Flying J Travel Center — Lasalle

If you find yourself heading east-west on I80 and passing through Lasalle / Peru (LP) looking for a piece of pavement to call home for the night and can’t seem to find a proper RV park, the Flying J Travel Center just due east of the main exit for LP might just work for you. This paved paradise is decent size, but you’ll immediately want to be careful with all of the 18 wheeled semis that constantly stream in and out of this place. In fact, you may very well want to overnight it in the car area, as the semi-truck area is quite full and hectic. 

As far as parking here goes, you’ll want to stay as far east and ideally as far south as you can in the lot, which will keep you away from the main traffic at the front of the Flying J Travel Center storefront, which if you enter on the car portion, actually doubles up as a Denny’s. Because you’re not too far away from a busy highway, you really shouldn’t worry too much about security, and especially because this location caters to semi truck drivers 24/7, you should be OK over here. 

Looking for some local, nearby restaurants? Well, if you head back to the main exit you either haven’t reached yet because you are westbound OR the major LP exit you just passed because you were heading eastbound, the easiest option is to make your way back to that LP exit because over here by the Flying J, there’s not much. Once you turn off the LP exit and head north on 51, there’s an Olive Garden, Starbuck’s, McDonald’s, Arby’s and a nice little joint called Cabin Fever. Should you instead head south on 51, there’s a Steak & Shake, some Mexican joint called Jalapeño’s that I can’t really recommend, as well as a Red Lobster. Further south of the Peru Mall there’s Applebee’s, Buffalo Wild Wings and Culver’s. 

If you want a memorable meal, I would recommend staying on I80 for about 10 minutes and heading west to the little town of Ladd, where there’s Rip’s Chicken. And if you are in the mood for a great pizza, check out the good folks at legendary Lou’s LaGrotto, where you can eat your slice in a cave booth (don’t ask, but snag one of these 3 unique eating hideouts). Right near this pizza joint is another legend frying up the largest pork tenderloin sandwiches and fresh cut fries called The Igloo, which I highly recommend as well. 

Should you be looking for a slice of nature, head on over to either Starved Rock or Matthiessen SPs – either one will offer great hiking, rappelling and the former offering up direct access to the Illinois River. 

While scoring criteria may vary from one person to the next, here are the 5 most important criteria that informed my rating of this overnight location: convenience (EZ on- and off-access), safety & security, quality (of facilities), peace & quiet and amenities (either on-site or nearby). Here’s how I ranked this particular overnight spot: 

Convenience: 5

Safety & Security: 4 

Quality: 2 

Peace & Quiet: 3 

Amenities: 3 

Overall, I scored this location a 3.

Happy Overnighting!