RICHMOND, Ky. (LEX 18) — The new Buc-ee’s Madison County location along I-75 is always busy, but today things were getting kicked up a notch.
The Automobile Club of America is estimating that 89 percent of this year’s Thanksgiving travel will be by car, and that we will return to pre-pandemic travel volume this week. Put it all together and the 75 corridor is going to be congested. And for many travelers this will be their first chance to venture inside Buc-ee’s, which opened here in April.
“We are in for an adventure,” said Rosanna Johnson of North Carolina. Rosanna and her husband are traveling first to Georgetown, and then on to Ohio.
“We’ll see our grandson because it’s his 5th birthday, born on Thanksgiving. Our favorite little turkey! Then we’ll go to central Ohio to have dinner with good friends,” Johnson continued.
One didn’t have to spend much time in the parking lot at Buc-ee’s to see it becoming a melting pot of sorts, as license plates from so many different states were everywhere. One family is making the trip from Upper Peninsula, Michigan to Orlando, Florida. (That’s pretty much covering every single mile I-75 has to offer).
“We just go to a resort there. We used to have a timeshare... usually meet family, but this year it’s just us,” said Pat Sippola through a thick accent you’d only find on those who live so close to the Canadian border.
Others we spoke with included a group on its way to Tennessee from western New York, and one gentleman was heading home to Cincinnati from Georgia.
The holiday season is officially upon us, and Americans are moving around the country the way we did before COVID-19 moved in on all of us.
Gas prices are cooperating too. The price of a gallon at Buc-ee’s on Wednesday was $2.94.
“Thank goodness for that holiday break,” said Rosanna’s husband, Robert.
