Somewhere in the vast plains of Iowa you can find the World’s Largest Truck stop. The Iowa 80 Truck stop is unlike any other gas station, tourist shop or rest stop. To be quite honest, it is a small city.

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 Restaurant; 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, musical instruments, and a massive collection of pins, among many other strange objects.

You can also find a full length tractor-trailer, two cabs (from semi trucks), 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 truck stop property.

While I wandered inside the behemoth truck stop on a trip a while ago, I wondered why such a place exists. I came to the realization that, considering how much strange stuff you can find in our nation, a truck stop such as Iowa 80 was uniquely American.

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. Is it because no other country cares about creating/maintaining the world’s tallest catsup bottle? Perhaps there is something more to it. I am beginning to wonder how much these structures define our larger American culture. The Iowa 80 truck stop 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.

If enough people visit these sites, they become a part of who we are. Now I can’t imagine too many people know about the above stated freakishly large structures, but I have to believe that they draw at least one or two more people a year to the towns that host them, therefore validating their purpose. Visitors will likely tell their friends, as I am telling you about the Iowa 80 truck stop, in hopes that they may convince someone that it is worth going to see, which really means they are validating the structure’s existence.

Excess and exaggeration is something that America is famous for. We like to Super-size our drinks, add an extra patty to our sandwiches for a small fee, or buy our cereals, ketchup, and snacks in bulk at Costco or Sam’s Club. We even buy large vehicles such as Hummers and Escalades. These things make us feel like we are getting a good deal.

It’s hard to be frugal when we are constantly reminded of a good deal or sale in the Sunday paper. Billboards, magazine advertisements, and television commercials are so pervasive that it is often hard to ignore certain things.

Maybe we need to start resisting some of these so-called good deals. Perhaps we need to practice the art of being frugal in order to get ourselves out of the current economic crisis we are going through. Or maybe I’m thinking way too much and should be satisfied with visiting a giant ear of corn, catsup bottle or a two story outhouse. Somehow these things remind me of how we may need to reassess our priorities.