Very few dining options along I-90 in South Dakota

Started by A.J. Bertin, September 28, 2015, 05:45:30 PM

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corco

Yeah, one thing you learn about driving in the west is that if it's just a dot on the map, that's not a guarantee of anything. It has to be among the bigger sized dots to have any guarantee of service.

I remember my parents having the same level of shock when we moved from Illinois to Idaho and drove west for the first time. We almost ran out of gas in Wyoming, expecting there to be gas in places that are absolutely place names on the map but don't actually have anything.


oscar

Quote from: SD Mapman on October 04, 2015, 11:02:01 PM
Quote from: noelbotevera on October 04, 2015, 09:06:24 PM
Most of my travels have been in the east and I remember a gap in services between McConnellsburg and Breezewood. There's nothing but mountains.
Uh, that's 20 miles.
Wall to Mitchell is like 220 miles (but there is service in there, just not higher-end stuff).

Even farther west, I-70 in Utah has absolutely no services for the 106 miles between Salina and Green River. And it gets even worse off the Interstates in other western states (do a search on this forum for topics on "next services" or "next gas" signs).
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

SD Mapman

Quote from: corco on October 04, 2015, 11:17:40 PM
Yeah, one thing you learn about driving in the west is that if it's just a dot on the map, that's not a guarantee of anything. It has to be among the bigger sized dots to have any guarantee of service.

That's why, when I roadtrip, I have a cooler full of food and drink to snack on.
The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see. - G.K. Chesterton

jakeroot

Quote from: Brandon on September 29, 2015, 05:09:23 PM
Since being subsumed by Albertson's, it's in a lot more places than it ever used to be, although under the local name (one might just as well say Safeway is now Albertson's).  Growing up, I always thought Safeway and Macy's were Hollywood fake names for grocers and department stores.

So you're saying that Alberton's bought most of the Safeways? Very interesting. Out here in Seattle, a local chain (Haggens) bought almost all of the Albertson's and Top Foods and turned them into Haggen's (though there are some (read: a tiny amount of) remaining Albertson's). On many streets, the two competing grocers are Safeway and Albertson's. Come to think of it, I'm fairly certain that Haggens may have bough quite a few of the Safeways as well, which means some main avenues have grocers all owned by Haggens. A bit monopolistic for my taste, but I'll hold my judgement until I see any price adjustments (though I chiefly shop at the JBLM commissary so I really couldn't give too much of a shit).

oscar

Quote from: jakeroot on October 05, 2015, 02:07:49 AM
So you're saying that Alberton's bought most of the Safeways? Very interesting. Out here in Seattle, a local chain (Haggens) bought almost all of the Albertson's and Top Foods and turned them into Haggen's (though there are some (read: a tiny amount of) remaining Albertson's). On many streets, the two competing grocers are Safeway and Albertson's. Come to think of it, I'm fairly certain that Haggens may have bough quite a few of the Safeways as well, which means some main avenues have grocers all owned by Haggens. A bit monopolistic for my taste, but I'll hold my judgement until I see any price adjustments (though I chiefly shop at the JBLM commissary so I really couldn't give too much of a shit).

Actually, the sale of some Safeway and Albertson's stores to Haggens was the result of a settlement earlier this year of antitrust charges by the Federal Trade Commission, which was a condition for the FTC letting the rest of the Safeway-Albertson's merger proceed uncontested. The FTC also required the merged company to spit out grocery stores in some other markets. All these sales were done under FTC supervision. So if you end up with price gouging after the FTC-ordered sales, complain to the FTC.

From a quick glance at some of the settlement documents, the settlement deal was negotiated by the FTC office where I worked until my retirement four years ago, though not much of my work there involved grocery mergers. I know some of the people on the case, both at the FTC and with the law firm representing the merging companies.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

Brandon

Quote from: jakeroot on October 05, 2015, 02:07:49 AM
Quote from: Brandon on September 29, 2015, 05:09:23 PM
Since being subsumed by Albertson's, it's in a lot more places than it ever used to be, although under the local name (one might just as well say Safeway is now Albertson's).  Growing up, I always thought Safeway and Macy's were Hollywood fake names for grocers and department stores.

So you're saying that Alberton's bought most of the Safeways? Very interesting. Out here in Seattle, a local chain (Haggens) bought almost all of the Albertson's and Top Foods and turned them into Haggen's (though there are some (read: a tiny amount of) remaining Albertson's).

Yes, Albertson's bought Safeway: https://web.archive.org/web/20150131092052/http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/01/its-a-done-deal-albertsons-and-safeway-merger-is-complete.html/
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

roadman65

If Albertsons bought Safeway, that is something because they closed all their stores in Florida due to "Hey we are broke we can no longer be you neighborhood grocer."
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

kkt

Quote from: SD Mapman on October 04, 2015, 11:26:31 PM
Quote from: corco on October 04, 2015, 11:17:40 PM
Yeah, one thing you learn about driving in the west is that if it's just a dot on the map, that's not a guarantee of anything. It has to be among the bigger sized dots to have any guarantee of service.

That's why, when I roadtrip, I have a cooler full of food and drink to snack on.

As opposed to, say, a jerrican full of gas?

SD Mapman

Quote from: kkt on October 05, 2015, 02:20:21 PM
Quote from: SD Mapman on October 04, 2015, 11:26:31 PM
Quote from: corco on October 04, 2015, 11:17:40 PM
Yeah, one thing you learn about driving in the west is that if it's just a dot on the map, that's not a guarantee of anything. It has to be among the bigger sized dots to have any guarantee of service.

That's why, when I roadtrip, I have a cooler full of food and drink to snack on.

As opposed to, say, a jerrican full of gas?

Nah, gas is everywhere (at least where I've gone).
The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see. - G.K. Chesterton

noelbotevera

Quote from: SD Mapman on October 05, 2015, 03:27:41 PM
Quote from: kkt on October 05, 2015, 02:20:21 PM
Quote from: SD Mapman on October 04, 2015, 11:26:31 PM
Quote from: corco on October 04, 2015, 11:17:40 PM
Yeah, one thing you learn about driving in the west is that if it's just a dot on the map, that's not a guarantee of anything. It has to be among the bigger sized dots to have any guarantee of service.

That's why, when I roadtrip, I have a cooler full of food and drink to snack on.

As opposed to, say, a jerrican full of gas?

Nah, gas is everywhere (at least where I've gone).
Yes, that's true. You find it when you gotta release it.

oscar

Quote from: SD Mapman on October 05, 2015, 03:27:41 PM
Quote from: kkt on October 05, 2015, 02:20:21 PM
Quote from: SD Mapman on October 04, 2015, 11:26:31 PM
Quote from: corco on October 04, 2015, 11:17:40 PM
Yeah, one thing you learn about driving in the west is that if it's just a dot on the map, that's not a guarantee of anything. It has to be among the bigger sized dots to have any guarantee of service.

That's why, when I roadtrip, I have a cooler full of food and drink to snack on.

As opposed to, say, a jerrican full of gas?

Nah, gas is everywhere (at least where I've gone).

And even where it isn't, I'd be worried about routinely carrying a jerrican in an enclosed space. The two I have warn against that.

I didn't carry extra gas on a few trips with a ~250-mile gap between gas stations (which pretty much doesn't exist in the lower 48). Only once, a ~300-mile round trip on a rough unpaved road in a mountainous area (both hurt your gas mileage), with zero gas availability, and with open side windows in my truck's camper shell.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

kkt

I remember driving west on I-80 into Utah in January of 1998, we didn't fill up along I-80 because there had been plenty of gas stations.  But we turned onto I-84 towards Ogden and suddenly no more gas stations visible or signed.  We were running on fumes at Mountain Green and took the exit even though there was no sign of gas from the freeway, hoping we could at least use a phone to call AAA from there... but there was a gas station, a grubby independent that was only open in the daytime, but we filled our tank... and didn't risk trying the rest room.

jakeroot

Quote from: Brandon on October 05, 2015, 06:45:12 AM
Quote from: jakeroot on October 05, 2015, 02:07:49 AM
Quote from: Brandon on September 29, 2015, 05:09:23 PM
Since being subsumed by Albertson's, it's in a lot more places than it ever used to be, although under the local name (one might just as well say Safeway is now Albertson's).  Growing up, I always thought Safeway and Macy's were Hollywood fake names for grocers and department stores.

So you're saying that Alberton's bought most of the Safeways? Very interesting. Out here in Seattle, a local chain (Haggens) bought almost all of the Albertson's and Top Foods and turned them into Haggen's (though there are some (read: a tiny amount of) remaining Albertson's).

Yes, Albertson's bought Safeway: https://web.archive.org/web/20150131092052/http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/01/its-a-done-deal-albertsons-and-safeway-merger-is-complete.html/

That's just weird to see. The Albertson's out here in Seattle are nowhere near as popular or nice as the Safeways. I never would have imagined the former buying the latter. In fact, I was sure that Haggens bought all the Albertson's because Albertson's was, financially, not doing very good (at least that's the vibe I got, anyways). The Albertson's out here must not have been performing well; to have almost all of their grocery store's bought out by a smaller chain is pretty strange.

SD Mapman

Quote from: jakeroot on October 05, 2015, 05:42:09 PM
Quote from: Brandon on October 05, 2015, 06:45:12 AM
Quote from: jakeroot on October 05, 2015, 02:07:49 AM
Quote from: Brandon on September 29, 2015, 05:09:23 PM
Since being subsumed by Albertson's, it's in a lot more places than it ever used to be, although under the local name (one might just as well say Safeway is now Albertson's).  Growing up, I always thought Safeway and Macy's were Hollywood fake names for grocers and department stores.

So you're saying that Alberton's bought most of the Safeways? Very interesting. Out here in Seattle, a local chain (Haggens) bought almost all of the Albertson's and Top Foods and turned them into Haggen's (though there are some (read: a tiny amount of) remaining Albertson's).

Yes, Albertson's bought Safeway: https://web.archive.org/web/20150131092052/http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/01/its-a-done-deal-albertsons-and-safeway-merger-is-complete.html/

That's just weird to see. The Albertson's out here in Seattle are nowhere near as popular or nice as the Safeways. I never would have imagined the former buying the latter. In fact, I was sure that Haggens bought all the Albertson's because Albertson's was, financially, not doing very good (at least that's the vibe I got, anyways). The Albertson's out here must not have been performing well; to have almost all of their grocery store's bought out by a smaller chain is pretty strange.
I like Safeway. Albertson's, in my experience, is not good at all.
The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see. - G.K. Chesterton

kkt

Metropolitan Market bought an Albertsons near me about six years ago, but I think that was a single store sale.  Recently some were bought by Haggen, but I understand Haggen bit off more than it could chew and is now filing for bankruptcy itself.  Kind of too bad, I liked the Haggens in Bellingham and hoped they'd stick around nearer to me.

http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2015/10/05/will-your-haggen-grocery-store-get-sold-under-new-deal/

The Nature Boy

There are none around me for hundreds of miles.

I honestly thought it was just a DC area thing until recently.



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