Published: August 26, 2008 10:26 am            

Fill ’er up please

Butch Hott, Democrat Columnist

Killing time while filling it up ... I remember the time of the full service gas station and the friendly owners who were there every time you stopped in to fill up your tank. There were a couple of these that stick in my mind from the old days at Weatherford High School.

On Palo Pinto Street there was Mac Carter’s Exxon stations. He had one on the north side and one on the south side. Mac and his son, Ronnie, provided excellent service, which included checking all of your vital fluids and the pressure in your tires.

This is mostly unheard of today. I can think of only one service station in Weatherford that still offers service at the pump. Don Carney’s Chevron on South Main Street is the only one around here that will come out to your vehicle and perform these services.

The other station that was so popular during my days at Weatherford High School was Dodie Sullivan’s Texaco on South Main. Dodie was one of those unique station owners who didn’t mind kids coming around his station at all hours just to use his restroom facilities.

Back in those days, kids would pull up to the pump and get $2 worth of gas and be about cruising the rest of the night. Of course in those days, gas was only about .25¢ per gallon and those two dollars would get you quite a bit of gas.

We cruised up and down South Main, around the Dairy Queens and later on the Sonic. It seems like a tremendous waste of time and fuel now, but back in those days this was entertainment for young adults with the new found freedom of an automobile and a tank full of gasoline.

Cruising was a way of life back in those days and we all had our favorite station to frequent when we needed fuel. I just happened to have an Exxon card in those days and I was allowed to get one tank full per week. Of course I had to drive 22 miles round trip to school and back, so I thought that was pretty reasonable. If I needed gas for the weekend, I had to pay for that myself. Usually I would pay for just enough to get me through to the next week so Dad would have to pay for a full tank.

It was great in those days knowing the station owners and the people who worked there. There were some great personalities to meet in those days mostly because they were the ones who put the gas in your car.

I would bet if it were true today, there would be some characters to meet. I would even bet one or two of them might like it hott. In the real world we will probably never go back to those days of being served. We all seem to be of the self service generation now.

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Butch Hott is a guest columnist. He can be reached at butch_hott@excite.com. Columns submitted to The Weatherford Democrat by guest writers reflect the opinions of the writer and in no way reflect the beliefs or opinions of The Weatherford Democrat.

        

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