This husband and wife team found their eureka moment when they paired gasoline with a necessity all humans crave

Fifty-nine years later they built a convenience store kingdom worth $20 billion

Jun 02, 2023

Travel any large highway or interstate for more than an hour and you’re likely to see at least one 18-wheeler hauling some kind of freight to some destination.

Actually chances are you’ll see more than one truck. That’s because there are over 4 million trucks that operate in the U.S.

And those trucks are driving plenty of miles each day. In fact according to the Tri-State Truck Center, a truck driver can average anywhere from 605 to 650 miles per day.

That’s a lot of driving.

Now there’s one thing I’m fairly certain you won’t see … a trucker traveling with a pet monkey.

That was the premise of the 1979 television series, B.J. and the Bear. The character of Billie Joe (or B.J.) McKay traveled the country’s highways in a red and white colored semi-truck with his pet chimpanzee, Bear.

Along the way, B.J. and Bear seemed to run into different kind of adventures. Like in episode 14 of season two when the dynamic duo had to stop mercenaries from kidnapping a bunch of customers, including the Panhandle Pussycat cheerleading squad.

It all took place at their favorite stop, the fictional Country Comfort Truck Stop.

The show was so popular it had its own album featuring songs written and performed by Billy Joel, Kenny Rogers, James Taylor, and Jackson Browne. Even B.J., who was played by Greg Evigan performed three of the songs.

While B.J., his bear and the Country Comfort Truck Stop weren’t real, there’s one truck stop that is … Love’s Travel Stop & Country Store.

Long Distance Love Life

Thomas E. Love, mostly known as Tom was born in Oklahoma City in October 1937. Tom was one of six siblings, the son of F. C. Love, a lawyer who was later President of the oil company Kerr-McGee, and Margaret Eugenia Vessels Love.

Tom attended St. Gregory's Preparatory School in Shawnee, Okla., and then on to St. John's University in Minnesota.

But something happened before he finished college … he met his future wife, Judy.

The two met while Judy was attending Oklahoma State University (OSU). Tom was on St. John’s University’s football team, which was playing against OSU. They decided to go on a date and see if anything would come of the relationship.

And something did come of it. In fact after finishing up his freshmen year at St. John’s, Tom asked Judy out on a second date.

Well by the end of that date, the two decided they should “go steady.” But their love life would be put on hold because instead of finishing school, Tom enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1956.

Back then there were no text messages, no FaceTime, no Internet, and certainly no cell phones. So Tom and Judy did what most couples do in a long distance relationship, they wrote each other a steady stream of love letters.

In the spring of 1957, Judy traveled with her mother to San Diego, California to pay Tom a visit. It was the one and only time they saw one another while he was in the military. But it was enough to keep their love alive.

When Tom returned home after two years of active duty, they continued to date for another two and a half years.

They eventually made their romance official when they got married on Dec. 26, 1960. They picked that date because it saved them money on flowers. The couple rented a home near N.W. 19th St. and Portland.

As for work, Tom picked up a job as a service station manager with Kerr-McGee, the same place his Dad worked, with the goal of learning the business of selling gasoline.

Judy attended classes at Draughn’s School of Business and eventually landed a job at Pan American Oil Company.

Now that they both had some working knowledge of the oil and gas business, Tom and Judy decided to go out on their own … and in a colossal way.

Cars, Trucks and Oilcups

When you’re a truck driver, driving up to 600 plus miles a day, you’re going to need to stop somewhere and fill up.

After all, a truck can go anywhere from 900 to 2,000 miles on a tank of diesel. And when you do stop to fill up your truck, it will take about 15 minutes until the tank is full.

While you’re waiting, you might find that your kind of hungry … maybe a little snack will hold you over.

But the problem is, back in the early 1960’s there weren’t many truck stops around that offered food. And it would stay that way until Tom and Judy came up with the idea of creating a country store-type of truck stop that sold grocery items and as well as self-service gas station.

However if they were going to make their idea work, the couple needed two things: (1) money and (2) a location.

They turned to Judy’s parents for the money and borrowed $5,000. As for location, Tom found an abandoned filling station in the small rural town of Watonga, northwest of Oklahoma City.

The early version of a Love’s truck stop

In 1964, Tom and Judy opened their very first truck stop. As Tom described it in an interview, “I leased it on the cheap and that’s how we got started. That location was just a very low-grade filling station.”

That location was just the beginning of their country store concept. In 1971, they opened Tom's Country Store in Guymon, Oklahoma. In fact it became the first store in the country to combine self-service gasoline and grocery items.

Tom and Judy quickly grew their truck stops from one store to 40 locations across western Oklahoma in just eight years.

But their success wasn’t without a few hiccups, or I should say oil-cups.

In 1973, the U.S. experienced its first oil crisis, when members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo.

That made finding fuel to buy for your gas stations rather difficult. That’s when the couple decided to lean more into the food side of their business. They renamed their stops Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores and added more items to their menus such as hot sandwiches, tacos, and hot dogs.

If you weren’t hungry, well then you could buy electronic accessories and gadgets, toys for the kids, or clothing items such as sandals, hats, and tee-shirts.

From One to Many

Their new store model of selling gasoline, combined with food and merchandise eventually helped Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores emerge as one of the most successful private businesses in America.

Over the years, they’ve expanded the business to include hot showers and maintenance for your truck such as oil change, re-treading tires, and truck washes.

Today Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores has more than 600 locations in 42 states. And they’ve spun off their business into different companies including Gemini Motor Transport, The Musket Corporation, Speedco, and Trillium.

Modern day Love’s Travel Stop & Country Store

All of their companies combine employ more than 38,000 employees. What started as a single truck stop in 1964 is now a company that generates $20 billion in revenues.

The couple has four children named Frank, Greg, Jenny, and Laura.

Tom passed away in his hometown of Oklahoma City on March 7, 2023. He was 85. Judy and her four children own the company. Her sons Greg and Frank have been co-CEOs since 2014.

Judy sits at #2 on Forbes list of self-made millionaires.