Sweetwater TA Offers Great Service (and some large snakes)
Venture into the Sweetwater Travel Center off I-20’s Exit 242, and you’ll find the kinds of things you’d expect to in a TA store: snacks, sodas, flashlights, magazines, rattlesnakes ... rattlesnakes?
“It gets a lot of comments,” says owner Ron Johnston of his 82-inch (stuffed) snake, a proud symbol of Sweetwater’s most famous event, the Rattlesnake Roundup. Once a year – the second weekend in March to be exact – Sweetwater’s quiet town of 11,000 is transformed into a snake-infested crowd of nearly 40,000.
If you’re into snakes, this is your weekend. There are snake demonstrations, snake handling, snake skinning, snake grilling, even snake arts and crafts. There’s a cook-off, a carnival, a flea market and a beauty pageant – not for the snakes, mind you, but for Sweetwater’s young ladies, who compete in the swimsuit, evening dress, talent and interview categories for scholarship money.
“It’s definitely one of our busier weekends,” Johnston says. He bought the Sweetwater location in November 1990 – it was still a 76/Unocal shop at the time – and he has reshaped the truckstop with several makeovers and additions. And Sweetwater is still growing, says Johnston.
“We purchased a four-bay shop on the property adjacent to us back in May,” he explains. “It opened in June and has added to our existing two-bay shop offering.” Sweetwater is a Freightliner ServicePoint location and offers front-end alignment in addition to the standard list of services and equipment.
Johnston and General Manager Hossein Kashani hope to add an express-lube lane in the near future.
Once the truck’s taken care of, drivers can take advantage of private showers, a TV lounge, telephone room, laundry facilities a sit-down family restaurant (offering breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets) and a food court featuring Pizza Hut and Chester’s Fried Chicken. Outside, drivers can use the scale and hook into the travel center’s satellite line to access TV, phone and Internet.
What else can drivers expect at the Sweetwater Travel Center? “A good Ol’ West Texas smile and service,”says Johnston. That, and maybe a rattler or two.
Getting there: The Sweetwater Travel Center is located off I-20 at Exit 242 in Sweetwater, TX.
The food court is open daily from 10 a.m. until 11 p.m., and the family restaurant, shop and store are open 24 hours. When you get there, say hello to General Manager Hossein Kashani, Assistant GM Scott Turnbow, Shop Manager Mike Howard, Store Manager Mary Shumaker, Restaurant Manager Kay McMullin and Food Court Manager Tim Barton.
Trucking Matters
by Ed Kuhn, Chairman, President & CEO, TravelCenters of America
At TravelCenters of America, we are committed to providing the services and products professional drivers need to succeed in a tough business. That requires a large and ongoing investment in our facilities, from building new locations to upgrading existing ones.
The new TA design launched in 1998 is undoubtedly the most noticeable change we’ve made in our locations. And, it’s the one that may mean the most to you because you spend hours with us in and around our locations.
Our facilities are often your home away from home, as well as a key part of your work, so we want them to be comfortable and welcoming. You spend a lot of time and a lot of hard-earned money at TA, and we figure you deserve the best we can offer.
Our new design is brighter, more open and friendlier than anything else out there on the highway. But the look is just the start. The new design also includes top-of-the-line showers and restrooms and more choices in our stores and restaurants. It makes it easier for you to stop, get what you need, and go if time is pressing, or to be able to relax and unwind if you are laying over.
We’ve remodeled the majority of our older locations now to include features of the new design, and we’re also making other needed improvements. For example, in the past few months, we’ve remodeled the two Ontario, California, locations as well as significantly upgrading the Sayre, Oklahoma, Ft. Bridger, Wyoming and Troutdale, Oregon sites to add features you had requested.
At Sayre, for instance, we added a shop with full-service bays, including a lube pit for quicker oil changes, road service and Freightliner ServicePoint. The work was completed in mid-July and shop manager Todd Vaughan says truckers love it: “I’ve had drivers come in and say they can’t believe the difference.”
Sayre is located on I-40 midway between Amarillo and Oklahoma City. It’s an older site that had been remodeled a couple of years ago, and the addition of the shop provides the only truckstop repair shop in the area.
Meanwhile, the exterior of the Ft. Bridger facility got a complete makeover, and we also expanded the store and added a drivers’ lounge and a game room. We now operate a Burger King and Taco Bell and remodeled the Mrs. B’s restaurant into our newest concept, Fork in the Road.
Located about 100 miles north of Salt Lake City on I-80, the Ft. Bridger TA is a welcome sight for drivers in the sparsely populated region. With the improvements, it’s even more welcoming now.
And, we’re still not done. We closed and are rebuilding the Rockwall, Texas location, near Dallas, to make way for a new, modern facility with a Burger King and Starbucks Coffee. We have new construction scheduled for Livingston, California and are planning new services for existing locations, as well. Smaller projects are under way almost constantly throughout our network, such as installing new parking spaces, diesel islands, shower rooms, restrooms and other driver amenities.
So let me apologize for the dust – we’re working to improve things for you!
I’d like to hear your thoughts about our facilities and any other aspect of our operations. Please write me at Road King, 3322 West End Avenue, Suite 700, Nashville, Tennessee 37203, or email: edkuhn@roadking .com. Until next time, truck safe.
New Benefits in 2003 for TA RoadKing Club™
New features, benefits and promotions await members of the TA RoadKing Club™ in 2003. Details will be announced later, but it’s safe to say there will be lots of ways to earn more points, and more reasons to use them for discounts in the restaurants, shops and stores at TravelCenters of America locations across the U.S. Look for announcements in Road King Magazine, the RoadMile Marker kiosks and at www.tatravelcenters.com.
Get a Gift on the Go at TravelCenters of America
The holidays are upon us and there’s just not enough time to stop and shop for gifts. Fortunately, TravelCenters of America stores have laid in a treasure trove of items, from electronics to toys, that make great gifts for family and friends, and even for you – provided, of course, that you’ve been a good little trucker all year long. Here’s just a sample of what’s available at participating TAs:
* Pioneer XM Satellite Radio receiver kit;
Model GEXFM903. Runs through your existing stereo system. Easy installation.
Price: $199.99
* Bel Vector 985 Radar-Laser Detector with 16
selectable features, free digital ice alert indoor-outdoor thermometer, and anodized aluminum travel case.
Sale price: $239.99
* Oritron model DVD650 DVD player; A/C operation, plays DVD, CD, MP3 and CD-R.
Sale price: $69.99
Wilson Model 101Trucker dual-band cell phone antenna. Increases cell phone range on send and receive.
Sale price: $39.99
