Road Trips: The Good, the Bad, and the Buc-ee’s

The holidays are all about traditions. Some are fun like Christmas trees and presents. Some are a nuisance (ahem, elf on the shelf). Some are a means to an end like road trips.

When I was growing up, we would take a road trip every year before Christmas from Baltimore to my grandparents’ house in Henderson, North Carolina. We would spend a few days visiting family and then drive to my other grandparents’ house in Northern Virginia after Christmas. We would then load up our gift-laden Chevy Caprice Classic station wagon and head back to Baltimore.

Holiday road trips are still a family tradition. After Christmas, we drive down to Florida to visit family and enjoy some fun in the sun. The drive itself is a slog—13+ hours on busy interstates. Until recently, the only highlight was hitting Chick-fil-A for lunch. However, the road trip gods have smiled on us and provided us with something else to look forward to: Buc-ee’s.

For the uninitiated, Buc-ee’s is a bigger, better, and cleaner version of a truck stop. The gas pumps are plentiful and fully functional. The bathrooms are big and clean. The food and drink options are endless. The employees seem genuinely happy to be working there.

Given the time, money, and effort that it has spent building its brand, it should come as no surprise that Buc-ee’s is committed to protecting its trademark rights. To that end, it has 59 live trademark applications and registrations:

So if you find yourself on the road down South and need a break, keep an eye out for a Buc-ee’s. You won’t regret it.