2008 Woodie Awards
America: bigger, taller, stronger
Culture Matters?
Joel Ebert
Issue date: 4/28/08 Section: Opinions
Media Credit: WikipediaThe Iowa 80 Trck Stop claims to be the world's biggest.
Somewhere in the vast plains of Iowa you can find the World's Largest Truckstop named the Iowa 80 Truckstop, which coincidentally, it is right off of I-80.
Iowa 80 is a small city. It is not like your typical rest stop, gas station, or truck stop. In addition to being able to do your own laundry, take a shower, or play a few arcade games, you can visit Irene's barber and styling shop; have your teeth examined at Interstate Dental; seek advice from the Career Center; visit the Custom Shop if you need anything embroidered, engraved, or have a need for vinyl graphics; fill your belly at the Iowa 80 Restuarant; and even catch a classic flick at Trucker's Theater (which seats approximately 40 people).
Once inside the mammoth building you can find such oddities as gladiator swords, golden grapplers, three-foot dolls, mattresses, cowboy boots, a banjo, and a massive collection of pins, among many other strange (to be in the middle of Iowa) objects. While you are shopping you will run into one of the many trucks which reside inside the building. There is a full length tractor-trailer, two cabs, a 1931 Ford Model A, and a Dodge Power Wagon. Needless to say, the building itself is unbelievably massive, and yet it is only part of the 200-acre facility that makes up the rest of the Iowa 80 truckstop property.
While I wandered inside the behemoth, I began to wonder why such a place exists. I realized that this place could only exist and survive in the United States of America. We host all sorts of oversized oddities within the confines of our 50 states.
Did you know that the United States is the home of the world's largest artichoke, olive, peanut, catsup bottle, ear of corn, and crucifix? Or that right here, on our native soil, we have the world's tallest strawberry and fountain?
I find it strange that we have so many of these things. Perhaps it is because no other country cares about creating/maintaining the world's tallest catsup bottle. But perhaps there is something more to it.
I am beginning to wonder if these structures really define American culture. The Iowa 80 truckstop claims that it has 5,000 visitors a day. People tend to gravitate towards structures and sites if they say that they are the World's Largest or the World's Tallest.
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Iowa 80 is a small city. It is not like your typical rest stop, gas station, or truck stop. In addition to being able to do your own laundry, take a shower, or play a few arcade games, you can visit Irene's barber and styling shop; have your teeth examined at Interstate Dental; seek advice from the Career Center; visit the Custom Shop if you need anything embroidered, engraved, or have a need for vinyl graphics; fill your belly at the Iowa 80 Restuarant; and even catch a classic flick at Trucker's Theater (which seats approximately 40 people).
Once inside the mammoth building you can find such oddities as gladiator swords, golden grapplers, three-foot dolls, mattresses, cowboy boots, a banjo, and a massive collection of pins, among many other strange (to be in the middle of Iowa) objects. While you are shopping you will run into one of the many trucks which reside inside the building. There is a full length tractor-trailer, two cabs, a 1931 Ford Model A, and a Dodge Power Wagon. Needless to say, the building itself is unbelievably massive, and yet it is only part of the 200-acre facility that makes up the rest of the Iowa 80 truckstop property.
While I wandered inside the behemoth, I began to wonder why such a place exists. I realized that this place could only exist and survive in the United States of America. We host all sorts of oversized oddities within the confines of our 50 states.
Did you know that the United States is the home of the world's largest artichoke, olive, peanut, catsup bottle, ear of corn, and crucifix? Or that right here, on our native soil, we have the world's tallest strawberry and fountain?
I find it strange that we have so many of these things. Perhaps it is because no other country cares about creating/maintaining the world's tallest catsup bottle. But perhaps there is something more to it.
I am beginning to wonder if these structures really define American culture. The Iowa 80 truckstop claims that it has 5,000 visitors a day. People tend to gravitate towards structures and sites if they say that they are the World's Largest or the World's Tallest.
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