Where are the best truck stops, and how do you find them?

In the summer of 2014, Talking Truckers published a list of the six truck stops that appeared on the most Top Ten US Truck Stops polls published online.

Yep, there’s an app for that!

Those truck stops (in alphabetical order) are:

• IOWA 80 (Walcott, IA)
• LITTLE AMERICA (Flagstaff, AZ)
• MORRIS TRAVEL CENTER (Morris, IL)
• SAPP BROTHERS (Sydney, NE)
• SOUTH OF THE BORDER (Hamer, SC)
• WHISKEY PETE’S (Primm, NV)

That said, our search for websites for the six winners above highlights the difficulty of answering the question posed in this piece’s headline. Given the revenue generated by a well-run truck stop, you’d probably think all six would have easy-to-find websites. You’d be wrong.

In fact, one of the six (Morris) didn’t even have a single page dedicated to it on TA /Petro’s website, while Whiskey Pete’s page in the Primm Valley Casino Resorts site mentions nothing about the truck stop itself.

So how do you find good truck stops?

We’ve already demonstrated the problem with relying strictly on the Internet for ratings. There are still huge gaps in the information published online. Which is why, until very recently, there was only one mostly reliable source of information. Word of mouth. We say “mostly” because opinions can vary widely – and what one driver considers good may not be remotely important to another driver.

At the same time, Word of Mouth isn’t always available where you need it, when you need it.

What if there were an app for that?

That’s exactly what the founders of the Trucker Path app asked themselves when they started development of its Trip Planner feature – which shows users every major truck stop along whatever route they type into its extremely user-friendly interface.

Truck stops are displayed either as pins on a map or in List View – which displays results from the closest to the farthest along your route, by miles, and includes each truck stop’s address and user rating. Tap on a truck stop’s listing, and you’ll find the following information and / or options:

• Current fuel price
• Directions
• Phone / fax / web address
• Parking availability and parking load history
• Scales? Y/N
• Showers? (# available)
• Wi-Fi Internet
• ATM
• Bulk DEF
• Tire care? Y/N
• TRANSFLOW Express
• RV dump station? (# available)
• Overnight parking? (Y/N)
• Truck parking spots
• Nearby restaurants with distance & directions from truck stop

And on top of all that information, the app features user ratings on thousands of those truck stops. Programming, for instance, the 146-mile trip from Birmingham to Atlanta yields 26 truck stops. Not to mention three Weigh Stations and one Overnight Parking lot. The app also lists route-side truck washes, rest areas and Walmarts.

So remember: The next time somebody tells you they’re having a hard time finding good truck stops, you have a ready response: “There’s an app for that.”

SUMMARY: An overview of the best US truck stops, from the developers of Trucker Path – rated one of the best Apps for truckers. Among its many features, the app helps truckers find open weigh stations and nearby TRANSFLO.