{"id":874826,"date":"2022-11-07T18:05:13","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T12:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quicktelecast.com\/the-biggest-gas-station-in-california-is-a-bizarre-fever-dream\/"},"modified":"2022-11-07T18:05:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T12:35:13","slug":"the-biggest-gas-station-in-california-is-a-bizarre-fever-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quicktelecast.com\/the-biggest-gas-station-in-california-is-a-bizarre-fever-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"The biggest gas station in California is a bizarre fever dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Fifty varieties, 60? That chewy road-trip delicacy, glistening in a giant glass case in a cavernous room in a very strange corner of California. It\u2019s all a little overwhelming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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As an Englishman, my relationship with jerky is like my relationship with a Bloody Mary \u2014 it\u2019s not a thing where I\u2019m from, but it looks cool. I want nothing more than to be able to confidently swill a half pint of tomato juice and chomp on a vodka-soaked pickle to ease my hangover, or chow through a bag of torn cow flesh like a real cowboy man. But then I\u2019m reminded that it tastes bad. I\u2019ve never gotten to the bottom of a Bloody Mary glass, or bag of dried beef. But this isn\u2019t your average jerky.<\/p>\n

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Habanero buffalo, teriyaki ahi tuna, black pepper ostrich. Dozens of jerkies in front of me. I ask the server what the most popular offering is \u2014 \u201cSpicy Memphis BBQ \u2026 soft,\u201d she says, confidently. She bags up a handful for me and I shuffle across the tiles to the next attraction in this 26,000-square-foot room that claims to be the biggest gas station in California \u2014 EddieWorld.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On my way to the edge of the Mojave Desert, somewhere near Barstow, a shiny BART train passes me on the freeway, causing me to do an actual double take. I pull my car over and hastily Google what I just saw, to learn that BART trains are built on the East Coast and do indeed regularly move across the country on Interstate 40. It wasn\u2019t a mirage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The old railroad outpost of Yermo feels desolate. Its name means \u201cwilderness\u201d in Spanish, it\u2019s home to fewer than 2,000 residents and most structures are sadly battered, boarded up and broken down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t \t \"Sculpture
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Sculpture of Tank Man at Tiananmen Square located at EddieWorld in Yermo, CA.<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n Courtesy of Yelp<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\t\t \t \"Yermo,
\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
\n <\/p>\n

Yermo, California<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n Andrew Chamings<\/span>
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\n\t\t \t \"Yermo,
\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
\n <\/p>\n

Yermo, California<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n Andrew Chamings<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\t\t \t \"Yermo,
\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
\n <\/p>\n

Yermo, California<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n Andrew Chamings<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

\n Yermo, California<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Before I-15 opened in 1968, Yermo was a bustling desert town with a half dozen bars, grocery stores and restaurants, and a lot of life. The interstate, which speeds through the old town\u2019s northern reaches on the halfway point between LA and Vegas, led to thousands more people seeing the Yermo sign, but thousands fewer steering into the actual town. Yermo was bypassed and most of the businesses there closed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 1971, Hunter S. Thompson opened his magnum opus with the line, \u201cWe were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.\u201d I\u2019m pretty sure he was in Yermo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before making my way to the colossal gas station, I drift through the old town. I stop at the \u201chistoric\u201d site of the first ever Del Taco, now a paint-peeled burger shack on a dusty lot. Nearby, the 2-mile iron corpse of a freight train rusts in the low fall sun. I don\u2019t see another soul until a Harley-Davidson roars past, spewing dust and soot into the desert air. I think I see someone standing on a fenced off plot of land by the freeway, but on closer inspection it\u2019s revealed to be a life-size sculpture of the famous Tank Man at Tiananmen Square. While bumper stickers and bachelorette penis hats may tell you the weirdest place in America is in Portland or Reno, it\u2019s not. It\u2019s here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The construction of the new freeway demanded bigger, brighter, stranger roadside structures to convince travelers to steer off the asphalt. That birthed an infamous, now abandoned, water park that once shot kids off a checkmark-shaped water slide 15 feet into the air like human cannonballs. That place closed after a employee overshot the Doo Wop Super Drop slide and hit a concrete wall in 1999, paralyzing him. More recently, a bizarre 36-acre sculpture park was built featuring a 10-foot-tall bust of Crazy Horse and the aforementioned Tank Man likeness, among other oddities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And in 2018, EddieWorld was born.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\"EddieWorld,<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
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EddieWorld, Yermo, California<\/p>\n

<\/span>Courtesy EddieWorld<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Maybe it\u2019s the lonely desert air, or lack of life in Yermo that got me excited about something I\u2019d normally hate. A beaming blue and pink shrine to fossil-fuel guzzling, Twizzler-twizzling consumerism. Twenty-six gas pumps, three restaurants, 500 varieties of candy, foot-long hot dogs, a three-story-tall water tank dressed up like an ice-cream sundae, and reportedly the best jerky in America. It’s like if Berkeley Bowl was managed by Kevin McCallister.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Spicy Memphis BBQ, made by Jed’s Jerky, is delicious \u2014 salty and soft and flecked with red chili flakes. As I walk past 1,000 different Ty stuffies and an LA Lakers display, the beef melts in my mouth in a way I didn\u2019t know dehydrated strips of cow flank could.\u00a0<\/p>\n

U2\u2019s \u201cI Still Haven\u2019t Found What I\u2019m Looking For\u201d blasts over the air conditioning hum as the company\u2019s four grinning mascots, that I can only describe as maniacal cherubs, look down on me a little unnervingly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Across the room, at restaurant No. 2, like at the jerky station, I ask the happy server what the most popular item is. It\u2019s chicken tenders, breaded on site, accompanied with crispy fries, a fluffy biscuit and Cajun tartar sauce, and it\u2019s the tastiest chicken I have eaten in a long time. Am I enjoying, maybe even giddy, eating in a gas station?\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t \t \"Southern
\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
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Southern Fried Chicken Tenders with Flat Fries, Waffle Biscuit, and Cajun Sauce at EddieWorld in Yermo, CA<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n Courtesy of EddieWorld<\/span>
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\n\t\t \t \"A
\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
\n <\/p>\n

A person holding a bag of Jedidiah’s Jerky located inside of EddieWorld in Yermo, CA.<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n Courtesy of EddieWorld<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\t\t \t \"EddieWorld,
\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
\n <\/p>\n

EddieWorld, Yermo, California<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n Courtesy EddieWorld<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\n\t\t \t \"EddieWorld,
\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
\n <\/p>\n

EddieWorld, Yermo, California<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n Courtesy EddieWorld<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

\n EddieWorld<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I stop short of trying the California rolls, despite the glowing reviews; even an Englishman knows not to eff with gas station sushi.<\/p>\n

I skim across the floor to the ginormous candy section. I need to put my phone camera in panorama mode to capture the endless selection. I eventually opt for a half pound bag of fried egg gummies to take back for my kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But who is Eddie? And why is it \u201cEddieWorld,\u201d not \u201cEddie\u2019s World?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s not called Disney\u2019s World, is it?\u201d owner Alex Ringle\u00a0tells me over the phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ringle\u00a0opened this place in 2018 after spending a long time staring at a map.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you live in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, LA or San Diego, you have to drive through Yermo to get to Vegas, and vice versa,\u201d he says. \u201cWe picked the exact middle spot, purely based on geography, and that\u2019s Yermo, whether you\u2019re coming or going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Yermo location is the second iteration of EddieWorld;\u00a0the first, in Beatty just outside Death Valley, is owned by his dad, the eponymous Eddie. Ringle\u00a0worked there for two years before building this bigger, brasher version in San Bernardino County.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I ask him why the food doesn\u2019t taste like gas station food.\u00a0<\/p>\n