It's The Real Thing...

The last few days, it has been SO
hot here in Phoenix. I have found

myself going back to a happy memory
in my life as a child. Grandpa Rogers

owned a Texaco gas station, and every

week Moma would go over and gas up the

car. (This was a time when they actuallly

serviced you car with a gas fill up. They

washed the windshield and they even

checked your oil for you. Imagine that?)


 Us 4 kids all piled in the backseat

and off we would go for gas. Now the

best thing about Grandpa owning a gas

station for us kids was this:

I am old enough to remember a kind of soda

machine that was in the shape of a tall cooler.

 Lifting the lid revealed glass soda bottles

 submerged in chilled water, their necks protruding

 from horizontal slots in a metal plate.



Buying a coke involved depositing coins

(10 cents at the time) and sliding the chosen
bottle to the left and into a little bay where

the bottle could be  pulled up through tipping

doors unlocked by the money in the slot.

I remember two wonderful features of
Grandpa's soda machine.
First, the soda came out very cold and wet.
On a hot day, it was great to hold the bottle

 in your hand or press it to your forehead

or cheek. To the side of Grandpa's station,

he had several tree stumps, just made for

sittin and sippin. Us kids would all be in a row

either drinking or having that cold bottle on

our forehead.



Second, buying a soda from this kind of
machine had a game-like quality.
Often different kinds of soda were mixed
together  in the slots of the machine:
coke, root beer, orange, grape,
strawberry(yummy). My fav.
To get the soda you wanted, you sometimes
had to play a little game of sliding

unwanted bottles out of the slot and into

another row so that you had a clear path to

the exit bay. This was a much more participatory

 form of soda purchase than today.

Now along with that soda, inside of the station,

sat a cabinet, much like this one. Good old Tom's

candies. I always chose a 3 flavored coconut bar.

I loved them then, and I adore them still today.

They looked a little like this:

Now ofcourse they were Tom's brand, and the

colors were red, yellow and white coconut.

But this is what they looked like. Oh how I

wish I had taken pictures over the years of

the candies that filled that cabinet. There were
peanuts in packages inside of a glass jar
like this one. What I wouldn't give for one
of those jars today. Such wonderful memories.

 

Yes, those were the good ole days.

A strawberry soda pop and a coconut

bar to eat. I can remember holding

on to that bottle by putting it between

my legs, so that I could eat my candy.

I mean Grandpa serviced his cars pretty

darn fast, and I so wanted to make sure

I finished before Moma would say,

"Okay kids, it is time to go. Bring your

soda bottle inside, thank Grandpa for the

treat. Time to get home,
Daddy will be there soon." 







I hope you have enjoyed my memory of the real thing.

I love thinking back over the good years.



As always, thank you for stopping by my little
piece of heaven here in the desert that
I so love to call home.
Country hugs and much love,