Emerging into Sunlight

It  has been so odd, for the past 48 hours, to hear the name of the tiny town of Afton, Oklahoma appear in the national news so often.  The Category 1 tornado that came to visit with 100-110 mph winds wasn't the largest by any means, but for some reason it attracted the attention of the weather people from all around.   Even my friend from New Jersey emailed to make sure I was ok after hearing about it on New York City radio!  As I said in my past post, we had no damage at Afton Station whatsoever, unless you count a couple of puddles of rainwater on the floors.

So today is the day before Easter, the first day of Passover, and a very lovely spring day on Route 66.  I had a feeling when I woke up this morning that it would be the kind of day I would like, and it was.  Shortly after Ron M. and I arrived at the Station we  greeted one of our local eccentric repeat visitors. When he visits, he generally buys piles of merchandise and pays for it with $2 bills.  This time, however, all  he wanted was a roll of toilet paper from our bathroom, and then he was back in his odd vehicle and gone. Interesting. Never a dull moment.

From that point, our visitors were more of the conventional variety, the happy and friendly folks that populate the Mother Road as warm weather approaches.  They came from Fort Wayne IN, Adrian MI,  Greeley CO, Galena KS, and Wyandotte, Owasso, and Collinsville, OK.

This couple from Collinsville and Owasso  arrived in a very cool Buick Skylark Grand Sport. 

This couple from Adrian MI are headed for the Grand Canyon and points west on Route 66.  He said they had done a great deal of research about the trek before hitting the road, so they're assured of having successful travels.  Shortly before they got to the Station, they had been in Galena visiting "Cars on the Route" and chatting with Renee Charles, one of the two proprietors of the place, who told them to be sure to visit us in Afton.  Coincidentally, just moments before, Melba Rigg, the other proprietor, had stopped in at our place on her way back from a festival.   It's always great to see Melba, who all Route 66 fans know as "Melba the Mouth" because of her propensity for non-stop chatter.  She brought a ray of sunshine into our day.

And speaking of rays of sunshine, we also had a visit from Tattoo Man, whose new headgear will forever seal a new nickname as far as I'm concerned -- Snoopy!  Nice hat, Tat!    

Phil has been in town for a month, but on Monday he heads back to California to try to encourage his aging mother to move back to Afton with him.   Robin will be sorry to see him go, as will all of us.  Here's the couple, looking very good today.   They avoided all damage to their home during Thursday's tornado, despite close neighbors losing some buildings and trees.

We will be open tomorrow, Easter Sunday, in the hope that some of you will feel like taking a little ride after church and that ride will bring you to the door of Afton Station.