Some great photos

I was planning to tell you about my drive to Afton this morning and, as usual, describe my thoughts on that drive. I still have those thoughts, but I'll add them later. For now, I must show you some wonderful photos.


I had 15 visitors today, an interesting assortment of folks. But the visitors who stayed the longest and turned out to be the most generous were Doug and Sue Smith from House Springs, Missouri. They arrived in their motorhome on the way back from a class reunion in Ada, Oklahoma. Doug is a former professional photographer and he was armed with an amazing Nikon with an even more amazing Nikon lens. He never stopped snapping pictures, and when they left he said he'd provide some for me for the blog. But I didn't realize what he meant until he returned to the Station about 45 minutes later and presented me with a CD. He had been out in the motorhome transferring the pictures to a disc for me. Now that's quick work! There were dozens of pics on the disc, but they're very big pictures so I can only show you a couple in each entry so as not to overload. I love the distortion of the lens and the very unique perspective he was able to obtain. So, look at these, and then I'll come back and tell you about the rest of my day....

Since the time change, I've been able to watch the sun rise again during my morning drive. This morning, I decided to go to Vinita for breakfast at the oldest family-owned restaurant on Route 66, Clanton's Cafe. I had a lovely omelet, and the biscuit served with it was fluffy and delicious. I was still an hour early getting to the Station, so I used the time to close out my October books. It was a pretty good month, considering that what I call "tourist season" is mostly over. I had almost 300, visitors in the month (down from almost 450 in September), and sold a record number of guidebooks.

Today, a couple from Burleson TX visited and told me a heartwarming story about needing a new alternator for their car during a 7-below-zero one year on Christmas Eve in Wichita, Kansas and how a perfect stranger took the alternator out of his car and gave it to them so they could get to Texas for Christmas with their children. I also visited with a couple from a nearby town who were just out driving around for the day. They had a very cute white poodle, and I heard their story of how they got the dog because it had been abandoned by someone who dropped it off at a vet and never came back for it. Then four people (two couples) riding motorcycles came in. They were from Tulsa, and also just out for a weekend jaunt. One of the women was absolutely freezing to death (it was about 50 degrees today and very windy, which must be difficult on a motorcycle) and she was NOT happy to have been included in the trip. She stood in a corner shivering while the rest of her friends went back to look at the cars. I hiked up the heat and told her where to stand in order to reap the most benefits from it. I almost volunteered to drive her back to Tulsa in my car, but she finally decided to push on with the group. A few others dropped by, mostly local folks. It was a varied and interesting day.