Drivers along the desolate stretch of U.S. Highway 20 in eastern Deschutes County will be greeted by yellow banners announcing the reopening of Hampton Station three miles before they arrive at the outpost.

“We are open all year-round,” said Shelley Vaughn, who’s leasing the space with her husband, Ray, and son, Jeremy Jones.

Hampton’s cafe and fuel pumps, owned by a Christmas Valley family since 2008, according to county records, has struggled to remain open, operating seasonally and closing for extended periods of time.

But the Vaughns, who reopened the station Jan. 1, hope to change that.

“We just want to bring Hampton back to life,” Shelley Vaughn said.

Hampton Station is one of two locations selling fuel in the 104-mile stretch between Bend and Riley — except on Sunday and Monday, when both Hampton Station and the Brothers Stage Stop and Cafe close, at least during the winter.

Still, that’s an abundance of fuel options compared to five years ago, when the Brothers store stopped selling fuel and Hampton Station was closed. Regular unleaded reached about $4.30 a gallon, on average, in Central Oregon, in mid-2008.

Besides fuel, Vaughn said, travelers stopping at Hampton Station can get their vehicles serviced by her husband and enjoy some “good home cookin’” from the cafe she runs with her son.

The station is located in the unincorporated community of Hampton, a 35.37-acre rural service center along U.S. Highway 20 near the Lake County line, said Nick Lelack, interim director for the Deschutes County Community Development Department.

“In general, the few people living near small, isolated rural service centers such as Hampton are not enough to economically sustain the businesses, particularly if there is not a post office, school or other community or regional destination in the immediate area to attract people,” Lelack said.

Therefore, service centers like Hampton often rely on pass-through highway traffic for customers, which can be a challenge, he said.

The economy and high gas prices have led to reduced traffic on state highways in Deschutes County over the past several years, he said, making the job even more difficult.

Running a rural business is nothing new for the Vaughns.

Before Hampton Station, the family operated a restaurant in Christmas Valley. Shelley Vaughn said the family had been looking to relocate closer to Bend.

When the property owners asked if the Vaughns were interested in leasing Hampton Station, she said they packed up and headed to Hampton.

Because the station only operated during the summer over the past eight years, she said, it’s been a challenge to get the word out, but business is slowly picking up.

“We’re looking forward to meeting all the different types of people that travel Highway 20,” she said. “We want to put Hampton Station back on the map like it was 20 years ago.”