On 1 December 1913 the first drive-in fuel station in America opened in Pennsylvania.  Located at the intersection of Baum Boulevard and St. Clair Street in Pittsburgh. The simple structure had cantilevered pagoda style roof to provide shelter the pumps, cars and station attendants.

USA Today are having a vote on your favourite gas station. For a list of nominees click here

When I am in the States doing my road trips I have to fill up regularly and my personal favourite are SHEETZ and WAWA.

The experience in store exciting and the range of foods and coffees is vast. There are usually seating areas to sit to enjoy your purchases. I have come across new things that have eventually made it over the Atlantic such as the milk shake making machine.

Oh and I guess they sell fuel as well which I really don’t have an opinion on but the experience is very different to buying fuel in the UK although they are trying to sell everything because the profit on petrol sales is so low.

What is hard to describe is the land footprint that some of the filling stations sit on compared to the UK. Looking at the list of nominees suggests that I have plenty of new brands to discover on my next road trip.