OOIDA’s tour trailer weekends in Bucksville, Ala.

Dodge City, Ala., was nice for the past few days but for the weekend OOIDA’s tour trailer will be in Bucksville, Ala.

Marty Ellis, skipper of the Spirit of the American Trucker, plans to be at the Bucksville Petro on Saturday through Monday, June 19-21. The Bucksville Petro is at Exit 100 from I-20 and I-59.

The Bucksville Petro has parking for 255 tractor-trailers. The Iron Skillet dining room is open for business or there’s a Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen fast-food restaurant there. To get a little exercise in, there’s a walking trail, horseshoe pit, bean bag toss and basketball hoop there also.

Bucksville is about 30 south of Birmingham, Al.

Historic park nearby

Just 3-4 miles from the Bucksville Petro is the Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park. It is a park built around the ruins of Birmingham’s first 19th-century iron factory.

From spring through fall craftsmen demonstrate their trades and there are craft shops in restored pioneer cabins. The park also has a cotton gin, pioneer farm and working gristmill as well the Iron and Steel Museum. The park is open from sunrise to sunset, and there is an admission charged.

Word from the road

Drivers seem to agree with OOIDA’s assessments of the competing highway bills being considered in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The Senate highway bill seems a lot more palatable.

Land Line Senior Editor Mark Schremmer has been covering the bills. The Senate version not only does not have some poison pill provisions that OOIDA opposes but has some measures that are very trucker-friendly. He lays it out here and here.

Stop by when you see The Spirit

If you see OOIDA’s tour trailer, stop by and say hello. Ellis is looking forward to visiting about the Association’s activities and current issues. There are copies of Land Line Magazine to pick up there. You can join or renew your membership for $10 off the regular price there. Face masks are available for anyone with a commercial driver’s license at The Spirit.

After Bucksville, The Spirit is scheduled on June 23-25 to be at the Idella M. Hansen Petro in North Little Rock, Ark. After that are a couple of stops in Iowa before arriving just after Independence Day at the Walcott Truckers Jamboree at the Iowa 80 Truckstop in Walcott, Iowa.

Here is the schedule for The Spirit. LL