Sunday, September 11, 2011

Moving On

9/11 is not something I will not soon forget. I was involved with the World Trade Center in a number of ways, and engraved in my mind is the view I saw a couple of days after the tragedy, when I returned to Connecticut, drove down to our town beach to look across the water and see the smoke rising from where the World Trade Center was once visible in the far distance on a clear day. My husband worked at the WTC sometimes, but we happened to be in Oklahoma on 9/11, starting on our restoration of Afton Station.


It's 10 years later now, and for the purpose of this blog, I choose to move on.
New buildings at WTC site
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It was a fairly ordinary day at the Station. Ron M. was with me, and we had just 13 guests. They came from Logan OH, Jerseyville IL, Tucumcari NM, Springfield IL, Lansing IL, Jacksonville FL, and Vinita, OK.

These two folks from Tucumcari, NM were quite interesting. He has a large collection of vintage cars which can be seen in a big fenced-in area in the city. He said that if anyone wants to view his collection, go to the Blue Swallow Motel. His place is on a side street directly across from the Blue Swallow.

This photo is from David Wickline's "Images I". It shows the building in which the above gentleman was raised. His dad was blind, but also ran a service station and small store in this building. The family lived in the rear. Wickline says, "The old Newkirk post office (1910) is located on old Route 66 in Newkirk NM. The building was a gas station and store that also offered early 66 travelers a place to camp". My visitor gave me some details of how the building looked before it became a ruin. Very interesting!



A couple of our regular visitors, Michael Scruggs and P.J., also stopped by. Ron and I were able to sit outside today, for the first time this summer. With luck, the cooler weather will be here to stay.

1 comment:

Trevor Hilton said...

People like that man needs to record his story of growing up in a gas station on Route 66. I'm sure he has a story to tell.