Iowa 80 just keeps growing and growing

You know how hard it would be to stop a speeding 18-wheeler in its tracks?

Just about as impossible as stopping the growth of the Iowa-80 Truck Stop west of Davenport and north of Walcott.

You can't miss it. Its success has earned the Walcott/I-80 interchange the name "Truckstop Capitol of the World."

When Dick Moon built the original Iowa-80 Truck Stop in 1964, he said, "I think I've found the perfect spot."

Could he have known what the future held?

He probably guessed at the potential, since trucking moves 80 percent of the nation's freight, and Interstate 80 is the country's main east-west corridor.

But did anyone dream that Mr. Moon's modest business would, in about 20 years, become the largest truck stop in the world?

That's just what happened, and the Iowa-80 phenomenon shows no signs of slowing.

The latest project at the Iowa-80 site is a new 26,000-square-foot office building that will house all the Iowa-80 Group's office people.

The framework is already up on the one-story T-shaped building, which should have its new tenants by July 1.

Dave Meier is the project manager for the new construction.

"Besides the office building, we're expanding the fuel center, which also houses a C-store and Blimpie's," Mr. Meier said.

Drivers pay for their fuel in the fuel center, but more important, they weigh their trucks on the CAT scale and receive a certified scale ticket.

"The ticket guarantees that the weight was determined by a weigh master," said Mr. Meier. "If we're wrong and the driver is charged with a weight violation, we'll either pay the fine or we'll send a lawyer to represent the driver."

That's just one example of the trucker-focused service that brought such success to Iowa-80.

"We have lots for the truckers," Mr. Meier said. "We have a movie theater, three restaurants, 23 showers, a laundry service and shopping. Our trucking warehouse store has more than 40,000 items, and we have parking for 800 trucks."

But drivers of automobiles can find food, lodging and souvenirs at the Walcott interchange, too. The new Iowa-80 restaurant seats 300, and there's parking available

for a couple hundred cars, too.

The success of Iowa-80 also has allowed members of the Moon family (Mr. Meier is married to Dick Moon's elder daughter Delia) to accumulate an impressive collection of antique vehicles and accessories, which they hope, eventually, to display in a museum open to all visitors.

Iowa-80 Group still has about 200 acres of undeveloped land at the Walcott interchange, but no decisions will be necessary right away.

"Iowa-80 is a franchise of Travel Centers of America, which also owned the Burns Brothers Truck Stop at the Stockton interchange," said Heather DeBailey, Iowa-80's marketing manager. "Instead of having an abandoned facility at Stockton, they gave employees there the chance to work at Walcott.

"Then Iowa-80 bought the Burns Brothers property and will turn it into another trucking-related business."

Success, it seems, really does breed success.