BOISE - Most truckers can agree they get lonely out there on the highways. They feel even more alone this time of the year when they should be spending the holidays with loved ones.
One Boise truck stop was helping them feel at home on Thanksgiving Day.
Truck drivers were able to duck in to the Boise Stage Stop for a free home-cooked meal. Staff prepared for weeks and all hands were on deck serving up hundreds of dinners. Traditional Turkey Day fixings were on the menu, helping show drivers how much they're appreciated on this day of thanks.
"We're by [ourselves] a lot," truck driver David Rau said, "So places like this are great."
They're on the road most days out of the year.
"Being stuck somewhere you don't want to be, it's lonely for drivers out here," Rau added.
For the past 10 years, the Boise Stage Stop has decided to make every last Thursday in November a day to thank professional truck drivers. They served up traditional Thanksgiving meals all day to anybody with a commercial driver's license - for free.
"We've got turkey, mashed potatoes, hand made gravy- that's amazing," Stage Stop Restaurant Administrator Daisy Weeks said. "We've got green beans, cranberry sauce, you get a dinner roll and a slice of pumpkin pie with it."
The Stage Stop says truckers deserve appreciation because they work day in and day out to keep our economy going.
"And being away from their families during the holidays I think is the hardest part of being a truck driver," Weeks said, "And so we give them this so that way they can feel like they've got a family on the road."
Drivers say the Stage Stop always goes the extra mile and they put it on their map every time they pass through Boise.
"It means a lot and this is one of the places that really does it up right," Rau told KTVB. "The whole staff here puts so much effort into this. It's really important to them because drivers - that's what's made this place."
The Stage Stop says truck drivers always come first.
"This is our truck stop, this is what we do for our appreciation to our drivers for coming in and seeing us and building rapport. That's what we do this for," Weeks added.
Truck drivers say they don't find this kind of friendly atmosphere at big corporate truck stops so they always look forward to stopping in Boise.
The restaurant was serving meals until midnight.
The Boise Stage Stop is located off I-84 and South Orchard Access Road.
