Dixie Travel Plaza

My mother sings the praises of this truck stop so I just had to stop here because I was drinking her Kool-Aid. But I don't know why it's a big deal. (To be fair, it was many years ago that she was traveling between Chicago and St. Louis and it could have been different then.)
Food is OK, service is OK. Both times that I have been here in the recent past, I ordered sandwiches and I didn't like that the meat wasn't sliced like, you know, sandwich thin, but in big chunks like your Uncle Harold hacks up the Thanksgiving turkey after he's had a few too many while watching the game. Pretty much guarantees you'll be trying to work it out of your teeth later.
I also had a milkshake that was just a milkshake--ice cream (freezer-burned), milk, chocolate syrup, whipped cream. Nothing special but nothing horrible.
Yeah, the bathrooms are clean, and there's shower facilities, a gift and road-snack shop and gas station there too, so I guess it's a good place to stop on a road trip, but no need to seek it out.

Dixie is the approximate halfway point between Chicago and St. Louis.  I think it was a kind of roadside attraction 20+ years ago.  Now it's just a truck stop.  It's a lot cleaner now than it was 5 years ago, and it has a very impressive selection of fountain drinks, slushies, hot chocolate-type beverages, and rotating encased-meat products (I did not sample any of the above).  The bathrooms were clean.  I did not eat at the restaurant.  I guess I'd say that there's no need to go out of your way to stop at Dixie; but there's also no need to go out of your way to avoid it either.

Stopped at the recommendation of friends.     I got the breakfast buffet  Worst buffet I've ever had. Items cold, greasy, extremely unappetizing.    Ate some, lost it in the bathroom before leaving.    Would not recommend to anyone, there is a Mc Donalds across the street, worlds better than this place.  Biscuits were still cold inside from being frozen, gravy had no taste or flavor, bacon was very tough, greasy.  I could go on but you get the idea.  Not the way to start a Monday, paying homage to the Porcelain God.  Also breakfast buffet was 8.00, 'chocolate milk' was white milk with Hersheys Syrup.

Should have kept going when we pulled up and the tattooed, pierced pregnant waitress was right outside the door taking a smoke break with another waitress doing the same.