Roadside Nonsense: Love’s Love

They say ‘there’s no place like home.’

When you’re living on the road, there’s no place like Love’s. It sounds cheesy, but Love’s has become a basecamp for me in the last year and a half of traveling. 

I can’t say enough good things about this truck stop, so it’s hard to know where to start. 

I’ll begin with their slogan: “Clean Places, Friendly Faces”— for most truck stops, this would be a flat-out lie— but for Love’s, it’s the gosh darn truth.

The. Cleanest. Places. On. The. Road.

Whether it’s ridiculously clean bathrooms, or spotless beverage dispensers, or tidy snack shelves, or emphatically clean gas pump handles— the Love’s experience is entirely free from the slips, bad smells, stickiness, residues, and other unpleasant experiences that plague other travel stops. 

Quite the opposite– using ‘the facilities’– either the bathroom stalls, which offer properly-locking doors that nearly reach the floor, for total privacy, or the showers– which are spic-and-span and always piping hot, with secure keypad locks and interior locking mechanisms as well.

Not to mention, the friendliness of the employees really is contagious— they are kind, which matters when you are feeling particularly solitary after days of being on your own. The staff are genuine and helpful, and very prompt if you want them to be, but don’t mind a chit-chat if you have time. 

Now, Love’s is undoubtedly franchised, and I’ve visited a couple that don’t meet the typical standards of the company— but 95% of Love’s Truck Stops are impeccably executed. 

Here’s ten reasons why Love’s is the best truck stop in the entire country: 

1. Nugget Ice that Works— for those who know, nugget ice is the best kind of ice— and these dispensers seem prone to breakdowns at other brands (looking at you, Circle K and Maverick)— but Love’s always has fantastic nugget ice, with nary a few locations that only offer cube ice
2. Privacy Please— the bathroom stalls at Love’s offer total privacy and deadbolt locks that signal to those outside whether a stall is occupied or not: green or red. Super important, and the bathrooms are always spotless.
3. It’s Fresh— Far beyond the typical snacks and soft drinks, Love’s has a section of healthy and fresh snacks and foods, and stocks them well. They even have more niche brands like Dot’s Pretzels or Hello Panda. Their bananas are always green or ripe, never over-ripe and nasty.
4. Pressurized Hot Showers— Love’s hot water at high pressure can clean days of dirt off you in about 20 seconds— and because they are visibly cleaned after every use with a mop and bleach, you know they are probably cleaner than most home showers. Also, these showers are keypad-locked with special, one-time-use codes, and offer huge stalls, which is more than you can say for a gym’s showers. Oh, and they are only about $7 on average and Love’s provides clean towels for you.
5. Car Accessories and Needs— because my van is diesel, I often need to buy DEF for my engine, and Love’s stocks their DEF appropriately (out of the direct sunlight), which is critical to making sure the product works to its best ability. It’s also easy to dispose of the funnel and the packaging waste in their large outdoor trash cans. And their abundant selection of gadget cords and holders has come in clutch for me, more than once. 
6. The Giant Squeegees— Love’s has buckets with looooonnng-handled squeegees at every location, in buckets with lots of foamy window-cleaning soap. Having a clear windshield is a huge help when driving all the time— and no other truck stop or service station seems to fill their squeegee buckets with anything but regular water, which will NOT get the nasty bugs off a van windshield.
7. Dog Parks— if you take your dog on the road, you know they sometimes get finicky about where they’ll ‘go’ in a new place. When my dog enters a Love’s dog park, he smells the other dogs that did business, and knows it’s time to do his. They almost always supply poo bags for free, and if Mac is very lucky, he’ll get to hang out with another dog for awhile.
8. Plenty of lighting— pulling into a truck stop at night can be scary, but Love’s is always lit up like a Christmas tree near the pumps and around the store— making it feel way safer. The inside is also lit into every corner, which makes it easy to find what you need at any time of day.
9. Dump Stations— when in a pinch, Love’s has paid dump stations to dump your black or grey tank from your van, for a $10 fee— which isn’t cheap, but in a bind, matters. This isn’t always fast, as they have to unlock the padlock on the dump, but it is a service most of them have.
10. Iced Tea that Slaps— I can’t tell you how many iced tea dispensers at gas stations and truck stops are just totally empty: Love’s always brews fresh, tasty iced tea and it never seems to run dry.

I’ve definitely talked to a few penny-pinchers who claim that Love’s sells its gas for a few cents more on the dollar than other travel stops— and maybe that’s the case. I honestly would rather pay an extra .10-cents at the pump knowing I’ll have a super-clean, super-safe, super-healthy, super-kind experience at Love’s– in which I can get everything I need for myself, my dog, and my van, every time. 

While I understand the inclination for the ‘cheapest’ gas, Love’s is about way more than the pumps.

Lastly, an anecdote to leave you with– and I’m not even kidding with this one— a friend of mine was having a rough day and popped into a Love’s to get a snack while filling up. A female employee noticed she was silently crying and came up to her, saying: “There’s no tears at Love’s” and offered her support. 

I have never forgotten this. I will go out of my way to stop at Love’s— it has made vanlife feel friendlier, safer, homier, fresher, and cleaner. And has helped me manage the never-ending list of logistics of living life on the road, which can feel overwhelming at-times.

I cannot think of a less clever way to end this post. I can only say: I freaking LOVE Love’s so much.