The Buc-ee's Ride

 As much as I claim to be isolated away from the rest of the world, I do read a fair amount of news and catch wind of new and exciting things. I wouldn't have thought that a gas station chain coming to the area would be one of those things. Color me surprised that the more I heard about Buc-ee's, the more I wanted to check it out. I kept putting it off because it felt silly to drive nearly 100 miles just to go to a gas station. Still, I will go out of my way for a Dairy Queen. I would put some good miles on the bike for a trip to White Castle. 

Dad and I got up this morning to make an early start of it. Crossville isn't far off. I probably could have turned it into more of a day ride if I had put any real forethought into the trip. I didn't though. I had two major objectives. First, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Second, I wanted to find out what the hell a beaver nugget was. 

The ride to Crossville is just a jot down the interstate. In Saturday morning traffic it wasn't the open road experience I prefer when I ride. I spent three quarters of the ride down trying to figure out why a semi truck was playing pace car in the fast lane and bottle nosing traffic. I never did figure it out. I did manage to escape the idiot and for a good twenty minutes the ride down was much more pleasant. 

You cannot miss Buc-ee's being at exit 320. There are signs miles in advance. The freaking place is Brobdingnagian for a gas station or a convenience store. I mean that in a good way. Having spent some years working for and impressed with how Weigel's has pushed the c-store concept, I was absolutely floored by the sheer size of a Buc-ee's. It is it's own freaking destination to a lot more people than just my curious self. 

Thankfully the people who run these stores know that they are going to have a 24/7 crowd. The parking lot could compete with a Walmart for sheer size.  They have more gas pumps than I have ever seen in one place. My brain did a flip at the idea of managing that many pumps. I immediately decide, and did no further research, that they all had to be prepay only. I cannot even consider trying to prevent drive offs on an operation of that scale. 

Then again, if my research is accurate, Buc-ee's doesn't try to make money on gas. They sell it at or very near cost. In Alabama they were sued for selling it too cheap. Now why would a store do that? Simple, Make gasoline a loss leader and use it to bring people inside the store to spend money on more beaver nuggets or any of the million other Buc-ee's brand things inside this mecca. I like the strategy. I didn't fill up there because I wasn't about to try to fight my way to the pumps on a motorcycle. 

The bones of this place seems to be built on enthusiastic customer service. There seemed to be eight registers going at every entrance. I saw at least three managers walking around in shirts and ties. There were tons of employees on the floor doing everything from stocking to taking pictures with the customers and a person in the Buc-ee's mascot costume. 

The place was clean in spite of the fact there were a few thousand people flowing in and out of it at a time. It was also extremely well stocked. I didn't see any empty pegs anywhere. I saw very little available shelf space. Talk about a fast paced work environment though! These people were all hustling. No wonder Buc-ee's advertises high wages. You are going to have to really work your shift. There is no chance to do anything else. 

The place sounded like mall food courts did back in the 1980s. There was just a dull roar of a crowd of humans all talking among themselves. Occasionally someone shouted out something about the store or a PA went off with an announcement. I don't love crowds at the best of time and with Monkey Pox and Covid variants hot and heavy, I was struggling a bit with myself about why I made this trip. 

I snagged necessary hydration, a variety of Buc-ee's branded snacks, the kid a T-shirt, and me a travel mug. I didn't wrestle with lines for brisket sandwiches, tacos, burritos, or hotdogs. I may chase those dreams another trip. The biggest reason for that is it was 91 degrees when we arrived. There are no places to sit inside or around Buc-ee's. They may provide the best food in that area, or not, but they do not give you any place to eat it. I did not want to stand in the parking lot, in the heat, and try snarfing gas station food before a ride back to town. Had it been fall or winter, no problem. 

The ride back was nice. My top case was full of bags of goodies. I had a bit more satisfying ride back until we hit Knoxville traffic. I spent quite a bit of a ride behind a horse trailer. 

That has to be an exceptionally odd experience for the horses. These animals have an ancestral memory of pulling carts and buggies. Suddenly they are loaded into the back of a buggy and pulled down the road faster than they are capable of running. If I were a horse I am certain in would break my brain. I would probably find myself standing still and hoping I could reach interstate speeds with the same effort I had got there with before. It has to be easier than galloping. 

It was a pleasant trip other than the heat. Then I dropped the bike in the gravel of my driveway and took a nice tumble. I am fine. Scraped my knee and would have scraped the palms of my hands if I hadn't been wearing gloves. I still don't know how my knee got scraped up through my jeans without them even showing dirt. I suppose I should just be thankful. The bike isn't hurt either though it has a few mild scratches. The most frustrating part was finding out that my newly replaced camera system never even started recording today. I swear, I am ready to pitch that system entirely. Sadly, I wasn't wearing my GoPro on my helmet either. No cool footage of my wipeout exists. 

Buc-ee's is a cool place. I suspect I will return to Crossville a time or two before we get one built closer. I can say definitively if they put a Buc-ee's at the 407 exit to Sevierville it will create an even worse traffic situation. People will drive from miles around for that place. At least now I understand why.