Thursday, September 16, 2010

Motorcycles, birthdays, demolition, and "duck duck goose"

Quite a day! I don't know where to begin. How about at the beginning! Ron M. and I arrived early at Afton Station and Marly was already there. He had filled up two coolers with water, soda, and ice in anticipation of the H.O.G. (Harley Owner's Group)'s "Motoring the Mother Road" cruise, a cross-Route 66 group of about 600 motorcycles from all over the world, many of whom we were expecting to stop at the Station. Meanwhile, Ron and I set about making the world's fastest (and messiest!) "Welcome" sign for the anticipated cruisers.
Slowly but surely over the course of the morning, every single volunteer who has ever worked at Afton Station showed up -- an unprecedented 9 of us in all -- myself, Ron M., Tattoo, Betty W., Betty B., Marly, Robin, Phil, and last but not least, Dean "Crazy Legs" Walker. It was a good day for it, since we were celebrating the mutual birthdays of Betty W. and Tattoo, both of whom were born on Sept 17th. Tattoo brought a pink cake for Betty, which we all enjoyed.


Betty brought me two ducks and a goose which her son had bagged on a hunting trip. Wow, quite a treat! They're in my freezer now while I search from my long-neglected goose and duck recipes. A feast will be in the future!
Betty B. brought the three "Tow Mater" shirts she made for Crazy Legs, at his request. She did a beautiful job, and now Dean will be able to wear a "Route 66 Ambassador" shirt every single day.
And then the motorcycles began to arrive. And arrive.... and arrive.... and arrive. Get ready for a long list (and there were quite a few more that I was too frazzled to record). They came from Barleston, England, Osceola IN, Indie France, Orlando FL, Weymouth MA, Sand Springs OK, Huntington IN, Peoria IL, Columbus OH, Mequen WI, Lincoln Park MI, Sanford FL, Naples FL, St. Paul MN, Lake Minnetonka MN, Tacoma WA, somewhere in Michigan, Pittsburgh PA, Ontario Canada, Paris France, Washington DC, Williamsburg OH, Glenview IL, Kansas City KS, Minneapolis MN, Parkland FL, Wheeling IL, Fairport MN, Milwaukee WI, Newberry FL, and Ellaville, GA. To those I missed, I do apologize. You were just coming in the door so fast!


Here's a French woman being indoctrinated into the Mother Road way of life with a Route 66 do rag.

And on top of all of that, this was the day they decided to demolish the building across the street. With motorcycles all over the road, and many fascinated observers, the buildig went down. It was quite exciting to watch the demo, albeit very sad. I just hate to see any buildings go. They got this far before they quit for the day. By the time I return to Afton on Saturday, I have a feeling the whole structure will be history.
I will have lots more pictures of everything tomorrow. Marly took a lot, and left his sim card with me. I'll get them on line tomorrow. I've done enough typing for the evening.

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