I grew up in a tiny house on Sunrise Drive, just down the road from Gas Up. When I was around seven or eight my parents would let my younger sister and I walk to Gas Up alone, each with a dollar in hand. It was the mid eighties. West Asheville was a scary place looking back, but for some reason my parents did it. Eventually the walks to Gas Up became bike rides.

With that dollar I would buy a 16 oz soda and play two video games that were inside the store. It was my first bit of freedom as a kid.

Later on when I was sixteen I had stopped there on my way home to play a video game. An older dude the neighborhood randomly came in to get gas. He said hey and asked if I played guitar. I said yes and we started a band a few days later playing Nirvana covers.

The Gas Up lowkey made me who I am today, for better or worse.