Sunday, July 27, 1997
Long life is a lengthy string of truck stops
By Bill Kiefer / Abilene Reporter-News
ROSCOE - Bill Kiefer has bought 18 truck stops and sold 17
during his lifetime, but he will not sell this one, he says of
his latest purchase.
He is 87. He has shrewd, clear blue eyes under the shade of
a straw hat, and he has the tall thin body of a younger man. He
looks you straight in the eye, and when he talks you have to believe
him.
"I ain't going to sell it, I'm going to keep it,"
Kiefer said.
He was sitting at one of the new dining tables at Truck and
Travel, his latest truck stop purchase. It is on the south access
of Interstate 20 at Roscoe. The truck stop, under previous ownership,
was destroyed by fire more than two years ago. Kiefer reopened
it two weeks ago.
The business offers gas, diesel, a restaurant, vehicle repairs,
a convenience store, restrooms, a game room, and large shower
stalls. Still being prepared are a truckers' lounge and laundry
room. Kiefer employs 15. He said that will increase to about 20
before long.
If Kiefer keeps this truck stop, it will be a change in a life-long
pattern.
"I used to buy 'em and sell 'em. I took it as a challenge.
I'd find one that was having a hard time and I'd buy it and fix
it up and sell it. Yeah, I did real good. Made a bunch of money.
Course, I made a couple of mistakes along the way and lost a pile
of money, too. You know how that goes," Kiefer said, smiling
broadly.
His daughter, Linda Smith, and her husband, Donny, share the
business responsibilities. So does Kiefer's granddaughter, Brenda
Arebalo, and her husband, Jamie, along with Kiefer's grandson,
Robert Ramirez.
Kiefer has traveled over a lot of the South and a good part
of Texas buying and selling those 17 other truck stops, but he
thinks he has reached an age, finally, when it is time to settle
down.
"This is it. This is my last one. If I don't survive the
five years of this lease, it will all go to my family. So, I ain't
going to sell it. Not that I'm in bad health. I feel as good as
I always did. Don't smoke. Don't drink. None of that foolishness."
Kiefer paused. "I figure I'm on borrowed time right now anyway,
so I don't worry about it."
When he was 16, Kiefer said, he opened his first truck stop.
That was in Ohio at a highway intersection near his home. Truckers
often ran out of gas and came around asking for help, so Kiefer
decided to get a pump and sell the fuel.
In those days, 71 years ago, you had to pump the fuel by hand.
While pumping gas into 10 and 20 gallon tanks, Kiefer developed
a strong right arm, but not a desire to stay put. At 17, he sold
out and left for Mississippi. His last truck stop, before Truck
and Travel, was in Toyah on I-20, a little west of Pecos.
"Owning truck stops is all I know, all I ever did,"
Kiefer said.
Over the years, he's met thousands of truckers and they try
to keep up with his moves. A few days ago, a trucker walked into
Truck and Travel. Kiefer had not seen the man in 30 years. The
man looked at Kiefer.
"I've found you," the trucker said.
"I'm known coast to coast," Kiefer said.
He said he is not worried about the big, fancy truck stops
with which he competes.
"We're like a family here. We're recognized as people,
not just numbers. I'm not worried about the competition. I tell
'em (the truckers), 'This is your truck stop,'<n>"
Kiefer said."
He will not hear of retiring.
"I could if I wanted to, but I like to work too much.
I hear a lot of people complain about just having two days off
a week, but I work seven days a week. I don't want to take no
days off. I just like to work."
This column covers the cities and communities of this part
of West Texas. To contact Ken Ellsworth, call (800) 588-6397 or
(915) 673-4271, Ext. 381, or write to P.O. Box 30, Abilene, TX
79604.
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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