From the moment the sun rose...

Almost from the moment the sun rose, today was an extra busy day.  What made it that way at Afton Station was  the arrival of two rather large groups, with a good number of other visitors before, after, during, and in between.   We started the morning with Phil heading for the Dollar Store and purchasing 4 cases of bottled water which he then iced down in one of the vintage coolers so that we could offer it to whoever needed a cool treat on this 105-degree day.  Believe me, it was appreciated!

The morning brought the 50 members of Ride for the Relay,  a full Chicago-to-L.A. Route 66 motorcycle tour which visits us annually on the first week of September.  For years, Rodger Fox has organized this motorcycle ride, a cancer awareness activity on wheels.  Many of the riders are cancer survivors or have lost loved ones to cancer.  Along the way they spread the word about the need for further research, collect donations, and visit places like the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Tulsa where they are served lunch.  It's a great activity and I commend Rodger for having organized it for so long.  Here is Rodger (on the right) with a couple of members of the Ride.

Ken "Landrunner" Turmel is running with the group this year, and here he is with Tattoo Man, who came to enjoy the fun.

 Later in the day, a group from New Zealand began to materialize, one by one.  Not the entire group stopped at Afton Station, but most did.   I counted about 18 people, but I may have missed a few. This was a "Kiwis on Route 66" tour, and like most of our Southern Hemisphere brethren, they were a happy and excited group.  They were all driving rented Mustangs, which seems to be the automobile of choice for all  Aussies and Kiwis.   Here are a few of them enthusiastically taking photos of Tattoo Man's semi bare body and his 114 tattoos.

 During all this group activity, others continued to arrive.  They came from Owenton KY, Stowe OH, Monroe IA, Chattanooga TN, Charleston SC, Mulvane OK, Kansas City MO, and Manford OK.   The grand total for the day hovers somewhere around 87!   Not bad!

I was interviewed recently for an online magazine called To and From.  It's a pretty good article and I invite you to check it out.    http://tinyurl.com/bvk6r6k

That's the direct link, but I urge you to take a look at the entire magazine at:
http://issuu.com/toandfrommag/docs/toandfrommag
It's quite good!