White's and Lee-Hi on I-81
 

Well, both independent truckstops aren't now. White's is a full-blow Petro, including changing the restaurant to an Iron Skillet. At the Lee Hi, T/A took over today and run everything BUT the restaurant. Glad to see that they kept the menu the same.

I'm at the Lee-Hi now and the only thing that looks different are the 'normal' T/A signs and they rearranged the store a little bit.

Back when I was driving, Petro was always a good place to stop, and I was seldom disappointed with the restaurant. But, I would think that the restaurant area at Raphine would be a bit small for an Iron Skillet.

T/A, was a good place to stop back when they were "Truck Stops of America". Back when they went to "Travel Centers of America", I felt that was a big step down. In a choice between T/A and Pilot, T/A won. Don't know if that was an improvement at Lee Hi or not. I liked it as it was.

I had heard that White's changed to Petro. I am sorry to hear that Lee Hi changed to TA. The same guy owns both truck stops, or did. With the changes it is hard to say. Both did a good business without being aligned with one of the major chains. I never cared for Whites, but do frequent Lee Hi.

When I ran OTR I enjoyed stopping at both of them. It sucks that mom & pop places are all selling out because they can't keep up with the big boys

After the remodel at Whites a couple years back, the restaurant is more than large enough for an Iron Skillet. I haven't been there since the changeover. I was just REALLY happy to see that they didn't take over the restaurant at the Lee Hi. Love their food, as well as checking out the metal car collection in there. Also, the store area at the Lee Hi hasn't been changed, so T/A isn't putting all the 'normal' T/A stuff in them. The only new thing I noticed was that the coffee is the normal T/A stuff (which is better than the Lee Hi sold anyway).

I agree with the idea of losing the independents, but I think the changes they made will keep the truckstops as decent ones.

Also, the White's parking lot has almost doubled in size (if not larger). They bought out the old Yellow Freight lot that was next door. Now, their lot is GIANT.

I liked the food at White's after they finished redoing the restaurant. Not so much before. And all that extra parking....that is HUGE for I-81. I always seemed to run out of hours right in that area on runs that took me up that route.

The parking at White's was what I had a problem with. For as good a truck stop as it was, the parking sucked. Being out in the open, it needed a much larger parking lot. Glad to hear that they did make it so much larger. For as much as I liked the truck stop itself, I generally planned my trips so that I was able to get beyond there.

Lee Hi was the one I tried to plan my trips for. In spite of a smaller lot, I could always find parking there. Where it was located, I think most drivers didn't know about it. Then, they enlarged the lot down the hill, and more trucks started stopping in there. Still, I was able to find parking. And, I never missed having something to eat there.

If Raphine now has ample parking, I never had much problem with Petro. T/A doesn't have any problem remodeling to make it look like any other in the chain, but then lets things go. Not long after, the parking lot is full of holes and when you look at the building, it isn't kept up either.