The patriarch of the family behind Gee Cee's Truck Stop, Gail Calvin Wallace, left, walks past the deli counter of the popular Exit 57 truck stop on Friday morning in Toledo.
Gee Cee's Truck Stop, featuring a fresh deli, sit-down restaurant, bathrooms, showers, and more is located off of Interstate 5 at Exit 57 in Toledo.
Chicken bacon sandwich, breakfast burrito and home-made macaroni and cheese all from Gee Cee's Truck Stop's Bigfoot Deli.
Jim Wallace, who runs the family owned Gee Cee's Truck Stop, shows off one of the many Bigfoot-themed t-shirts for sale at the popular exit 57 pit stop on Friday afternoon.
Jesse Wallace, left, and his father, Jim, stand outside their family owned truck stop, Gee Cee's, on Friday morning in Toledo. In 1986 Gail Calvin Wallace, Jim's father, cleared all the land at Exit 57 with a bulldozer and leveled it with river sand then opened the truck stop.
When Gee Cee’s Truck Stop opened more than 30 years ago, on a much smaller footprint than it occupies today, founder Gail Calvin (G.C.) Wallace would often run between cooking chicken-fried steaks, changing flat tires and running the cash register.
“I baked my own cinnamon rolls. (Darn) good ones,” he said. “Sometimes I’d be here 30 hours before going home.”
More than 30 years later, Gail Wallace stops by the store to check in and have breakfast, but leaves the heavy-lifting to the two younger generations of Wallaces who have their hands in working at the family business, which is open 24 hours a day and offers a deli, restaurant, convenience store, showers and truck repair, including oil changes and brake replacement.
“We’re thinking about a truck wash next year,” Jim said. “We’ve added on and remodeled numerous times because we keep trying to improve our facilities for our customers.”
Hundreds of trucks come through the diesel and gasoline stalls every day, and thousands visit each week, said Gail’s grandson, Jesse Wallace, who works at the truck stop with two of his siblings and his father, Jim.
“Overnight, our lot’s usually full,” Jesse said.
Before Gee Cee’s opened, the property off Exit 57 was forested. Gail cleared it with his own bulldozer and leveled in the land with river sand.
“This is sitting on about 4 feet of Toutle River sand. I hauled it myself,” he said. “When we opened I had one diesel pump island and one gas pump.”
Wallace, 86, was in his 50s when he decided to open Gee Cee’s, and already had a successful dump truck business. He borrowed money to build the truck stop, and figured if it didn’t work out, he’d be able to pay off the loan with the trucks.
“When I opened I owed the bank $80,000. My brother said I was crazy,” he said. “It isn’t the money that I’m after. Anything I do, I want to do the best I can do. If you do the best you can, you’re not going to fail.”
To this day, his family follows that ethic in running the truck stop
Gee Cee’s isn’t part of a chain. It’s a one-off, family-run truck stop — making it a constant struggle to compete against the big national chain truck stops and restaurants, Jim said.
But the business stays competitive, and is a favorite stop for many truckers because of the pains the Wallaces and their employees take to provide top-notch customer service, clean restroom and shower facilities.
“We work hard at that. I think people get a pleasant surprise when they come in here for the first time,” Jim said. “We know them by name, and they appreciate that.”
Gee Cee’s food is split between a deli, offering breakfast burritos, sandwiches, chicken, homemade macaroni and cheese and other deli fare, and a 24-hour restaurant serving fresh-made food such as salmon, spaghetti with meatballs made from scratch and breakfast all day.
“We call it the Bigfoot Deli. It’s awesome,” Jim said. “Food service is something we can compete against the chains with.”
Restaurant Manager Guido Brendicke worked as a chef all over the world before retiring. He came back to work to run Gee Cee’s restaurant.
“This guy’s a professional, world-class chef,” Jim said.
Brendicke first moved to the United States from Germany in 1963. Since then, he’s cooked all over the world, from Seattle to New York to South Korea and back to Seattle again.
“I’m lucky to have traveled all over the world,” he said.
Brendicke said the restaurant’s most popular offering is 24-hour breakfast plates.
“We cook a lot of stuff our self,” he said. “It’s not all canned or frozen. We make our own sauces. We make our own stock and everything.”
The Bigfoot theme runs throughout the business, including two footprints in the concrete by the gasoline pumps.
“He came in here in the middle of the night,” he said. “Nobody saw him. Bigfoot left these!”
Jim said his great-uncle Ray Wallace was one of the first people to coin the name “Bigfoot” in Northern California.
While Gee Cee’s was built to cater to truckers, locals are encouraged to stop by for some gas and a bite to eat as well, Jim said.
“We get more (locals) all the time,” he said.
About the Business: Gee Cee’s Truck Stop
• Open since 1986
• Located at 123 Foster Creek Road off Interstate 5 Exit 57
• Open 24 hours
• 360-864-4300
• Offers gas, diesel, scales, deli, restaurant, showers and truck repair
Highlight a Local Business
The Chronicle is always looking to feature stories about local businesses. To suggest a business for coverage, contact Editor Eric Schwartz at eschwartz@chronline.com or 360-807-8224.
