The trucking industry is “the lifeblood, spinal cord, and heart of the American economy,” according to Hank “Shorty” Richter of the American Truckers Association. To that characterization we should add “stomach” – for the millions of truckers who take to America’s interstates each day need to eat somewhere. Businesses with an ounce of entrepreneurial sense are starting to realize that catering to this hungry bunch is the key to long-lasting success in the restaurant industry. Knowing that truckers have a reputation for discriminating taste, I decided to take the crew to a favorite stop for truckers traveling along 1-35 – TA Travel Center. So decked out in my camo hat with ear flaps, I picked up SL4 in the TAMS long-bed, extended cab truck and headed out.

Gloria, who is never pleased with my restaurant selections, attempted to manipulate the situation as soon as we pulled up and saw where she was going to eat. “I think it is closed,” she said, “We should look into going somewhere else.” We ignored her pleas and headed in past the gas pumps, coin operated showers, prophylactic vending machines, and cases of random figurines into the Denton Travel Center Restaurant. The atmosphere was subdued with most of the action contained at the VIP counter bar reserved exclusively for “Professional Truckers.” Intimidated, we headed to the place reserved for mere car drivers – the non-smoking section. We quickly measured up the $6.99 all-you-can-eat buffet and decided that the spread consisting of sauerkraut, mysterious cabbage roll-ups, fried chicken, and the ever-present-at-all-you-can-eat-buffet chocolate pudding would not satisfy our hunger. Henry investigated further into the nature of the cabbage thingys and reported back saying, “They are stuffed bell peppers, only without the peppers and with cabbage.”

After a rough start with the waitress – I had turned over my coffee mug upon sitting down, instantly indicating to her that I wanted coffee, only to send her into a bout of confusion when I refused it – we were treated with the southern hospitality you’d expect when you are only 4 miles from Krum. The menu was quite comprehensive, ranging from all-day breakfast, sandwiches, to home-cooking favorites such as liver and chicken fried steak. Russ opted for the Denton Burger, a local favorite. “How in the heck am I supposed to eat this?” he asked as he saw it overflowing with chili, onions, and cheese. I instantly recognized that this dish was a shameless rip-off from the burgers served at Denton County Hamburger.

Henry went for the chicken fried steak sandwich with a side of gravy. He seemed disappointed that the breading on his meat gave no indication that it was homemade.

	Gloria Deciding to order Chili
	Before
	After

I ordered the traditional patty melt with a side of fries. Henry’s ignorance of this sandwich’s nuances was evident when he asked me, “Isn’t that just a hamburger with regular bread?” Gloria was the bravest of all and asked for the bowl of chili with a light topping of cheese. After scooping off about 8 ounces of melted cheddar, Gloria seemed surprised that her soup was so greasy. Henry responded, “What did you expect? You ordered chili at a truck stop!” Gloria’s dish reminded us that there’s more than one way to get gas at this truck stop.

Our conversation floated from Russ’ weekend trip to the Ft. Worth Museum of Modern Art to the Democratic primaries to the possibility of democratic reforms in the Middle East. We solved no major world problems and we developed no new conspiracy theories. This would usually be disappointing for us, but the pony-tailed trucker walking outside, the newspaper that danced in the wind outside our window, and the customer who passed by in high rubber boats gave us plenty of intellectual satisfaction. Passing the sale on ceramic bird figurines with movable and lit wings on our way out reminded us that we didn’t come here for the food or the conversation – we came here for an adventure.

TA Travel Center is located just North of Denton at Krum exit 471 and past the exit for Good Eats. Russ would like to add to these directions, “Go past Good Eats for something worse.”

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The following was sent by someone who stumbled across this review on our website on 1/22/06 - the beginning of his email is viperfour:

I was trying to find the phone number for the TA Truck Stop North of Denton that you did the review on here.

While searching for the phone number I happened across your review and I have got to say this. I don't know what Truck Stop you actually ate ate, but my wife and I live in Lewisville and we drive up there to eat often. We have never had but one incident with a bad waitress, but the food has always been great to us and NOT greasy like you say.

Out of 5 stars I would give them at least a 4 or I would not eat there. In fact we are going to call them to see if they are open becuase they are suppose to be closed for a while while they remodel. If they are we are off to go there and eat.

Another good Truck Stop we goto but is quite abit farther away is the one in Anna. I don't know the name of it but it is the one just North of the exit to Anna right there at the corner. It is an old Truck Stop but another good one.

:-)
Dave