Mom and Pop Gas Station

A friend reminded me that there were several notes from the first day that had yet to be recounted.

Mom and Pop Gas Station happened late on the first night of the trip. The sun had long since gone down, and it had been raining for about ten miles.

Matt signaled that he needed fuel, so I had GPoS reroute us to the nearest gas station. At this point, I had no idea about the distribution of gas stations in France, but I was aware that we were well off the main roads. Fortunately, GPoS had located a gas station within 1500 walrus tusks of our location.

As we approached, I expected to see a lit sign or marker, however, we nearly missed the gas station because the lights were off. We pulled in to the gas station to decide which direction to go next and I thought I saw the silhouette of a figure in the window of the building attached to the gas station. No sooner had I shut the engine off than the lights came on inside the building and out from the doorway stepped the sweetest looking woman, approximately in her late 50s or early 60s.

She walked over to us, we exchanged greetings and she said in French, "One second, I'll turn the pump on." She shuffled back into the building, and when I next turned around, an elderly gentleman had come out with his dog in tow. While Matty filled his tank, the gentleman and I talked about his dog, the rain, and where we we had come from. Frankly, I think he was surprised that we had found his little gas station out in the middle of nowhere.

Matty finished filling his tank, and "Pop" rounded the total down to the nearest whole Euro. Then he returned inside and closed and locked the door; as we pulled away, the lights went out and the gas station returned to the dormant state which it was in when we had arrived.

After re-reading this entry, there really isn't anything truly exceptional about this experience. However, it's one that I'll never forget, because it reminds me of how effortless it can be to help people, sometimes. Mom and Pop didn't need the handful of Euros that they got for the fuel and they could just as easily stayed inside, or told us that the gas station was closed. Just by turning on the pumps and letting the dog out for some air, they completely changed the trajectory of our trip. That's the interesting part.

I'll never see Mom and Pop gas station again, and I expect that someone will turn the lights and the pump on for them one day.