Perhaps one of the best examples of the American dream coming true, earlier this month Pakistan native Khan Tariq opened his fifth gas station since moving to America six years ago.

Tariq reopened the Texaco gas station on Donner Pass Road and Highway 267 on Nov. 11.

The station was closed for several weeks when the former owner left town.

Tariq, a resident of South Lake Tahoe, jumped at the opportunity and signed a 10-year lease with Texaco.

“I like this place very much, it’s the same as my city,” Tariq said. “Very beautiful.”

First arriving in New York, then moving to New Jersey, Virginia and finally Sacramento in 1997, Tariq grew up in Abbottahad, a city in Pakistan he describes as beautiful and markedly similar to the topography of Tahoe-Truckee.

Tariq said he enjoyed the mountains in his homeland, and is happy to have a similar landscape here.

“I’ll live here to the death,” he said, tipping his head. “I love California.”

Tariq opened his first gas station west of the Mississippi in Eagle, along Highway 395 in Nevada. He opened another station in Carson City, a third in South Lake called Tahoe Tom’s and a fourth station in Dayton.

Tariq’s wife and children will move to Truckee from Pakistan when Tariq can find permanent residence in Truckee, which he says will take four to five months. It has been hard, he says, to find an apartment.

Tariq and his wife are the parents of seven children, although three of his daughters have married. One lives in Canada, another in England and the third in Holland. The remaining four children, two daughters and two sons, reside with his wife in his native contry.

“I like America and Europe; (they’re) peaceful, no tension.”

Currently his cousin, Asad Mohammad, helps Tariq run the business. Another of his cousins lives in Virginia and also operates a gas station.