Then and now

Before I tell you about my day at Afton Station, I want to post two pictures. One is from a postcard of Afton in the 1950s.  The other I took today as I was leaving to come home.

There's not much to say.   It's what happens in so many towns as a result of being bypassed by the interstate.  If you love old roads and small towns as I do, you will have a tear in your eye.

Now, for happier thoughts.  Although my drive to Afton this morning was under a huge and very dark cloud, by the time I arrived I'd seen only a few drops of rain and the sky was already beginning to lighten up.  By noon the sun was out and it was a lovely day. 

I purposely arrived about an hour early because we had the floors cleaned and the windows washed yesterday when I wasn't there, and I knew I'd need some time to put things back in place.  I was right, and it took about an hour to stick signs back on the windows, rearrange some heavy stuff, and make the Station look like the Station again.  It was worth it, however.  The place gleams!   I've been told it took 6 hours to remove all the old wax from the floors, and I'm sure it took a long time to get the ick off of the huge windows, too.  This afternoon I scrubbed the bathroom, so the place is cleaner than it's been in years.   Here's a picture of my clean floor.  :-)

The visitors didn't wait for my official opening time, either.  By 10 (the posted opening time), I'd already greeted a couple from Edinburg, Scotland, a couple from Alabama, and two guys from Tucumcari NM driving a very gorgeous customized red 1955 International Harvester panel truck.  One of the guys is the Tucumcari postmaster, and he showed me his signature on the Ken Turmel postmark art on my wall.

Ron Jones just couldn't stay away, so he came down from Bartlesville and hung out for most of the afternoon.  He swept the area in front of the Station, so even the outside is clean now. Thanks, Ron!

Later in the afternoon I had a visit from Marianne from the Netherlands, folks from Kansas City, and David and Celia, a young couple from France (Bretagne).   The couple immediately recognized the "bones" of the Citroen 2CV (Deux Chevaux) which now resides in our work room.   About 95% of American visitors mistake it for a Volkswagen bug.   It's next in line for restoration, I think.

David and Celia with a car (well, part of a car) from their homeland.

There were 19 visitors today, and most of them lingered for quite a while, so I'd call this a very GOOD day!