The Welcome Mat

Our Welcome Mat is out. . .

. . . so it would be nice if folks would come and step on it! Today was quite disappointing, and I'm willing to admit it. When Ron M. and I arrived at Afton Station this morning, I was excited to see that people were already waiting for us to open! That's always a good sign of a potentially busy day. The husband and wife from Omaha, Nebraska were extremely nice and very interested in the Station. They bought some items, and the husband even went out to his car to fetch his laptop so he could show us pics of his recently (and beautifully) restored vintage Chevy (a '55, I believe). But, like all good guests, eventually they had to leave and move on down Route 66.

Sadly, those were the last visitors we saw until about 5 minutes before it was time to leave. Thank goodness, Betty W. came and spent some time with us in the morning, and Betty B. came for the afternoon, so we were not bored by any means. Nevertheless, the lack of visitors on this chilly, rainy day is a harbinger of the coming slow season, and I don't want that to come! Face it, Laurel, winter is going to come whether you like it or not.

Just before it was time to close up, I had a pleasant and unexpected visit from Terry Hembree from Grove. Until he became ill several years ago, he had a small private Mickey Mantle museum in Grove which I visited occasionally. He has moved the museum to his home and now takes appointments to see it. He was coming to tell me of Mickey Mantle's birthday celebration being held by him tomorrow and Saturday in Spavinaw, OK, where Mickey was born. Contrary to what most people think, Mickey was born there and not in Commerce, OK (on Route 66), where he lived for a time as a boy. Terry feels that Spavinaw doesn't get enough credit for being the place of his birth, so he decided to throw this festival in Spavinaw this year. If anyone wants to go, let me know and I'll give more information.

Since Terry knows I'm a big Yankee and Mickey Mantle fan, he left me with this cool little souvenir. Sweet!

I have to make some decisions soon as to when I'll reduce Afton Station's hours for the winter season. I wouldn't think of closing altogether, but I'm thinking of switching to "weekends only" after about the 2nd weekend in November. Anyone have any ideas about this?