Well Met at Sheetz

I'm a fairly loquacious person, with no qualms about striking up conversations with strangers.  On the drive home yesterday, in Gettysburgh, Pennsylvania, I stopped at a Sheetz gas station to fill up.  At the pump next to me was a gentleman, white, about sixty-fivish, I would guess.  He had a full head of hair, spectacles, and a pleasant face, and was filling up his sensible, mid-sized car.  

We greeted one another, as is appropriate on a warm, sunny afternoon, during a break in a drive.  He and his wife were from Philadelphia, and were on a weekend trip- he noted that they didn't do a lot during the week, saving their money up for weekend activities, such as a longish drive.  I answered, "Sometimes, you just have to get out of Dodge."

After a cursory comment about gasoline prices, he made a joke about guys who drive 'lifted' gas-guzzling pickup trucks, solo, to their office jobs.  I added a crack about these trucks invariably being spotless, without a scratch in their beds.  We both had a chuckle about the performative, macho masculinity these drivers had bought into.

He then noted that gas had only gone up about a dollar per gallon in price, and that this wasn't an unbearable increase, given the current geopolitical situation.  I replied that I was grateful that my wee car gets about 37 mpg average.

When we parted, we exchanged farewells, mine being the typical 'safe travels'.  I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this conversation, which took place in a locale which is typically seen as a Conservative stronghold.  I really shouldn't have been, we outnumber 'those people' by about seven million.