Would you consider enabling the search for gas stations in the follow mode? Of course, they could not be “along the route” because there is no route loaded, but still you could show list of those that are nearby and calculate the route to the one that is selected.
Use case: you are on a random discovery ride and are making a track that you would use as a reference for a later tour planning at home. It would still be nice to be able to find the next gas station with a minimum effort.