Are Ghosts Messin' With My Travelers??

In the same week, two people (independent of one other) showed me photos they'd taken of the Palmer Hotel across the street from Afton Station. Both people commented that they were the only "bad" pictures in hundreds and thousands they'd taken on their Route 66 trips.

This one, by photographer Gordo, appears to be woefully overexposed. . . or something??? Believe me, I've seen thousands of Gordo's images, and none have exposure problems except this one and another similar one taken at the same time.
Dan Rice showed me this one when we visited over lunch a few weeks ago during his pass through Tulsa on his Route 66 travels. He was astounded by it, since he said the light didn't look anything like this on the evening they drove through Afton and snapped the picture.

He then showed me this picture, taken in front of Afton Station at the same time. He was most interested in the blue spots, which he called "ghostly orbs" that appeared on the photo when there were no blue lights anywhere around, nor were there spots on his lens.

I have to admit that I do believe in ghostly goings-on, after having lived in a house built in 1825 in which multiple unexplained phenomena occurred. I'm willing to go along with the ghost theory for Afton, since I can't think of a better town to host spirits from another dimension.

Wooooo wooooo!

Ah ha! MODERN ROOMS!

After hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours sitting at my desk at Afton Station looking out the window at the remains of the Palmer Hotel and wondering what the almost totally faded letters across the front spelled, today the letters seemed to emerge -- MODERN ROOMS. Actually, I had figured out the ROOMS long ago, but the word preceding it had eluded me for years. Today, it seemed to emerge, probably from the extreme dampness in the air, and I see that it says MODERN. (Can you see it in the picture? Maybe not. ) Hmm... modern rooms? They're anything but modern now!


Betty came for a visit and said she had to take several detours past flooded roads in order to get to Afton from her home in Miami. It continued to rain steadily all day, and now that I'm back in Tulsa it looks like an end might be in sight. There was no over-the-road flooding on my trips either to and from Afton. Ron M. called from his vacation in Arizona to report that they're having great weather out there. Figures! He's having fun following the Arizona Fun Run, a huge car show/cruise that goes from Seligman to Kingman, and now he's off to Oatman to pet the donkeys.


I had 10 visitors today, from Stuttgart Germany, Dayton OH, Madrid Spain, North Baltimore OH, and Vinita and Ponca City, OK. The two fellows from Madrid were on motorcycles, doing the Route from Tulsa to Chicago and planning to do the western half next year. They were pretty cold and wet. The husband and wife from Dayton, OH are celebrating their 25th anniversary by taking a Route 66 trip to the Grand Canyon. In honor of their anniversary, I took their picture in front of Trudy Jugler's mother's quilt.

Ok, how about a little spring coming back to Oklahoma this week???

Bleak day

It was cold. It was dreary. It was almost devoid of visitors. What a change from yesterday. Ron was with me, and Betty stopped in for a while, but otherwise we only had four visitors today at Afton Station, two from Columbus, OH and two from Grove, OK. Both couples were very interested in everything at the museum, so those were the bright spots of the day.

By 2:30 p.m. we were bored and I had contracted a chill I just couldn't shake, so we headed for home. On a tip from Betty, on the way out of town we located the former Acme Motel, or what's left of it. You can't see it in the picture, but "Acme" is very faintly visible on the sign. All that's left of the motel is one possible unit to which it appears someone has attached a later building of some sort. You will see the Acme in it's better days when we finally get the before-and-after slide show put together.

The Palmer Hotel building across the street from Afton Station has been for sale for years, but the contact phone number had faded out on the "For Sale" sign a long, long time ago. It was great to see today that it has been rewritten on the sign. I think it will be a whole lot easier to sell if a potential buyer knows how to reach the seller, don'cha think? :-) I just want this building sold to someone who will care for it, restore it, and appreciate it's history and beauty. If anyone is interested, call 918-961-0122. I'm not sure who will answer.