After a hearty breakfast at Clanton's in Vinita, Sarah and I arrived at Afton Station to find that Robin, Phil, and Marly had opened up for us. Thanks, guys! Actually, the breakfast at Clanton's could have been better. I had a massive coughing fit, and meanwhile Sarah had a troubling cell phone call from the store she manages in Chicago concerning an employee problem. But we did have good food, albeit eaten while somewhat distracted.
Sarah stayed at Afton Station until about noon, when she left to go to her dad's house and help him celebrate his birthday with a party this evening. She'll be back at the Station tomorrow and will return with me to
Tulsa for the remainder of her visit. Here she is with Marly.
We saw a quite beautiful display of people spontaneously helping strangers when two travelers from Slovakia came in with a bit of panic in their eyes. A tire on their rental car was losing air quickly from a nail hole. There's no place in Afton to have tire work done, but fortunately a wonderful woman from nearby Vinita who was visiting with her two grandsons from Utah joined in the conversation because she knew a tire place in Vinita that would fix it. So, she got on her cell phone and ascertained that the tire store, which ordinarily closes at noon on Saturday, would stay open until the Slovakians got there. I was impressed by this example of folks helping strangers. The Slovakian guys were so appreciative and off they went feeling much less stressed. As the woman from Vinita said, "Sometimes it just takes a village". Here she is, with her two grandsons.
In the afternoon, this family from Israel came in. They aren't doing a full Route 66 trip, but instead exploring a bit of it now and then while they're temporarily living in Tulsa so the wife can complete her medical residency. The small child was so beautiful that I just had to comment on "her" eyes and hair, at which point the father corrected me and said that the baby was in fact a "he". Oops! I don't care what he is.... I just know that he's going to grow up to be a stunner!
I'm feeling considerably better, so I should be back in decent form for another day of Afton Station fun tomorrow.
5 comments:
Yay, score one for Afton Village :o)
Glad to hear you're feeling better and able to enjoy Sarah's visit.
Cheers to the helpful lady from Vinita and the tire repairman who gave up part of his weekend to help strangers in danger of being stranded.
And cheers to Robin, Phil, and Marly for being the dependable helpers they are. It does indeed take a village sometimes and luckily Afton is the right kind of village.
It's things like that that restore my faith in humanity. It is sorely tested at times! ;)
Glad you're on the mend!
I wonder who the visitors from Mesa, AZ were/
It's also been my experience that foreigners are pleasantly surprised by how courteous Americans are. One of my sisters-in-law, who lives in Singapore, was visiting us once. She noticed that, when driving on the highway, I would change lanes to make room for someone coming up an on-ramp. She said that Singaporeans are very competitive and would never do that.
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