Love's Travel Stop - Oglesby

What you’ll find here is incredibly basic, offering up all the fuel for your driving needs along with a fairly decent-sized mini-mart where you can load up on some quick and EZ supplies. From a parking standpoint, you’ll have no problem whatsoever finding a nice level parking space to hang out for the night. And if you do decide to park here, the best spot would be the southernmost part of the property where you’ll see a lineup of big rigs, 18 wheelers and other RVs and 5th Wheelers - and the further west you are, the lesser the traffic coming off of nearby I39 you will hear. This area will keep you away from the much busier storefront to the north of the store where autos are rushing in and out to fuel up or the east side, which you will feel the breeze from the non-stop swooshing passerby I39 highway traffic. From an amenities standpoint, there’s very good clean restrooms and a half dozen or so private showers, as well as a CAT Scale and SpeedCo Truck Lube & Tires, in case your mobile living room needs a check-up or repair. Imbedded into the Love’s gas station is a Hardee’s and if that’s not your thing, you can get your fast-food thing on nearby at the McDonald’s, KFC or Subway just due east of where you’re at, but if it were me, I would venture into nearby Oglesby for some good 'down home Midwestern comfort food.'

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: 3 

Peace & Quiet: 2 

Amenities: 2 

Overall, I scored this location a 3. 

Happy Overnighting!