Tiawah, snakes, and a scare

I found a new town today, and it's name is Tiawah. It's just 5 miles south of Claremore, but I've never been down that road before. It's nothing more than a crossroad, but watching the sunrise over the church there was a beautiful way to start a gorgeous, warm day at Afton Station.
I ordered some rubber snakes yesterday. (Wow, that's not a sentence I ever expected to write! LOL). I thought my new snake box needed some more, and some scarier ones. I also made this temporary sign -- good enough until I can paint one on a piece of rustic wood.

When I pulled up to Afton today, there was a "Construction Ahead" sign right in front of the Station. Since Betty told me the other day that she'd heard that the Horse Creek Bridge was to be torn down, my heart jumped into my throat. I drove right past the Station down to the bridge, and sure enough, there was large construction equipment there and someone was working with a jackhammer. This wasn't good news, since the bridge is made of concrete. I was nervous all morning, but around 1 p.m. they came and took down the "Construction Ahead" sign, so I got in the car and drove down there. WHEW!!! They had simply repaired the damage done a few months ago by a jackknifing truck. And, in fact, they did a nice job. Here's a picture of one part of the repair, all I could get from my moving car with a semi on my tail. The light colored section is the new part. Altogether, there are about 6 new segments. They did a fine job. I'm very relieved, since the Horse Creek Bridge is historic and is in all the guidebooks. It's one of very few concrete bridges with pedestrian walkways on Route 66.

The first five visitors to Afton Station arrived as I was opening up. A couple from Lewisburg, PA, starting out bright and early on their 8-day trek west, were first to arrive, followed by three guys from Bartlesville, OK, one of whom travels the car show circuit as a DJ. Some day, I'd love to have a car show here, so I took his business card.

Later in the day, three ladies from Chicago came to the Station on their 5-day trip "as far as (we) can get" on Route 66. By coincidence, one of the women lives a few blocks from my daughter Sarah in Chicago. She visits Sarah's Barnes and Noble all the time and goes to the same beach just down the street from both of them. She took my picture to take to Sarah at the bookstore when they get home. Cool!

I saw my first fly today. This is both good and bad. It's a sure sign of spring, but it also means that there will be dead flies piled three inches deep on every windowsill by next week. Oh well....