Quality + Quantity

The fact alone that we greeted 63 visitors on an oppressively hot Thursday is pretty wonderful, but when you add to that the interesting variety of our visitors, it becomes amazing!  There were very few local visitors today.  Most came from far away.

A tour group of 26 folks from Norway started arriving even before our official opening time, and although it was an unexpected visit, we were ready for them.  This was the type of auto tour that is provided with several potential stops each day and individual people can decide which ones they wish to visit and which they choose to skip.  We were thrilled that all of them decided to visit Afton Station, and we certainly enjoyed their presence.  It took about an hour for all of them to arrive, and the last ones in were the two tour directors, Henning and Kjetil.   Both spoke perfect English.  Henning told us that next year he has organized a group of over 100 travelers who will be shipping their vintage cars to the U.S. for a grand tour of the Lincoln Highway on the highway's 100th birthday.  Sounds great, but I sure wish it was going to happen on Route 66!  (Check their site at www.LH2013.com.)

I had another thrill when a lovely lady leading a large group walked in and said, "You must be Laurel.  I read your blog every day from Jeddeh, Saudi Arabia!"   She moved there with her family over a year ago, and she was here reuniting with her extended family of 11 while visiting her parents in this country.   The Hunt family consisted of members from Saginaw TX, Weatherford TX, and Paris, France as well as Saudi Arabia.  How fun to have such a big family visit, particularly since they were guided to Afton Station by my blog!   The lady in the green shirt is my reader.   (Hi!) I'm always blown away by the far reach of the Internet.  

 We may have had our all-time youngest visitor today, too!  Here is 5-week-old Tanner, who visited with his parents and grandparents from Colcord, OK.  What a very, very cute little boy!

That's not all, by a long shot.  The rest of our visitors came from Midwest City OK, Lexington TN, Sardis TN, Buffalo NY, Medford NJ, Rockford IL, Skiatook OK, and Hershey PA.    Ron M., Marly, Tattoo Man, Phil, and Robin rounded out this extraordinary day at Afton Station on Route 66.  It kept us all very busy, but we loved it!