A labor of Love's

MOSES LAKE — It took a lot of work by a lot of people to get the new Love’s Travel Center in Moses Lake ready and open for business.

“There’s a million people working behind the scenes,” said Kellen Hays, general manager of Love’s in Moses Lake. “It’s amazing the number of people that go into one of these. You’re getting a checklist that says hey, on this week, you should have this, and this, and this done and if you don’t, call us. We’ll take care of it.”

And take care of it they did, Hays said, with much of the final work coming quickly as plumbers, painters and electricians did their work before his crew came in and stocked the shelves.

“Why does a new crew do that? Because you have a piece of the store,” he said. “This is the first store I’ve opened from the ground up that I got to keep.”

Hays, is an eight-year veteran with Love’s - a convenience store chain based in Oklahoma City - who spent much of his career working at or out of the travel center in Ritzville, said while he has helped open a lot of other stores across the country, the travel center in Moses Lake is where he gets to stay.

The 11,000-square-foot travel center, located off I-90 near the interchange with Hansen Road, comes complete with showers, a laundry facility, eight diesel fuel pumps, 80 parking spaces for semi-tractor trailers and a dog park. It’s also the chain’s sixth in Washington State, according to a Love’s press release. The place went from groundbreaking to opening in a little more than a year, and according to Hays, now employs 92 people.

The travel stop also hosts a Taco John’s restaurant and salads, wraps and fruit cups through its Fresh Kitchen.

Hays, who was joined by members of the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce for a formal ribbon cutting on Thursday, spoke with excitement and energy. It isn’t just the celebration of the formal grand opening. It’s also the fact that he truly loves his job.

“I went to school and I wanted to be a teacher,” he said. “What I found is, kids don’t want to be in school. They’re told to be there. So now, I get to work with adults who want something better out of life.”

Most people won’t stay at Love’s, Hays said, but that doesn’t matter. He still gets to teach the people who work for him how to manage their time, to do a job well, and give them the chance to go on to bigger and better things.

“So that’s my job,” he said.

In the meantime, Hays said he makes sure travelers have what they need, whether it’s a hot meal, a snack or a safe place to park, shower and sleep before the next delivery — a place to find clean bathrooms and a staff that’s always smiling.

“It’s not a gas station,” Hays said. “That’s Love’s in a nutshell.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.