Sunday, July 26, 2009

Pleasant People and Plush Pets

It was Children's Day at Afton Station today, and I didn't even know it until the families with children started arriving. But I'll start at the beginning....

First of all, here's a completely UNfooled-with photo of today's sunrise. If I do say so myself, this is a very cool picture!
Here's the picture I promised yesterday. My friend Brad took it of the wonderful El Rancho Grande neon sign on 11th St. in Tulsa which is finally getting a much-needed makeover. I can't wait to see it when it's finished. You can see the guy in the bucket working on it.
I was alone at the helm of the Station today, and there were plenty of drop-ins. Early visitors from Paola, KS didn't have kids with them, but they had huge stuffed animals. The husband and wife are traveling in separate vehicles, his a cool '53 Ford truck which he plans to keep in primer, and hers a nice convertible. Both of them travel with big plush critters as companions. A lot easier to keep under control than kids, if you ask me! Coincidentally, this couple stayed in the same room at the Afton Route 66 Motel that I stayed in on Wed. night. They seemed relatively untraumatized by the invasion of the giant purple roses. Whew!


Two more unique visitors were guys from Joplin, MO in a semi tractor pulling a travel trailer. You don't see that very often. They said they simply had no other vehicle to pull the trailer when they went to pick it up. You can catch a glimpse of the rig here.
This cute young couple is from Chicago and they're heading for the Grand Canyon and other points west.
And then the children started arriving. First a family of seven from Ripon, WI. That's one full van load! The amazing thing is that each and every child seemed enthusiastic about their trip.

A family from Tulsa with two cute little boys (ages 7 and 8) were next in the door, but I forgot to take their photo. :-(

This family of three is from Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. Another very polite and personable little girl. It's the family's first visit to the U.S. and they are well armed with a battalion of guide books. They won't be getting lost!
Finally, just before I closed a local man from Afton came in with his son and grandson, age about 4. And that's definitely the largest number of kids we've ever had in one day. It makes my heart go pitty-pat just to know that people are taking their kids out on the road, and even more so that the kids are enjoying it! As for me, I'm tired.....

2 comments:

Trevor Hilton said...

The early morning highway picture IS cool. Personally, I like driving at night. And, riding my motorcycle at night is fun. I rode back from Tulsa at night once, on Route 66, and it was a lot of fun.

Beth said...

Starting to catch up on blogs, and enjoyed all your recent entries. As you know, I fall into that category of 'signage people.' (I still haven't read the book you recommended, but it's in my pile!) It does seem that there is a growing movement for sign preservation, and I saw that enthusiasm in the young people we encountered at the Bone Yard in Las Vegas. I love it when I can pass a little bit of my enthusiasm on to others...so many don't even notice such signs, until I point out how cool they are and talk about the design elements. There is so much more going on than meets the eye! Hugs, Beth