New! Pilot - St. Mary's GA (I-95 x1)

Lord have mercy! This place is brand new and it's just loaded with goodies for truck drivers (and one slight disadvantage but really it's a blessing in disguise). I stopped here on my way down to Florida because I knew it was new and that, to me, meant one thing: NEW SHOWERS! Yeah, it's the simple things.

This new Pilot is on the east side of I-95, just inside the Georgia state line. Before, I would normally go up to exit 5 to the Petro 2 but after today, I don't think I will any more. This Pilot has a bunch of fuel islands and of course a CAT scale. I think 12 showers if I remember correctly, Subway, Cinnabun, frozen yogurt bar, expanded soup selection (6 instead of 4) and their new dining concept featuring better dinner options than fried [whatever].

So let's get into this discussion. As of writing this, the automated shower system here was down, but all that meant was you find a shower room that had the light turned off and the towels all nicely stacked and you pick one of your choosing. I chose shower #2 because it was in the back and I wanted some privacy, plus I was going to take awhile with shaving and all. I'm sure you've been in a new Pilot shower before, they're nice and roomy with more hooks to hang stuff on, a built in seat to either sit or to place your stuff on (which I always do), an actual decent shower head that doesn't feel like it's power-washing the dirt off you like those ones in gym class did (lol! remember those?!) and a multi-tiered shelf for those of us who use more than just soap in the shower. I didn't notice if it had the audio inputs for music but I've never used those anyway. I have never thought about bringing my mp3 player into the shower room, let alone thinking about finding a cord with red and white plugs for it. So yeah, that's the shower.

Subway...Cinnabon. You know what they have. Moving on.

The soup bar was a surprise. Pilot/Flying J normally have 4 soups (chicken noodle, chili, broccoli/cheese, loaded baked potato). This location, and others like it I'm guessing, had 6. Along with the above mentioned 4, they also had: beef stew and chicken pot pie. I'm not sure what their breakfast assortment is here, and I'm not entirely sure when I leave in the wee hours of the morning if it will be set up or not. :(

The frozen yogurt bar is both a blessing and a curse. The curse is it's $.49/ounce. The second curse is they have 2 sizes of bowls for it: large and almost-as-large. The third curse is that they don't have lids for said bowls. The fourth curse is that by the time you think you have a decent amount of frozen yogurt in this large styrofoam container, you're probably looking at a $5-$6 price tag. I only filled mine half way up and it was still freaking expensive. The blessing comes at the toppings bar. They have a lot of toppings, from the usual chopped nuts and jimmies, to slightly more surprising toppings like mini marshmallows and chopped up reese's peanut butter cups. Lots of options here to customize your dessert! They, like another location that had froyo, had 3 machines with 2 flavors in each. This location (and maybe it changes? I'm not sure) had vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookies and cream, red velvet cake and ...shoot, I think birthday cake? As with most self-serve machines, they have the middle lever on each machine that swirls the two flavors together.

The expanded hot deli was a pleasant surprise for me. Along with the usual hot deli items you can find at most Flying J and some but not all Pilots, they also had dinners and I think these change regularly. Tonight they offered meatloaf with a choice of 2 sides for $7 or for $9 you could get a half chicken or ribs and 2 sides. I tried the meatloaf and it was good! I would definitely choose it again. My two sides were mashed potatoes with gravy and green beans. Not going to say much because you can't really screw those up (though there was that one mashed potato incident at a T/A in NC that I won't get into but I've covered it in an early blog entry). They also had some quick grab and go snack/appetizers in a little heated case. I saw mozzarella sticks and macaroni and cheese bites for sure, and something else I can't quite remember. Cold food options they had a 4-side refrigerated case with a variety of salads, sandwiches, drinks, cheese snacks, fruit, etc. You'd be hard pressed to come here and not find something to eat, just saying.

Have I forgotten anything? Oh, right, the disadvantage. Because of the number of fuel islands and the fact that the parking lot is laid out more length-wise than width-wise, it's a little bit of a walk to go inside from the parking lot. On one hand, that means you may need to pack a lunch and stop half-way there for an energy break. On the other hand, walking is good for us and truck drivers don't get a lot of exercise anyway so the extra exercise is actually beneficial. Just pace yourself so you don't feel like your heart is going to explode by the time you get to the door.

I think that covers it all. This Pilot has some of the other same ammenities all the over Pilots have: video games, laundry, coffee bar, trans-flo, etc..etc.. I just didn't cover it because I'm used to seeing them.

Anyway, that's my review of the !New! Pilot in St. Mary's GA, I-95 exit 1.
Go there if you're passing through. You can skip the Petro 2 and Popeye's for once to try this place out!