Our First Female Commercial Salmon Fisherman

Every day at Afton Station brings something new and interesting.  Today was no exception.  I guess I ought to explain the title of this post first, before I go on to other matters.

The following photo shows a couple of Route 66 travelers, a grandpa from Roanoke, Virginia and his granddaughter from Homer, Alaska.  They're traveling Route 66 together, which in itself I think is just wonderful.  In the course of conversation I asked the young lady how she ended up living in Alaska.  As it turns out, she was born there and has lived there most of her life.  The surprise came when I pried into her life a little further and asked what she does for a living.  She's a commercial salmon fisherman!  Yes, this sweet, delicate lady goes out on boats for weeks at a time, hauling in the wild Alaskan salmon!  Furthermore, she is getting married next month (on the fishing boat) to another fisherman!   I just love this story -- and I feel certain that I won't be seeing too many female Alaskan salmon fisherpersons at Afton Station in the future. She said that women in that job are extremely rare.  

 This couple comes from Buffalo, NY and since I have lived in Buffalo twice in my distant past, I always like to discuss the city with visitors from there.  These two nice folks updated me on the revitalization efforts in Buffalo, and it made me feel good to know that one of my favorite cities isn't going downhill, something I've worried about ever since all of the steel mills closed there in the 70s.   They wanted to pose in front of the DeSoto, a car we acquired from their home town of Buffalo.

 This lady is Katrina, a flight attendant from Watkinsville, Georgia.  She's standing at the door because it was 1:40 p.m. when she asked me what time Clanton's Cafe in Vinita closes on Sunday.  When I told her she had 20 minutes to drive the 15 miles to Clanton's, she was out the door in a flash.  Fortunately, we'd already had a nice visit.  She's a delightful person who managed to arrange her schedule so she has nearly 4 weeks to follow her lifelong dream of cruising the Mother Road!

Other visitors today came from Toulouse France, Mahwah NJ, Wynnewood OK, Owatonna MN, and Weir KS.  A majority of visitors were on motorcycles, not surprising on this day of perfect weather.

When I pulled into the Station about 40 minutes prior to opening this morning,  Tattoo Man's car was in the driveway.  He had been to Springfield, IL for their annual Route 66 Festival and decided not to stay, so he drove down as far as Afton and was waiting for me to open so we could visit a while before he headed back to his hometown of Bartlesville.  What a surprise to see him there so early!

Marly will be at the Station all day tomorrow, so if you're in the neighborhood, pop in for a visit.