Did everything get better? It did. Here's Dad with one of the trucks from the fleet. It grew larger and larger as the business expanded, a fine collection of vehicles that carried the name around town and beyond.

The last shot is from 1999, and isn't complete; I think there are a few more.

But what of the station? It's been gone for many years, replaced by a shiny convenience store that sells bread and milk and pop and lottery tickets and smokes. That's where the money is, you know; gas only makes a penny or two a gallon, and there's swipe fees on top of that. And regulation. And the cost of replacing the pumps now and then because the electronics go mad during the winter, because the snow gets around the card-insert slot, and people push in the snow with their cards, and it melts and shorts out the electronics.

You have no idea what goes into running a place like this these days. It was easier when they just sold TBA (Tires, Batteries, Accessories) and green-tree air-fresheners and combs and Zagnut bars and maybe a Mountain Dew from the soda machine inside the first bay.

Before the station went down I took a few pictures - they're grainy, alas. Remember: it's 1999. No digital cameras, just screen-grabs from video tape.