When I pull into a gas station, I slide my credit card into a machine, wait for authorization, pump my gas, then accept a printed receipt from the pump. No human contact occurs.

An earlier era was much friendlier: the man with the Texaco star briskly stode out with a smile to pump your gas, check your oil, and clean the windshield on your '57 Chevy. Certainly we've lost something in our march toward an automated world.

This gas station is actually a re-creation located in Winterset, Iowa. It was built for the film "The Bridges of Madison County," and the spirit of passionate love between the characters played by Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep still hangs in the air.

Lee Rentz