Technically, you don’t have to be a truck driver to sit in the trucker dining section at Dysart’s Truck Stop in Hermon.
But it helps.
For more than half a century, the full-service business has supplied fuel, food and a place to call home — albeit for a few hours at a time — to truck drivers hauling freight up and down the east coast.
On Thanksgiving Day, the trucker section was packed with drivers and the overflow of other patrons who were out for a traditional Thanksgiving meal they did not have to cook themselves.
Dysart’s is one of the last truck stops that caters to just about every need a truck driver might have, from mechanical services to a good meal to a hot shower on the road. It’s a place the drivers say they are treated like family, especially when they are far from home on a holiday — even if the holiday is not one they normally celebrate.
Virtually all of the truckers dining at Dysart’s late Thanksgiving morning were from Canada.
“I’ve been coming here since I was a little child,” said Wayne Giles of Nova Scotia, as he used the handle of his butter knife to stir sugar into his coffee. “My dad would let me go with the truckers from the neighborhood and this is as close to family as you can get when you are driving.”
The fact that Thursday was Thanksgiving in the United States had some meaning for Giles, who celebrated traditional Canadian Thanksgiving last month.
“I respect other people’s pasts and what they went through and what their forefathers went through,” Giles said. “Regardless if it’s my country or your country, a lot of our ancestors had to do some hard work to make it.”
Giles was on his way home to Halifax after delivering Christmas trees in Boston.
Connor MacDonald was on his way to Boston from Prince Edward Island with a load of produce. He made it a point to stop at Dysart’s because it was U.S. Thanksgiving and he wanted the traditional meal of turkey with all the trimmings.
“I’m down here more than I’m in Canada,” MacDonald said. “Dysart’s is like home for those of us who truck on the east coast.”
Giles said that one of the worst things to ever happen to truckers was fast food.
“I just live for coming here,” he said.
And it’s not just about the food, it’s about the camaraderie with his fellow truckers that helps break up the solo hours on the road, Giles said.
As he talked, Lynette Daugherty, a server at Dysart’s, came over with a refill of fresh coffee.
“I’ve been here since 3:30 this morning,” Daugherty said with a wide grin. “A lot of these guys don’t have a place to go to be home and we love having them here.”
Giles recalled one time when he packed a dinner for himself of fried scallops and shrimp, with a plan to reheat it when he was in his company’s mechanic garage that evening. He said it was like eating a dry hamburger because he was eating alone.
Lonely or alone is something truckers never are at Dysart’s.
At the fuel counter, Harold Varbeff of Cape Breton was exchanging Canadian cash for U.S. currency and joking with Mike Smith, fuel desk supervisor, and Dysart’s Jane-of-all-trades Jamie Russell.
“Every trucker who comes in here knows what they are going to get before they walk in — good food and friendly people,” Smith said, with a sideways glance to Varbeff. “Except maybe Harold. You got to watch out for Harold.”
The good-natured ribbing is a welcome side dish to the meal Varbeff and Giles had just enjoyed.
As they talked, a large travel bus pulled up to the fuel pumps outside. According to the writing on its side, it was from Canada and as the busload of people began pouring out and heading inside, Giles had another example of the full service Dysart’s provides travelers in urgent need of a pit stop.
“You want to know how nice they are here?” he said. “One time I saw them block all the men from the men’s room because a bus full of women had just pulled up and the line into the ladies room was a mile long.”
Russell chuckled and added, “After the women were done using the men’s room, it’s the best it ever smelled.”
Both Giles and Varbeff had families waiting for them at home and freight to deliver and it was time to say farewell for now to their Dysart’s family.
And, just like at so many traditional holiday gatherings, it was a lengthy process as conversations and good-natured teasing were extended.
“I love coming here,” Varbeff said. “They really take care of us.”
