Lincoln truck stop voted most unusual in Nebraska

USA Today ranked the most unusual gas station in each state, and Shoemaker’s Travel Center on southwest 48th street was picked as Nebraska’s most unusual. 

Shoemakers gas stations have been open all around the country for the past 50 years, but the Shoemakers on southwest 48th street in Lincoln has only been open for ten. It is owned by Dave Shoemaker and his two children. 

“We’re a family business, and that would make it more unusual than anything else,” Dave Shoemaker, owner of Shoemaker’s Travel Center, said. 

But why did USA Today really choose the gas station as the most unusual stop in Nebraska?

The gas station is a museum in itself. The truck stop has gas station memorabilia displayed all over, antique trucks and road signs, and a hand painted mural. 

“My wife did most of the design on it, made some really good friends who painted it. It took two months to paint it,” Shoemaker said.

The mural  is a painting of Highway 6… all the way from Providence, RI to Long Beach, CA. Each state has a picture of its state bird and flower. 

Shoemakers has a lot of regular truck drivers that stop, but they also have a lot of four wheel traffic costumers. 

“A lot of our fuel supervisors make just the best relationships with so many. They can tell me about their wives, their kids, where they’re from all that kind of stuff,” Raina Shoemaker, general manager and co-owner, said. 

Raina thinks that Shoemakers is so popular because of the family feel.

“They get that atmosphere when they come in that it’s family orientated and they feel at home when they get here,” Raina said.