These Photos of Rest Areas Will Make You Want to Take a Road Trip

[ZLoth]

From Gizmodo:

These Photos of Rest Areas Will Make You Want to Take a Road Trip

The rest areas were always my favorite parts of road trips. There was room to walk around and, somewhere, a vending area. I always got lost in the weird maps and wondered who used those curious barbecues. And so when I saw Nicolò Sertorios blissfully barren photo series, I wanted to hop in the car.

"Passages II: Rest Areas" is exactly what it sounds like. It's a bunch of pictures of rest areas. But they're emptier than I remembered them being. Of course, I've been hiding in cities for over a decade, driving on highways only to go to the airport where I'd fly to other cities. It's been a while since I shook the snack machine at a rest area in hopes that I might rattle a Snickers loose. Turns out people just stop at convenience stores for their Snickers bars now.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[The Nature Boy]

I may be alone in this but I never stop at rest areas when I travel alone. The exception would be of course travel plazas along the Ohio Turnpike, New Jersey Turnpike and the New York Thurway.

[hbelkins]

If I just need to use the restroom or stretch my legs, I'd rather stop at a rest area than get off the freeway and use a commercial establishment. Usually, the bathrooms are fairly clean and you don't have to wait for a urinal or stall like you do in a lot of c-stores or restaurants. Plus you can usually pick up maps.

[The Nature Boy]

If I just need to use the restroom or stretch my legs, I'd rather stop at a rest area than get off the freeway and use a commercial establishment. Usually, the bathrooms are fairly clean and you don't have to wait for a urinal or stall like you do in a lot of c-stores or restaurants. Plus you can usually pick up maps.

I usually try to combine a rest room break with a gas or fuel stop.

I suspect that this habit will change as I get older though.

[corco]

If I just need to use the restroom or stretch my legs, I'd rather stop at a rest area than get off the freeway and use a commercial establishment. Usually, the bathrooms are fairly clean and you don't have to wait for a urinal or stall like you do in a lot of c-stores or restaurants. Plus you can usually pick up maps.

I usually try to combine a rest room break with a gas or fuel stop.

I suspect that this habit will change as I get older though.

I typically combine gas and fuel into one, and then an hour later I need to take a piss. That's where rest areas come in handy, and I also use them quite frequently when I'm on freeways.

Off freeway, I usually just pull off at roadside tables that don't have anybody or even anywhere just to take a piss somewhere semi-discreet.

[Pete from Boston]

No visit to to the unjanitored prison-style stainless toilets on Mass. 128 around Westwood?

[Arkansastravelguy]

New Mexico as infamous for the ride-side table and non-restroom provided rest area.  I've never seen so many road side tables in one place; never seen a single soul using one of them.  The places that did have a bathroom usually had someone resembling an individual from the Hills Have Eyes trying to peddle bibles.  I recently saw a road side table sign between Yeehaw Junction and Halopaw on US 441 heading north towards US 192.  After going a couple miles I didn't think the table was around anymore but then it came into view overgrown but visible behind the brush.  Kind of reminds of a bygone era of having to rely on what yourself instead of using all the thousands of road side fast food joints you see today. 

Of course considering how desolate of country I used to travel finding....or rather making your own rest area or lunch table was as easy as finding a wide paved shoulder in most cases.

Oklahoma has a gazillion road size tables in the panhandle. Or "safety turnouts" as the state map calls them. It is a nostalgic thing, I've seen them on OK-66 (Route 66) and it reminds us of a time when driving long distances was an adventure.

I've always been a bit weary of late night rest area stops but never have had a problem.


iPhone

[The Nature Boy]

New Mexico as infamous for the ride-side table and non-restroom provided rest area.  I've never seen so many road side tables in one place; never seen a single soul using one of them.  The places that did have a bathroom usually had someone resembling an individual from the Hills Have Eyes trying to peddle bibles.  I recently saw a road side table sign between Yeehaw Junction and Halopaw on US 441 heading north towards US 192.  After going a couple miles I didn't think the table was around anymore but then it came into view overgrown but visible behind the brush.  Kind of reminds of a bygone era of having to rely on what yourself instead of using all the thousands of road side fast food joints you see today. 

Of course considering how desolate of country I used to travel finding....or rather making your own rest area or lunch table was as easy as finding a wide paved shoulder in most cases.

Oklahoma has a gazillion road size tables in the panhandle. Or "safety turnouts" as the state map calls them. It is a nostalgic thing, I've seen them on OK-66 (Route 66) and it reminds us of a time when driving long distances was an adventure.

I've always been a bit weary of late night rest area stops but never have had a problem.


iPhone

Unsolved Mysteries permanently turned me against the idea of late night rest areas.

I can't say that I recall a specific instance of seeing road side tables, but it looks like something I might have seen somewhere. It's not a terrible idea as a way to let people stop, have a snack and walk around. The lack of restroom facilities seems a bit problematic.

[froggie]

The Texas photos on this page are from our 2005 vacation, at a rest area on I-40 near Exit 132 in Gray County.

[hbelkins]

There was a shooting at the I-65 welcome center in Simpson County, Ky. last week. One guy from Tennessee shot another guy from Tennessee, with whom he was having some sort of dispute, and then shot himself.

The media immediately started, "Are rest areas safe? We investigate tonight at 6!"

Funny, but when there was a shooting in a parking lot of a community college a couple of years ago during a child custody exchange after school hours, they didn't start speculating if college parking lots are safe. Some misguided idiots, however, did try to categorize the event as a "school shooting."

[SSOWorld]

Quick!!! Make new laws banning guns.

[Brandon]

Quick!!! Make new laws banning guns.

How about banning two guys from Tennessee from being at the same rest area at the same time. 

[agentsteel53]

Quick!!! Make new laws banning guns.

How about banning two guys from Tennessee from being at the same rest area at the same time. 

maybe we should look into making murder illegal.

[jeffandnicole]

The media immediately started, "Are rest areas safe? We investigate tonight at 6!"

Let me guess:

A) No, they're not safe.  As a result of the investigation, they determined there were 300 other shootings in rest areas that went unreported.

B) Yes, they are generally safe, but be aware of your surroundings, utilize precautions like locking your doors and don't show off large amounts of money.

[Brandon]

Quick!!! Make new laws banning guns.

How about banning two guys from Tennessee from being at the same rest area at the same time. 

maybe we should look into making murder illegal.

What a novel concept!

[Billy F 1988]

Alright, guys. This is AARoads, not "PoliticalPeePeeRoads", thank you.

Granted, them Tennessee boys oughta be backhanded for that frackas at the aforementioned rest stop.

[hbelkins]

Granted, them Tennessee boys oughta be backhanded for that frackas at the aforementioned rest stop.

That would be like beating dead horses, except they were people.

[The Nature Boy]

I'll post pictures of rest areas that I've encountered that I found aesthetically pleasing (or different)

Here's the New York Thurway travel plaza in Pembroke, NY:



The pedestrian bridge over I-90 to the McDonalds at the Angola, NY travel plaza. Really cool to cross at night to see the lights pass underneath:



This one is more for the "different" file:

The Kentucky rest area off of I-24 in Paducah, KY:

[Arkansastravelguy]

The Pembroke rest area is indeed one of the nicest rest areas I've been to. Eastern Arkansas had some of the worst. Virginia I think is the worst since they shut down 60% of their rest stops.


iPhone

[Billy F 1988]

Granted, them Tennessee boys oughta be backhanded for that frackas at the aforementioned rest stop.

That would be like beating dead horses, except they were people.

Well, 'ya know. Sometimes 'ya beat 'em 'till they wake up and realize their faults. They're eventually dead horses 'cause why? They're dead in LOGIC! So, if a dead horse needs a beating because of dead logic, so be it. They're gonna need it anyhow.

[corco]

what

[bandit957]

The Kentucky rest area off of I-24 in Paducah, KY:

It looks like the White House!

[bandit957]

Over the past few years, almost every rest area or public restroom that I've seen has had pee all over the toilet seat (and usually the floor too).

[nexus73]

Go to the rest stop on US 101 by Camp Roberts in California and it's like going to a nice museum setup as well as being a fine rest stop.  If all rest stops were this well done it would be a beautiful world!

Rick