Interstate rest stops?

[haxor]

Have a nice 1300 mile road trip, and pondering hitting a few rest stops.
Are they typically off-limits? They are not exactly a fed/state park.

I'd imagine/hope to just get chased off then arrested/confiscated if its a no-no.

 

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[BigWaveDave]

Thought about that myself... but haven't tried. I imagine it would be a cluster of pull tabs and bottle caps. Modern clad, but minimal at best.

The fact is, prolly close to a virgin site each rest area, as the idea for going there is not necessarily a "destination", just a quick stretch of the legs..and maybe pee.

 

[Loco-Digger]

I have hunted 3 older small ones on state highways here in Ohio. 2 were defunct and I had minimal luck. The active one gave me a little over 2 in clad, pulled some wheats, but no silver.

 

[austin]

Biggest problem here(Texas) would be getting robbed or murdered in the middle of nowhere. BigWaveDave hit it on target. Other than pulltabs and maybe some bottle or beer caps, what would you find? You said interstate. Try backroads ones built in the 30's and 40's if you must. Maybe a few old coins?

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Ive hit a few old ones here in Texas and they are loaded with trash i dont even think ive found coins there because the trash was so overwhelming

 

[Tom_in_CA]

..... then arrested/confiscated if its a no-no.

Do you have any stories/links of anyone "arrested" or "confiscated" for md'ing a road-side rest stop ? I've never heard of such a thing.

If it were me, as long as I didn't see a sign saying "no metal detecting" (and as long as it wasn't an "obvious historic sensitive monument), I'd hit it. But I wouldn't hold out much hope for them, other than modern clad. The only ones I'd bother with, is if you knew of one that went defunct prior to 1965-ish (d/t re-alignment of roads, new interstates by-passing, etc....).

 

[kingskid1611]

As much of the people traveling through them are in a hurry, I would think no one would even pay attention to you.

 

[cudamark]

The ones I've tried were junk piles and not worth the trouble.

 

[RobRieman]

They usually own more land than just the parking lot and building. Check the old aerials and see if there was anything in the adjoining woods/land in the past around the facility and hit that.

 

[Cool Hand Fluke]

I hit these rest stops along the coastline this year. So far I've found a 1935 half, 5 mercury dimes, 1 silver quarter from the 1940's, 3 silver Roosevelt dimes, and a silver ring.

Yes, rest stops along the main highways can pay off!

 

[el padron]

Biggest problem here(Texas) would be getting robbed or murdered in the middle of nowhere. BigWaveDave hit it on target. Other than pulltabs and maybe some bottle or beer caps, what would you find? You said interstate. Try backroads ones built in the 30's and 40's if you must. Maybe a few old coins?

I fly to Texas every 5 weeks or so to manage business. Twice a year I drive equipment to there or back.
Galveston to San Antonio seems to go by quick enough, but my gosh, the legal 80 MPH stretch of I 10 between San Antonio and El Paso is one of the longest most barren and depressing stretches of Hwy I've ever driven through.
Usually about the time Ft stockton starts to appear on the road signs I have thoroughly contemplated the low points in my life and began pondering its true meaning and just what my real purpose truly is.
Only after reaching El Paso do I finally return to my normal self again.

 

[Baja]

I fly to Texas every 5 weeks or so to manage business. Twice a year I drive equipment to there or back.
Galveston to San Antonio seems to go by quick enough, but my gosh, the legal 80 MPH stretch of I 10 between San Antonio and El Paso is one of the longest most barren and depressing stretches of Hwy I've ever driven through.
Usually about the time Ft stockton starts to appear on the road signs I have thoroughly contemplated the low points in my life and began pondering its true meaning and just what my real purpose truly is.
Only after reaching El Paso do I finally return to my normal self again.

And here I thought I was the only person that was thinking this! I love visiting Texas, but like El Padron says that stretch between San Antonio and El Paso can take mental years off your life. Finally reaching El Paso becomes a scene from the movie Vacation where Chevy Chase is running with his hands in the air through the parking lot towards Wally World.

 

[Anduril]

Ive hit a few old ones here in Texas and they are loaded with trash i dont even think ive found coins there because the trash was so overwhelming

Another word of caution: Dog poop = "trash".
Many people don't clean up after their pets, so be careful where you dig / step.

Also: Sometimes, rest areas get relocated due to re-zoning, urban sprawl, etc...
If you can access the earlier (prior decommissioned) locations, you might get a lot less hassle.

I've often thought a good place to metal detect would be at the old hotels along the US highways and larger State Roads (before the Interstate Highway System was built).
These places can easily go back in time to the 30's, 40's and 50's.
Many of the ones that still stand are family-owned (I think), and might grant permissions?
A lot of times, the hotel (motel) is no longer there, but 1 or 2 of the buildings still stand having been re-purposed into something else.
There are plenty of indications: old road maps & telephone directories, swimming pools that have been filled-in, and just the general placement of the buildings (and shapes thereof) when looking at Google Earth.

 

[NHBandit]

Hmmm, this post brought back a distant memory of my childhood. Travelling the Mass Turnpike as a child in the 60s I remember there being a Howard Johnson restaurant every now and then right on the highway. All of those are gone now. If I had it in my head to detect rest stops I would start by locating old interstate highway maps that show these places and then try to locate where they were. Antique shops often have old maps from the 30s, 40s, 50s & 60s for sale for a couple bucks. Also old rest areas along roads that have been re-routed. Like when you're driving along and you see a road sign that says "Old Highway #xyz or whatever. Doing modern roadside rest areas would be a boring waste of time in my opinion. I also collect gas & oil memorabilia. Here are a few examples from my collection. The Mobil Travel Guide is from 1960. It shows roads, hotels & motels, roadside attractions, etc. ALOT has changed since then. All of the maps in the rack are pre-1965 and older.

 

[Ogre1190]

Highway rest stops here in the Midwest (well...in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, anyway) have been beat to death - years ago - by every retired couple with a pair of detectors and a Winnebago. Just not worth it, IMHO. That said...Like NHBandit suggested...Some research into OLD locations of now defunct rest stops may pay off handsomely. Research NEVER hurts. GL and HH.

 

[G.I.B.]

I hit an old abandoned truck weigh station once.

There were so many nuts/bolts, chunks of trucks, pieces and parts that I don't know how any of the trucks were able to pull away from the scales...

 

[el padron]

And here I thought I was the only person that was thinking this! I love visiting Texas, but like El Padron says that stretch between San Antonio and El Paso can take mental years off your life. Finally reaching El Paso becomes a scene from the movie Vacation where Chevy Chase is running with his hands in the air through the parking lot towards Wally World.[/QUOTE

Yeah, Its only 5 or 6 hundred miles but for some reason it always takes about a full day or more. (a FULL day).
Unless off course you initiate the mission at about 3 or 4 AM. If that's the case you will experience the "wormhole effect" where in essence the fabric of Space, time and the Universe actually folds in on itself and allows you to arrive on the other side at about 1 or 2 in the same afternoon.
God forbid you initiate reentry in the early evening. In that case the same distance takes two or more days regardless of your actual velocity.

 

[olprofessor]

This thread makes me wonder about old motels off some country highways..

 

[maipenrai]

Hey Cool Hand, I have detected those same rest stops, found hardly anything, except trash!