All-American Truck Stops
An Illustrated History
Guy Kudlemyer & Wayne Henderson

Iconografix
2011 / ISBN 9781583882863
Transportation, trucks, service stations
Amazon

Reviewed by Bob Walch

This illustrated history of truck stops begins when trucks traveled on two-lane roads and "Mom and Pop" gas stations were the norm. While Dad pumped the gas, Junior washed vehicle windows and Mom and Sis made the sandwiches and worked the cash register. Now just a long-gone memory of the past, this type of quaint, family truck stop has been replaced by today's vast truck plazas which are acres in size and feature an array of amenities from showers and restaurants to repair facilities.

Beginning in the 1920s, the authors trace how the truck stop in America evolved over the decades. In five lavishly-illustrated chapters the reader will follow the development of these important truck rest stops and fueling facilities that have served both the transportation industry and motoring populations for years.

The chapters include "Pre Interstate Highway America," "One-Stops, Little America, and Iowa 80,", "Oil Company-Branded Truck Stops: Profiles of Brands," "Truck Stop Operations," and finally, "Truck Stop Advertising."

If you are or were a professional trucker you'll be familiar with many of the truck-stops (both past and present) pictured in this volume. But even if you aren't a trucker, you've certain passed these fuel stations, if not actually stopped at some of them; hence you'll find this book of interest, too.