What’s the worst place to stop on a road trip?

Summer is in full swingwhich means it’s officially road trip season — it’s time to load the kids into the Family Truckster and venture across the continent, taking in every sight, sound and smell between point A and point B.

The problem is, a lot of these sights, sounds, and smells are pretty awful. When you have a country as big as the United States, you often find yourself in central areas where nothing is happening—or worse, something is happening that you’d really rather not be a part of. So today, we ask you: Where’s the worst place to stop on a road trip?

I’ve long been a fan of highway rest areas, having used them for everything from a quick snack and restroom to a cozy half-hour nap during sleep-deprived college commutes. But while many of New York’s beautiful and scenic rest areas are fantastic places to stretch your legs, the same can’t be said for the pull-offs that dot the Jersey Turnpike.

The Jersey Turnpike may not quite deserve all the hate it gets, but it’s still a disgusting strip of tarmac that harbors a thousand different strange and nasty smells. Its rest areas, nestled right up against its oddly divided traffic lanes, can’t hide their location from their occupants – the sights, sounds and smells are just like the rest of the Turnpike. They’re unpleasant.

My vote for the worst place to stop on a road trip is any rest stop off the Jersey Turnpike, but what’s yours? Do you hate the world’s largest ball of yarn, or is there a gas station right off the highway that tried to charge you $30 a gallon? Let us know below and I’ll select the best answers later this week.