Long distance traveling is fun time, free time, as we used to say in the Army “R&R” time. Time to think, “shooting the breeze” behind the wheel, to listen to late night radio, catch up with long forgotten songs on the iPod, and test drink coffee in late night stop hamburger joints….
Unless you are really hungry, brave or slightly low on IQ, the ‘freshly baked’ pies and fried food in the greasy stainless steel containers and oily glass in front is nuclear fuel. Avoid it like the plague even if the sleepy tired and overworked attendant wave the equally tired flies away. Opt for packets of jerky (biltong for the African readers), or sealed potato chips. It is bad for you, but not evil. The fried food and pies are evil.
When ordering a coffee, make sure it is from a well established brand, such as two spoons of “International Roast” (here in Australia), or when in Africa, something like Ricoffy, with at least two spoons of white sugar and a dash of milk. You may see I left out the barista style Italian coffee made via an impressive machine that is now so fashionable. You do not find those in a real late night roadside hamburger joint. Apparently, these are the first stuff to get stolen in case of a robbery, after the smokes, now in plain packaging.
Try to strike up some conversation with the cashier cum attendant, a person who, unless a recent migrant from Pakistan/Sudan or Kazakhstan, is also a fountain of knowledge of the area, its history, its tourism attractions (or lack there-off), and the prevailing road conditions. On a piping hot September day in far north west New South Wales at the only operational filling station, I chatted to a particular dour lady, who spend the last few minutes unlocking the fuel pump’s nozzle (to prevent to local indigenous kids to cypher off fuel for sniffing). “So, what happens here in Wilcannia?” “The sun shines mate, them kids try to steal everyf*** thing.” The conversation was not going anywhere. “How’s the road to White Cliffs?” “The road? The road, mate, is a fuck-up”. You just cannot argue with that.
kalahari ozzie 
Awesome skryfwerk – as ek so lees dan ruik ek daai kos, ek trap oor die ongelyk vloer van die kafee en ek hoor my vriendin “Jy laat nie daai pie verby jou lippe gaan nie!”
In truck stops and hamburger joints
In Cadillac limousines
In the company of has-beens
And bent-backs and sleeping forms
On pavement steps
In libraries and railway stations
In books and banks
In the pages of history
In suicidal cavalry attacks
I recognize
Myself in every stranger’s eyes
And now from where I stand
Upon this hill I plundered from the pool
I look around, I search the skies
I shade my eyes, so nearly blind
And I see signs of half remembered days
I hear bells that chime in strange familiar ways
I recognize
The hope you kindle in your eyes
It’s oh so easy now
As we lie here in the dark
Nothing interferes it’s obvious
How to beat the tears
That threaten to snuff out
The spark of our love
Inderdaad! Wonderlike inset Alex!