The Truck 'n Travel TA in Eugene, Ore., celebrated its 25th anniversary on Jan. 1, 2001, but the party looked more like a family reunion than a birthday celebration.

The location's founder, James S. Anderson Sr., gave a special hug to the TA's president, general manager, store manager, shop manager and pump attendant because they're not just employees, they're family.

The Eugene TA has been family-owned and operated since it opened in 1975, and Anderson couldn't be a prouder father. His two sons, daughter, son-in-law and grandson all work at the location.

"It's always been my plan to have my family work at the location," Anderson says. "And it's working out fine. I get emotional just thinking about it." Anderson turned ownership of the truckstop over to his five children, and his daughter runs the store. But the retired businessman still has an office on site and meets and greets customers all the time.

"He's our number-one consultant," says Anderson's daughter, Tricia Howell. "If the restaurant is busy, he'll get up and bus tables," she adds. "We're all out on the floor, in front of customers," Howell says. "We take great pride in giving everyone hometown hospitality."

Howell says she, her husband and her brothers all worked elsewhere before drifting back to the Travel Center, which became a TA in May of 1993. Despite careers in law, engineering and computing, "it's just too much fun" working at the TA, Howell says.

Howell's 16 year-old son Ian tends the pumps. "It's good experience," Anderson says of his grandson's job. "I'd be very pleased if he ended up running the location, but that's obviously up to him, and it's his choice."

Anderson himself has worked every position at the TravelCenter over the past 25 years. "If the dishwasher broke down, that man was in the kitchen fixing it," Howell says of her dad.

With a full-service Country Pride restaurant, a Travel Store, drivers' lounge and a laundry room, the Eugene TA has grown since its beginnings as a small diesel station. Eugene is located almost midway between the Canadian and Californian borders, so truck and auto travelers are often "stopping off" on the way, Anderson says. To cater to the majority of their customers, the location added a motel in 1980, a tire shop in 1981, a gas station in 1989 and an additional parking lot in 1999. And the family shows no signs of slowing down.

One thing hasn't changed, though, and that's the Andersons' commitment to cleanliness and customer service. The family treats every customer the same way they treat each other (without the sibling rivalry, of course!). And while Howell manages the Travel Store, she says she's just a regular employee like everyone else. "We're all just here working together," she says. Like a family.

• Where: I-5. Exit 199, Eugene, Ore.
• Phone: (541) 485-2137
• Fax: (541) 484-4953
• Parking: 150 spaces
• Services: 140-seat Country Pride Restaurant
• Travel store
• Permit services
• Laundry room
• Weigh scales
• Drivers' lounge
• Video game room
• Phone room
• Diesel satellite pumps
• 3 truck service bays
• Emergency road service
• Park 'N View