Three days watching from my room on the third floor, I look at the cloverleaf's revolving pace. Each truck ticking by, engine's compression breaking in the sub-zero temperatures. Every driver of these ever-revolving trucks is a master driver. Each driver is more capable than most people at navigating weather and hypnotic, repetitive sequencing along the linear route. Each driver is driven as he drives, to meet the next tick on the click of larger ticks on the clock of commerce. How many of these master drivers exist, when so prevalent as this just on my cloverleaf?
Three days watching from my room on the third floor, I look at the Wendy's across the street on one petal of my cloverleaf. Is it just another modern roach motel poisoning time-crunched, value-conscious travelers? I realized after going there myself, that it is managed by a wonderful and capable person; responsible day in, day out, for staffing as well as making sure the food is hot and satisfying. This person is responsible for the facility itself functioning perfectly for restrooms and seating. It's an indoor travel park for the pausing traveler.
Three days watching from my room on the third floor, I see countless semi-trucks parked as their drivers sleep, and yet others are chatting with the 24 hour night manager of my hotel. Is she happy for the company? It matters not, for as a bartender, it is her job to entertain and accommodate those who need a place to rest, or someone who just wants to stand and visit awhile after sitting and being alone for hours on end.
This is just my cloverleaf. How many others as you replicate each across the United States? I will not think of fast food restaurants as roach motels but now, but as efficient ships with their own captains and crews, serving the public at all hours, sleeping, eating, and then doing it again and again. They meet the public's needs on a daily basis without fail, and if they fail, someone else must meet the need. Are their needs being met on this timeless extent?
-Kelly Voelker
cloverleaf - a junction of roads intersecting at different levels with connecting sections forming the pattern of a four-leaf clover. (North American)
extent - the degree to which something has spread; the size or scale of something.
