The talk among truckers at the 222 Travel Plaza in Ephrata Tuesday afternoon was of the nationwide shutdown by independent drivers, even as some trucks could be seen moving down the nearby highway.

Fred Smith, a company truck driver from York, said he was driving in New Jersey in the morning and saw that most container and produce haulers had completely shut down. Smith said the highways looked like a "ghost town," with lighter-than-usual truck traffic.

Smith, who has been driving trucks for 29 years, said the only way to bring the plight of the trucking industry to the attention of the nation is for a complete shutdown.

"If it was not for truck drivers, you wouldn't get nothing," Smith said.

Scattered protests by independent truckers in various parts of the U.S. took on a life of their own, creating traffic jams and some shipping problems.

On the New Jersey Turnpike, southbound rigs were moving about 20 mph near Newark, as other truckers gathered at a nearby service area, chanting and protesting.

Outside Chicago, three truck drivers were ticketed for impeding traffic on Interstate 55, driving three abreast at low speeds, Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Luis Gutierrez said.

Near Florida's Port of Tampa, more than 50 tractor-trailer rigs sat idle as their drivers demanded contractors pay them more to cover their fuel and other costs.

In Washington, top executives of the five biggest U.S. oil companies testified in front of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming on Tuesday, saying they know high fuel prices are hurting consumers but argued their profits — $123 billion last year — were in line with other industries.

Meanwhile, in Ephrata, Steve Dente of South Carolina was waiting to pick up a load in Denver this morning. He said the truck stop seemed fuller than usual for a late afternoon.

Dente, who has been driving with a trucking company for more than 30 years, said the fuel prices are forcing owner-operators out of business.

A gallon of diesel at the 222 Travel Plaza was running $4.25 Tuesday.

In recent years Dente said he had thought about buying his own truck, but he decided to shelve those plans when diesel prices started to skyrocket. As a company driver, Dente said, it is difficult for him to participate in the shutdown, but he supports it.

"We need to do something about this, and we need to let (politicians) know we can't stand this, and we're not going to stand for it," Dente said.

Ralph Myers of Winterset, Ohio, also was taking a break at the truck stop, saying he has driven 8,000 miles in the last three weeks. One week ago he was in Phoenix, Ariz.

Myers, who has worked for a trucking company off and on for 35 years, said when he started in 1973, he received 50 cents a mile for transportation costs and diesel was 26 cents a gallon. Today he receives 86 cents a mile, and diesel is well over $4 a gallon.

"I think (fuel prices are) out of hand, but I don't know how you're going to stop it," Myers said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

E-mail: myoder@lnpnews.com