You Can Trust Your Car To The Man Who Wears The Star

G-man job shadowed the County Extension Agent today. They went to a local farm and talked to the owner, a retired A&M soil scientist from the Overton research center, about his cattle operation. Then they visited the local Texas Parks and Wildlife office about identifying a plant sent in to the county extension office. He enjoyed his day today.

On the way to the office we passed by an old service station, now closed. I told him when I was a kid there was a huge tire (off an airplane, I think) that was always there leaning up against their sign. It always fascinated me to see that big tire every time we drove by, which was often.

I realized that G-man didn't really know what a service station was, since they seemed to fall out of favor after the 70s gas crisis. Our favorite service station was a Texaco owned and operated by Mr. Ted Walters. He knew his customers and we were faithful to gas up at his station. Texaco had a nifty jingle as did lots of businesses did in that day. Paw Paw South was an Exxon man. Their saying was "put a tiger in your tank." I still have a Dallas Cowboys poster with the the starting line up when both Roger Staubach and Craig Morton were sharing the quarterback duties. I got it from Exxon. My grandparents had a set of dishes (or at least glasses) from Exxon. I always wondered if it was because a tiger was their mascot, since that was my grandfather's favorite mascot being a loyal Mt. Pleasant Tiger fan.

I told G-man how at a service station, 3 or 4 guys would come out to your car, you would tell them 'fill 'er up with Fire Chief' and they would wash your windows, check your oil and fluid levels, check your tire pressure while one pumped your gas and another took your money (or made an imprint of your credit card). I always remember them to be friendly, well dressed in uniforms and clean, except for the dirty red rag they had in their back pocket.