Are you driving a truck and trying to find parking?
Are you spending the night?
There are some better truck stops, but there are a lot of dumps as well. I avoid them as much as I can and I have fewer problems because of it.
No we just stop for gas and bathroom, get something to eat. They are lit up, clean and better than some 7-11.
I worked (on the dock) for 4 years in trucking when younger. My wife works for USF Holland (office).
I don’t recommend driving to anyone. I always refused to learn and always said I would never be a driver.
My experiences were most OTR drivers were young (before marriage or kids) or old (after kids left home and sick of the wife). Not many in their 30’s and 40’s as the others I mentioned.
This perception might be accurate for old, independently-owned locations in older urban areas (mainly in the Northeast), but it sure isn't the case nationwide. Some of these places are unbelievable, especially the ones owned and operated by the reputable national chains.
Anyone who travels in southwestern Pennsylvania should stop by at the new TA (TravelCenters of America) location in Breezewood (it's right at the point where I-70 meets the Pennsylvania Turnpike). If I blindfolded you and took you in there without telling you where you were, you'd probably swear you were in a brand-spanking-new food court in a pretty high-end shopping mall.
Over time, these truck stop chains have adopted the business models and characteristics of their parent companies -- and it's pretty remarkable to see how they vary once you understand the business. Pilot, for example, is a national chain that is a subsidiary of Marathon Oil Company -- so these locations are very heavily focused on selling large quantities of fuel on a site that is as small as possible. This is why Pilot locations sell their own brand of fuel rather than franchising their fuel sales out to "name" brands, and why Pilot locations typically have very robust fuel operations, relatively smaller truck parking lots, and relatively fewer on-site amenities than their competitors.
TravelCenters of America (the famous TA brand -- formerly Truckstops of America), on the other hand, is almost the exact opposite. That company is owned by Hospitality Properties Trust, a real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on travel-oriented properties such as fast-food restaurants, hotels, etc. So their focus is mainly on providing a very high level of amenities to all kinds of travelers on the highway system (not just truckers -- which is why they changed their name from Truckstops of America to TravelCenters of America).
The "Taj Mahal" of truck stops is the world-famous Iowa 80 location (part of the TA chain) just west of the Quad Cities area in eastern Iowa -- which proclaims itself as the largest truck stop in the world. It has parking capacity for about 900 trucks on site (there are probably no more than a half-dozen truck stops in the U.S. with even half that many spaces), and houses not only the kinds of amenities typically found in large truck stops, but also a 50,000 square-foot retail store for road travelers (it's big enough that they roll a show truck in there every now and then), and even doctors' and dentists' offices.