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History
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In 1997, after two years of
construction and remodeling, the Oak Grove Petro celebrated
it's grand reopening. The expansion included a 160-seat Country
Kitchen with a Trucker's Buffet and a banquet room. A fast food
court was also built featuring Dairy Queen and Wendy's with seating
capacity for 100. Oak Grove Petro also expanded its
Truckers Warehouse Store offering more than 15,000 items. The
second level of the truckstop is a trucker's dream. Drivers can watch
movies in the Dolby Surround Sound Theater, relax in the Driver's Den,
get a haircut at the barber or take a shower while their laundry is
being washed. Oak Grove Petro also opened a new fuel
center which includes a Blimpies, gift shop, game room and a Trucker's
Store
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| When trucking was just a
gleam in some of today's drivers' eyes and Interstate 80 was not yet completed, the Iowa
80 Truckstop was founded. In 1964, Standard Oil built and opened the truck stop, and in
September 1965, Bill Moon took over management of the truckstop for Amoco. Like many of
the truckstops in existence at the time, Iowa 80 was a small facility that only took up a
fraction of what it does today, housing a small truckers store, one lube bay and a
restaurant run by the Peel family. |
Iowa 80 Truckstop - 1964
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-Bill Moon |
Under Mr. Moon's keen management, the truckstop
began to grow and in 1984 Bill Moon purchased the truckstop from Amoco, that like the
industry itself, has been a flurry of activity and expansion ever since. Now that it
was theirs, the Moon family was able to remodel, update and expand the restaurant and truckers
store. The shop bays were closed to build state of the art private showers and a driver's
area, both of which were very rare in a truckstop at this time. In 1989, Iowa 80 added a
new store probably most famous for, other than its chrome selection, the 1918 Oldsmobile
hoisted above the cashier island. |
Iowa 80 Group owns Iowa 80 TA
Truckstop, Walcott, Iowa; Joplin Petro, Joplin, Missouri; Oak Grove 70
Truckstop, Oak Grove, Missouri; Kenly 95 TA Truckstop, Kenly, North
Carolina; Truckomats in: N. Little Rock, Arkansas; Temple, Georgia;
South Holland, Illinois; Effingham, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana;
Walcott, Iowa; Hebron, Ohio; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Laredo, Texas; CAT
Scale Company and IOWA80.COM mail-order catalog and e-commerce web site.
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