Stichill,
The razing of that beautiful old filling station is very sad. I'm so glad you managed to grab what will probably be one of the last photos of it.
I liked your ruminations on refusing to be constrained by time when you're riding and want to take photos. My reaction is a little different. Whenever I have a camera with me I want to take photos and I often wonder whether it gets in the way of enjoying what you're doing. Hanging a camera around my neck when I'm riding often requires me to slow down a bit to take a photo and I lose the rhythm of riding. Similarly, when I'm travelling and I want to photograph lots of wonderful new and exotic sites, I often wonder whether my enjoyment of them in the moment isn't compromised. Unless one is a photographer, if one is photographing, one is not quite doing whatever else it is that's got one to the site of the photograph.
Some days I have to leave the camera at home and just enjoy the ride.