It was a HUGE day at Afton Station today. I got home 2 hours late, and I implore my old, broken down computer to hang in there and not give me any trouble this evening because I'd like to tell you all about this amazing day on Route 66 without a balky machine getting in my way.
Would you believe. . . we had well over 100 visitors today! I officially counted 111, but Ron M. reminded me that they were coming in the door so fast that I probably missed a handful. The breakdown goes something like this:
** At least 25 bikers here for the H.O.G. state rally in Claremore. With nasty (cold and rainy) weather today, we considered that a pretty good number, especially since we had visits from 24 more of them yesterday and there's one more day to go (with better weather, we're told).
** 24 members of Jim Conkle's "Just You" tour, a bus tour of Route 66 for singles from the British Isles.
** 14 folks on Craig Parish's tour of Route 66 -- folks driving their own vehicles and making their own decisions where to stop but getting guidance from Parish, who is a veteran Route 66 traveler.
The rest of the 111 (or so) was made up on folks traveling on their own. They came from Neosho MO, San Antonio TX, Woodstock IL, Frankfort KY, Springfield MO, Traverse City MI, Hot Springs AR, Versailles KY, Tulsa OK, Mol Belgium, Chandler OK, LaPeer MI, and Achuca Victoria Australia.
Here are some photos. . .
Wet bikers begin to arrive from the H.O.G. Rally. It was pouring so hard in the morning that the planned cruises had to be either cancelled altogether or delayed a few hours. Here are a handful who chose to defy the dampness and make their way to Afton Station.
Once inside, they dried off, perused some of our books, and shopped. We are truly grateful for these intrepid Road Warriors, considering that some parts of our region had record rainfall levels in the past 24 hours.
Here's our dear friend and tour director Jim Conkle (right) with some of his group members in the background.
This cxouple had a Packard connection. His father worked at the old Packard plant in Detroit! He and his wife are from Travers City, Michigan.
This is Craig Parish, leader of the National Route 66 Motor Tour. He led over 100 tourists on this trip.
One member of his tour collects old Cushman scooters. This '64 model is the one he drove on this Route 66 trip. As I recall, he said he had about two dozen vintage Cushmans!
You may recognize this couple. They stopped at Afton Station on Sept, 25 and I mentioned on this blog how impressed I was with their advance planning for their trip and the choices they'd made about where they wanted to stay, etc. Well, on their return trip east to their home in Woodstock, IL they decided to stop again because we'd really hit it off on our first meeting. I'm so glad they did! She is an absolute sweetheart, the kind of person I wish lived closer because I know we could become good friends. I can only hope that they find their way back to Oklahoma soon.
More independent travelers near the end of the day were this happy couple from Achuca in Victoria, Australia. I was glad we had some time to talk while the crowds were dispersing, because you know my motto -- A day without Aussies is a day without sunshine!
More of this insanity tomorrow, I hope. But first, thanks to Ron M., Betty, and Tattoo Man for lending a hand today. I couldn't have done it alone.
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