"The Ghost Garage"

I have driven by it many times for many years....and I always thought it was an old lumberyard or something like that. I'm a car guy and I look for old gas stations or garages in small or ghost towns.
Normally I can spot them a mile away but this one was different.
I had parked along side it for the first time ever today and opened my cooler to retrieve my lunch and cold water. And for the first time I saw the service bay or pit that was wide open to the great outdoors. The doors must have rotted away. And of course, I had to have a closer look.

I saw where an old sign post had once stood advertising the brand of gasoline for sale.

And I found the island where the pumps would have stood in the tall grass and weeds in front of this old 56 International wheat truck was parked...

I looked closer at the building and did not see any "no trespassing" or "keep out" signs so I went in for a look around.

I entered thru the pit area and it still had some grease equipment in place ready for lube jobs and oil changes...

A mop still hung on the wall to clean up the nearby restrooms...

and some old pop bottles told me that a machine selling cold drinks would have served many thirsty travelers a long time ago...

As I walked inside I looked up at the decorative tin ceiling made by some tin smith craftsman...

And there were old car parts to look at and it was nice to see the place had not been plundered by thieves even though it is wide open to the great outdoors...

I even found a primitive old early lawn mower with cast magnesium deck and missing it's motor...

And even a couple of complete engines were still there too including a desirable Mercury flathead V8...

and more parts...

This is the view of the big garage door in the front from the inside...

Also near the front was this old chalkboard that indicated the building may have been a feed store at some point in it's past life...
I noticed they sold pig feed but there are no hogs for miles around this area now....another sign of the past...
And I wondered to myself if whoever had written on the board knew his handiwork would endure for many decades like it had...

And then I found a real treasure in the very back of the building...
A 38 Ford one ton truck in really good shape...
These used to be considered ugly ducklings but now are seen as cool and rare...
I could not get a good photo in the dark and cramped space I had to work in...

Realizing my lunch break was over and time to get back on the road, I looked over the IH truck outside one more time...

And took a photo of the back door where the Ford was parked...

And I noticed an abandoned house next to it that sat further back from the street painted to match this building and my guess is the owner had lived there while operating this business.
It is clear to me that someone still owns this property and uses it for storage. I was glad to discover it even though it wasn't ever lost. After all, it was hiding in plain sight from me for several years....and perhaps the rest of the world too.
Thanks for joining me on another adventure of the backroads of the Mid West where time stands still in a few places.