The I-70 reality behind Missouri's TV darlin'

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Truck-stop reality might not strike a lot of people as having TV potential, but when the Travel Channel happened upon a place off Exit 121 along the Interstate Highway 70 corridor just west of here, lightning struck.

TV crews came calling, and everything naturally got amped up. That reality set in over the last several months for Joe Bechtold, general manager of the Midway Travel Plaza, which was made even more famous in "Truck Stop Missouri."

The well-visited stop offers a slice of life — heck, make it two slices — with an interesting cast of characters, the ones visiting and the ones working there.

"You know, it's been a lot of fun and a lot of work," Bechtold said. "It's time-consuming but really cool. ... For us and our customers, it's been great. People come in and they're kind of excited to see people who they've seen on TV."

In its first season, "Truck Stop Missouri" focused on the family-owned travel plaza and became one of the Travel Channel's brightest gems. Thirteen episodes aired, and it will be back again this year as "Truck Stop USA." Run dates have yet to be determined, but you can stop in and see the real reality.

The difference here is that in addition to food, you can buy boots, fireworks and antiques, and even upgrade your body-art portfolio with a new tattoo at Under the Gun Tattoo — you know, all the stuff you need for the road.

Then there are the special events that make the little screen: cow-patty bingo, lawn-mower racing, battle re-enactments.

Sailing down I-70, you really can't miss the cluster of 15 businesses and one church nestled in the quiet countryside about a seven-hour drive southwest of Chicago.

In the restaurant, you get a welcome as if you're part of the family: "How ya doing, baby?" followed by later checkups with "You doing OK, dear?" and "You're welcome, honey." Warm and welcoming without a trace of plastic.

The waitresses know their stuff, such as with 18-year veteran Ruth Marie Roe, who suggests starting a meal with dessert. Here, indulging in a piece of homemade German chocolate pie will set you back only $2.49. It's the same for fresh-baked fruit pies (pronounced "pahz").

All that TV exposure hasn't run up prices yet. A char-grilled hamburger with a choice of mashed potatoes, slaw or the "daily veggie" runs $6.79. And reports are that the biscuits and gravy are second to none. Homemade sausage gravy on two fresh-baked biscuits is $3.99.

The Backdoor Lounge fills to the brim on Friday and Saturday nights, when country music bands take the stage and kick up the energy at 9 p.m. And pretty much by that time 100 or so trucks, lined up neatly like toys, have parked for the night so the drivers can get some R&R.

No doubt those truckers can't wait to finish dinner and get some shut-eye so they can make haste into the Midway Antique Mall and Flea Market the next morning. Its massive inventory arrayed over 60,000 square feet includes vintage toys, glassware and china, quilts and coins, and plenty of Americana, all with seemingly reasonable prices. Currently, 235 dealers offer their wares in 325 booths. It's laid out nicely; no mazes or dark corners to get lost in. The only way to get lost is in time. Some people reportedly breeze in for a break from the road and emerge from the aisles three or four hours later.

If your trunk's full, you can stash that new old dresser you just bought over at Midway Mini Storage. Then go pick up the kids at Cannery Row Daycare or at the Fearfest Haunted House and haul them all to the Gateway to the High Country Cowboy Church, a spiritual font for "cowboys, cowgirls and horse lovers of all brands," for a quick prayer.

Then it's back to the road and all those high hopes for the new TV season.

If you go

The Midway Travel Plaza covers 200 acres off Exit 121, just west of Columbia, Mo., on I-70 almost smack between St. Louis and Kansas City. The Midway Travel Plaza sits about midway between the interstate's terminal points just outside Baltimore and in Cove Fort, Utah, a span of 2,153 miles.

For more details on the Midway Travel Plaza, visit midwayexpo.com/travelplaza, call 573-445-1211, or, of course, watch the Travel Channel.

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TSA chief, the man behind the airport pat-down, an optimist about everything but terror

WASHINGTON (AP) — Each day, dozens of U.S. intelligence officials crowd around a conference table in a small, windowless room in a government building across the street from a shopping mall in northern Virginia. At the head of the table sits the man who perhaps more than anyone else affects Americans most tangibly in the sprawling fight against terrorism since the 2001 attacks.

John Pistole, who for decades breezed past airport security checkpoints as an FBI agent — is the faceless bane of every air traveler who must remove his belt, endures an intimate pat-down or is instructed to throw away a 6-ounce bottle of shampoo.

Pistole, 53, has among the least-desirable roles in Washington as head of Transportation Security Administration, the government agency that more than others traces its lineage to the terrorist hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Based on top secret intelligence he sees daily, Pistole, a 26-year FBI veteran, sets the rules for protecting the nation's 457 airports and America's planes, trains, buses and ferries.

Pistole's story is the story of a changed nation, one that has worked feverishly to track down terrorists, fix intelligence problems and try to keep from trampling on privacy while enhancing security.

It was Pistole who, just weeks on the job, called for airport screeners to start using a new security pat-down — one that involved feeling around travelers' genital areas and breasts. It was an unpopular measure, but one Pistole believes offers the best chance of preventing a suicide bomber.

Just Friday, U.S. counterterrorism officials were investigating intelligence about an al-Qaida threat to New York or Washington, possibly involving a car bomb to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I'm an optimist in life in all ways other than when it comes to terrorism," Pistole said. "And I think every day that goes by, we're a day closer to the next attack."

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On Sept. 11, 2001, Pistole was working in the FBI's inspections division, conducting a routine interview with a New York judge. He turned on the television and saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center.

"Well, this changes everything," he remembers thinking.

Pistole, who grew up in the small town of Anderson, Ind., comes from a family of educators. He practiced law before he joined the FBI in 1983. At the time, the bureau had a storied history of putting bank robbers and mobsters in prison. After 9/11, Pistole was tapped to help transform the bureau into one that prevented terrorism.

"We were building the plane while it was flying," said Raymond Holcomb, a former FBI agent and author of the book "Endless Enemies: Inside FBI Counterterrorism."

"John was there at a most critical watershed moment," Holcomb said.

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Around the same time, the new Transportation Security Administration was struggling to get off the ground. It had to hire thousands of screeners, coordinate with airlines and buy screening technology.

"None of us really knew how to set up lines at airports," said Norman Mineta, the transportation secretary at the time, who was charged with creating this new agency from scratch.

Mineta turned to The Walt Disney Co., an organization familiar with snaking lines and anxious guests.

The past 10 years have been a bumpy road for the TSA and travelers.

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