Truck Stops
The truck stop network is what enables freight to keep moving across America. The main need for a truck stop is power. Most trucks can run for around 200 miles on a full power plant charge, and while it's usually easy to get a recharge in major towns, the lawless miles between towns are another matter. The solution is the truck stop network: defended havens where vehicles can park and charge in safety. There are literally hundreds of truck stops across America, usually placed at major highway intersections. A truck stop may offer any number of services in addition to power: accomodation, food, drink, entertainment, sex, medical treatment, and vehicle repair. Some of the biggest truck stops on major routes are virtually fortified townships, but most are more modest affairs catering to only the most basic needs.
Security
The most important aspect of a truck stop is that it is secure. A typical truck stop is surrounded by a wall, usually of reinforced concrete, two storeys high and several feet thick. These walls can withstand most attacks. The gates are a weaker point and may be destroyed by heavy weapon fire, but the entrance is often planted with minefields and covered by internal weapons, making an assault through the gate a bad idea.
Some larger truck stops employ defensive weapons, usually in turrets mounted on the walls to give a field of fire covering all approaches, and smaller weapons mounted within the walls and aimed specifically at the weak point, the gate.
For policing truckers within the walls, truck stops will employ a group of Truck Stop Marshalls. Despite the name, these are not Federal officers but private security guards. Usually armed with batons and pistols, their main job is to keep the peace and break up drunken brawls. The actual threat to a truck stop from its patrons is minimal. All who use the roads rely on truck stops, and nobody can risk having themselves branded a security risk and blacklisted across the network.
Facilities
The main reason somebody comes to a truck stop is for power. A truck stop will have solar panels covering as much available space as possible, and may also use wind turbines. These keep a massive bank of batteries at full power, ready to recharge as many vehicles as possible as quickly as possible (modern charging technology meaning that even a big truck's power plant can be recharged in 10 minutes).
Every truck stop will have some kind of diner offering a range of cheap meals. Many will also have a bar, which can become very rowdy in the evening.
Most truck stops have accomodation, often nothing more than a bunk in a shared room but sometimes private rooms will be available. Showers and toilets are provided as a matter of course. Many truckers prefer to sleep in their rigs, which is accepted, but the truck stop will usually frown on somebody pitching a tent within the walls to save on bunk costs.
Retail facilities may be extensive, but the selection of goods is usually limited to the essentials: guns, ammunition, vehicle parts, food. Sometimes cheap souveniers.
A truck stop is a safe space for drivers to carry out their own vehicle repairs, but some will offer a repair shop with trained mechanics, at a cost. Even the smaller facilities with no in-house mechanics will usually have someone "passing through" who will do your repair work if you can agree on a fee.
Larger truck stops will have medical facilites with trained doctors (though not always that well trained; there's a reason they are in a truck stop and not a major city practice). It's usually possible to get your bullet wound sewn up at the same time as your truck's armour is being repaired.
One important aspect of a truck stop that is often overlooked is that it functions as an unofficial employment exchange. In addition to mechanics touting for work, the diner or bar is the place to find drivers or gunners for hire, or meet with cargo brokers looking to hire you. Plus of course the ubiquitous sex workers who ply their trade at the bigger stops.
Typical Costs
Costs to use a truck stop's services vary by region and by quality of the facilities. At the bottom of the scale, the Bates chain of truck stops offer cheap security with very basic amenities, while at the top of the scale the Hailey chain offers luxury accommodation for those travellers who can afford it. In between is a wide range of stops, offering their services at various price points. Most drivers are looking primarily for security and a power plant charge however, and all truck stops, even the independent mom-and-pop stops, will offer that at reasonable prices.
The typical charge to park a vehicle within the safety of the walls is $50 per 24 hours for a car or cycle, $100 per 24 hours for oversized vehicles. A bunk for the night will range from $20 per person in a shared dorm to $100 or more per person for private facilities, if available.
The cost of a full power plant recharge is fairly standard at all truck stops, at $20 for a cycle, $50 for a car, and $100 for a truck.
The above prices are all in 2075 dollars.