 4×4 truck, then set our sights on Tampa, Florida to pick up a 27-foot Airstream travel trailer. It was a new chapter, and it meant driving across the country before we even had our new home-on-wheels. Somewhere is frequently a rest stop. We’ve grown to appreciate rest stops, sometimes for the view or history, but usually to pee and change drivers. Many states do an amazing job at creating a little highway oasis. We rarely drive more than a few hours to get from one place to another as we look for something interesting along the way. If it isn’t rest stops it’s gas stations with food like Flying J’s, Pilots or Loves truck stops. When we were kids, it was Stuckey’s. Even though we pass Stuckey’s along the way, we won’t stop at one, worrying it will change a fond childhood memory of pecan rolls, key chains, geodes, and scorpions embedded in resin.
