People waited in line outside Arizona’s first Buc-ee’s on Sunday, because America has reached the part of the simulation where a truck stop gets a rope line.
The new Buc-ee’s opened June 22 in Goodyear, just west of Phoenix, and it is not some humble roadside snack closet. This is a 74,000-square-foot monument to brisket sandwiches, Beaver Nuggets, jerky walls, spotless bathrooms, and an overabundance of fuel pumps, with 120 fueling positions for the petroleum-sacrament portion of the visit.
People did not merely stop by. They pilgrimaged. MySA reported that one Texas superfan lined up around 4:45 p.m. the previous day, nearly 14 hours before opening, so he could be first through the doors. Traffic planning was its own civic event, with the city and local news outlets warning drivers about restrictions, designated parking, and expected congestion around I-10 and Bullard Avenue.
There is something perfectly ‘merican about standing in line to enter a truck stop. Not a concert. Not a polling place. Not a medical clinic. A truck stop. A very large, very clean, very efficiently branded truck stop where the bathrooms are famous, and the snacks have fandoms.
The Grand Canyon took millions of years. Buc-ee’s got a line before sunrise.
.# ... with 120 fueling positions...
.
Probably more working public fuel pumps than in all of Moscow and Crimea *combined*.
If not, just add another Buc-ee's.
They have one between Dallas & Houston. Stopped there once, wasn't impressed.
Overhyped and overcrowded.
I still stop at Woody's when I'm going that way. Or coming back.
Opening for an American post-apocalypse film set in the Midwest:
"My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos, ruined dreams, this wasted land. But most of all, I remember the place we called Buc-ee's."
It's not plagiarism, damn it! It's a Tribute!