Oh, the rest stop… I have a love hate relationship with rest stops. I think we all do. On the one hand, they serve a necessary purpose. When you’re driving for long periods of time they are like beacons, calling us to refuel, use a bathroom, or most importantly, get coffee. On the other hand, with so many people stopping to use the services, they can be disgusting and unkept.

I’ve noticed that each state handles the rest stop differently. New Jersey, for example, has dedicated “service areas” right on the road that you can quickly pull into and out of on the parkway and turnpike, whereas, other states merely direct you to already established businesses near an exit. When I’m in a rush, I do tend to prefer the New Jersey style ones just because it saves time rather than getting off the highway and making my way back. It makes me think of the movie, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” where Doom talks about the “freeway”:

                              DOOM
               Right here where we're standing, will
               be the cornerstone of my idea... the
               cloverleaf -- an elegant cement
               structure that intertwines freeways.

                               VALIANT
               What the hell's a freeway?

                               DOOM
               A freeway, Mr. Valiant, is eight lanes
               of asphalt running uninterrupted from
               L.A. to Pasadena.  Pasadena to
               Hollywood.  Hollywood to Santa Monica.
               Someday everyone will be in cars
               driving happily, non-stop from one end
               of the L.A. Basin to another.

                               VALIANT
               That's what this is all about?  Tell
               me, who's gonna use your lousy freeway?
               We got the Red Cars, the best public
               transportation in the country.

                               DOOM
               Not for long.  We're retiring the Red
               Cars.  People will drive, Mr. Valiant,
               because they'll have to.  And when they
               drive, they'll have to buy our cars,
               our tires, our gasoline.

And when they stop at the rest areas on the “freeway,” they’ll have to buy lots and lots of coffee. At least I do.

We got on the road around around 6 am- we were planning for 5, but the best laid plans are often thwarted for one reason or another and since this was a road trip and not a flight, it didn’t really matter. I won’t bore you with the details of the drive as it was pretty typical, but I did want to discuss the rest stops.

As we pulled in, got out of the car, and I took a good look around, I realized that under any other circumstances, I would never shop or get food in a place that looked like this. It was dirty!

Think about it. Would you order food from a place where you had to step over garbage to use the bathroom? In most cases, I wouldn’t. But in order to have the convenience and speed, they pretty much have you by the you-know-whats, don’t they?

At least it’s not just me. It seems that the rest of the caffeine addicted road trippers feel the same way. In Middle English, homage specifically referred to respect for and loyalty to a feudal lord (see definition for homage here). Does that liken the highway authority to a feudal lord? It’s certainly possible and something you can decide for yourself. Nevertheless, I guess if you close your eyes and pretend that it will be fine, you can drink your coffee and continue on in peace.

Still wondering where this road trip is going? Stay tuned, more to come!