A Service Station With The Owner's Home Attached;

Texaco Sky Chief gasoline anyone?  The cosmetically restored old service station has the owner's
house attached.  A very short commute to work!  Notice the red outhouse on the far right side
behind the station. (click to enlarge)
Nikon Zf; 40mm f/2 Nikkor lens; 1/320th sec. @ f/11; ISO 100; All images from JPEG files

As I often do, on Tuesday I decided to go out and wander the countryside with my camera.  I was driving a county road on which I had never traveled and happened upon this little scene.  An old, cosmetically restored, Texaco service station really in the middle of miles and miles of farmland and forest.  The old building is surrounded by fields of cotton, soybeans, corn and the commensurate nearby silos.  After spotting it, I immediately stopped, turned around and drove back to see if it was worth of making some images.  As you can see, I liked what I saw.

For those of you who may not know, Texaco (originally the Texas Fuel Company) was founded in Texas (of course) in 1902.  For decades it was one of the seven huge global oil companies.  It is now owned by Chevron.  The logo on the sign is representative of the Lone Star of Texas (the Lone Star State).  You can read more about Texaco and its history here if you are interested.

On a personal note, my dad always bought his gasoline at our local Texaco service station.  Also, he always had his vehicles serviced there as he knew the Snyder brothers who owned the station and trusted them.  When I earned my driver's license at age 16, of course, I bought my gasoline (for my 1966 Mustang) at Snyder’s Texaco station.

I can imagine the owner and his family sitting on the side porch on warm summer evenings.  Of
course, the gate is open as 'country folk' always welcome you to their home. (click to enlarge)

I like the porch on the side of the building.  Also, the short, white picket fence.  The porch is wide and covered to provide shade on those summer evenings as well as shelter from the rain.  Nice.

I can imagine a family sitting outside enjoying the evening air with the smells of the countryside wafting in the air.  A relatively simple life in a simpler time.  

Although a bit askew, the old gasoline pump and big bright red star served
their purposes for decades. (click to enlarge)

In my mind’s eye, I can envision farmers from nearby farms, passersby and neighbors stopping by to fill up the tanks in their farm vehicles, trucks and cars.  But more likely stopping by just to ‘shoot the breeze,’ as the saying goes.  For those of you who may not be familiar with that phase it means just to stand around and talk about everything, anything and nothing.  Just passing time with a good friend and neighbor.

I can clearly remember the jingle of the Texaco advertisements.

"You can trust your car

to the man who wears the star,

the big, bright Texaco star!"

In case you are wondering, the price for gasoline shown on the pump
is 35.9¢ per gallon.  How long ago was that? (click to enlarge)

A nice, serendipitous find.  I love it when I randomly discover subjects such as this.  But that is why I get out there and wander the countryside.  If you aren't out there with your camera, you can't find things to photograph.  My recommendation?  Get out every at every opportunity.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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