The Grand Opening Of Buc-ees In Northern Colorado

   About a week after the first Buc-ees convenient mart/gas station/ souvenir shop/cafe/snack bar/best bathrooms in America opened up, JER and I decided to make the hour drive up to Johnstown to check it out.

  Yeah, two grown-ass men driving an hour to check out what is essentially a truck stop (that doesn't allow trucks, btw). 

  Let me tell you what, it was well worth the trip. We arrived fairly early in the morning and the place was packed - a week after the grand opening and people were still showing up in droves. Entire families were there, buying everything from snacks to Buc-ees branded pool noodles. 

   It was quite the spectacle. JER and I spent forty minutes or so in the place, and walked away fairly impressed by not only the scale of the operation, but the efficiency of the staff as well. There were hundreds of people in the place, and all those people seemed to be in (polite and courteous) feeding frenzy - so much stuff was being bought that shelves were having to be restocked as we walked through the joint, and it wasn't even 11:00am.

   After we soaked in as much as we could handle, JER and I scooted up to Fort Collins for breakfast at the Silver Grill, a restaurant that has been serving up great food since 1933, and can boast the freshest and tastiest orange juice on the plant (IMHO).

   On our way back south to Denver in the late afternoon we drove past the Buc-ees again, and it was busier then when we left - so much so that the north bound lanes of I-25 were backed up for a couple of miles.

   If you build it, they will come indeed.

      116 gas pumps, and still people were waiting in line to get gas.

      Need ice? They have enough ice at Buc-ees to fill every cooler in Colorado

   And they pay well...exceptionally well.