The Accidental Highway

© karen e. titus | all rights reserved

Idaho Falls, Idaho

“I get up at 2:30 in the morning to be here by 4. At 5 a.m., there’s always a trucker, and a few farmers for coffee and a bite to eat before going out in the fields. The retired guys with wives are still sleeping then, but they’ll come in later and meet for coffee. There’s never a time when we don’t have customers, which is why I like this job. I’m never off the floor more than 10 minutes total in a nine-hour shift.

“It’s the same old crowd, day after day. The same old conversations. I can always tell what time of day it is just by looking down the counter.”