In Thank You Please Come Again: How Gas Stations Feed & Fuel the American South, photojournalist Kate Medley road trips across the South, documenting the evolving service stations, convenience stores, and quick stops of the region. Along the way, she pulls over for the tamales, fried fish, and banh mi at venues both familiar and indispensable. Kate’s images uncover complex landmarks that supply far more than food and gas for locals and travelers. In what feels like an ever more divided America, these gathering spaces provide unexpected community, generosity, labor, and creativity.
Are these rural and urban pitstops the true “filling stations” of our time, offering a cup of hot coffee, a bag of chips, an answer to a question, or a place to just stop and sit a minute? How do these gathering spaces fuel an ever-changing scene of customers, cashiers, cooks, and attendants? In words and 200 powerful images from the American South, Kate Medley shares her answers.
“In my travels across the South, I see gas stations as signposts in a strange land. They tell me, who lives here? What do they do for work? What do they eat? What do they believe? What is the pace of the day? What is important in their America? Their South?”
