Too Pooped to Blog?

I'm too pooped to blog, but that doesn't mean I won't!  I just don't feel like making it pretty or particularly literate. On top of that, my camera is going downhill fast.  Fortunately, I've ordered a new one (a Canon this time), and it should arrive in the next day or two.  Meanwhile, what you see is what you get... from a tired writer with a tired camera.

The first visitors arrived very early and before I did, so I did a very quick opening.   They were four folks from French-speaking Montreal, Canada and there was a major language barrier to overcome as I told them to wait in the main room while I opened the two showrooms.   It all worked out in the end, and they enjoyed their visit.  Sorry for their fuzziness in this picture.

After a long dry spell, my next visitors were a couple from Willis, Texas, true diehard travelers.  They travel with a trailer and two motorcycles (an offroad one and an on-road one) and they take some very special road trips.  Last year, they spent almost 6 months on the road, much of it touring Alaska, and they even got up to the Arctic Circle!  They were very interesting folks for sure!

Since there were no other visitors today, I spent my time fixing the broken magnet making machine, cleaning out the top drawer of the filing cabinet, chatting with Marly who came in for an hour or two, and making this sign, or at least starting it.     

My friend Trevor saw my posting about the expectation of large numbers of Chinese tourists this summer, so he asked his Asian wife, Lim, if she could write a welcoming statement in Chinese characters that I could use on a sign.  She in turn asked her friend from China to help her, and they came up with something for me.  Today, I copied it to a large sign for the door.   It says "Welcome to Afton Museum", but the word "Afton" couldn't be translated.  I'll post the whole sign when I enhance it and finish it. 

I haven't posted a sunrise photo lately, so here's one I took this morning on the way to Afton.  The fuzziness isn't so bad in this photo.  In fact, I like it.  Maybe I'll miss this camera after all.....

Finished Product

Here are a couple of photos Marly took of the project he and David undertook  yesterday.  Here's the new engine, right out of the crate. . .

 . . . and here's the finished product -- the Citroen all put together again and running well, just a few hours later.   Amazing!

That's all, folks!

Dave's Garage - We Fix French Cars

Two couples from Manhattan, KS arrived at Afton Station moments after I did, but that was just fine because David and Marly  were already there and had been working on putting a new engine in the Citroen, so they had turned up the heat and turned on the lights.  By noon, they had the car running like a top and were quite proud of themselves. (There is still something wrong with my camera.  This time I took three of this same scene, and all are blurred. Sorry.)

The Kansas couples are traveling Route 66 in Oklahoma for the next few days and were having a great time. 

Another guest today was James from Tulsa, OK who regaled me with interesting stories about his father who died very recently.  When he was young, his family traveled Route 66 from California to Oklahoma for work during the Dust Bowl.  He called it "reverse Grapes of Wrath".  My final visitor was a local man from Vinita, OK who only stayed for a couple of minutes then moved on.

Tulsa is the only Route 66 city listed on the Livability.com list of  "Top 10 Spring Break Destinations for Families".  Where to go for spring break: Tulsa  The honor is based on affordable hotels, restaurants, and attractions,and includes mention of the Blue Dome District (on Route 66) as well as our hiking/biking trails, art museums, zoo, planetarium, and Air and Space Museum.  The article also suggests further exploration on Route 66 as a "side trip".  Other cities on the list included Santa Cruz, CA and Tuscon, AZ.  Of course, I've always known that Tulsa is loaded with opportunities for visitors, now perhaps others will have the chance to experience it, too..

Valley Visitors

Just like old times... a good number of visitors, including a car club.  And an appointment for another, even larger car club for next Sunday.   Things are rolling right along.

The Valley Antique Auto Club of Russellville, Arkansas has visited a couple of times before.  Today it was a smaller group of 10 who drove over to Afton from Miami, where they spent the night last night after attending a showing of a  silent movie at the historic Coleman Theater.  Every now and then the Coleman shows an old silent film and accompanies it with their giant Wurlitzer theater organ, one of the few left in this country.  The folks who came to Afton today all said it was a great evening.

Anyway, there were ten people in five cars.  I didn't go outside to look at them but  Ron M. took  photos of two of the cars.  I love the striping on the turquoise one, but I don't know the make of the car. 

 Here's the group, and (oh dear!) I must have moved the camera again, so the members can only be seen in their blurred best.  Sorry, folks!

There were also visits from three folks from Joplin, MO who enjoy Route 66 and are excited that our International Route 66 Festival will be held in their town in August.  We'll see them again next Sunday when they bring a large group from their club, the Southwest Missouri 'Stang Gang.   (Yes, they're Mustang enthusiasts).  They've been to Afton Station before and always make us a stop on their cruises.   Also, three young people from Afton came in to video our museum.   They assured us that we'll be famous as soon as they edit the piece (recorded on an iPhone, I might add) and put it on YouTube.  That should be fun to see.

It was a good day at the Station.  Remember we're now open every day of the week except Monday. So please take a drive down beautiful old Route 66 and come see us!   We'll pop some popcorn for 'ya!

Slow Start

It was a very slow start to my first day back to "full timing" it at Afton Station.  From now on, I'll be there on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday and Robin will take over on Wednesday and Friday.  That leaves Monday our only closed day.   In other words.... SPRING HOURS HAVE BEGUN!

Today, however, it was apparently too cold to bring many people out on the road.  Although lots of friends stopped in, there were only three new visitors the whole day.   Crazy Legs Walker dropped in on his way home from a quick draw competition, Michael Scruggs came to discuss an upcoming showing of his photos at Afton Station, Betty dropped in, and Tattoo Man and Roz stopped in.   Tat and Roz were heading for the place where they have ordered a new trike, and Ron had to be fitted for a helmet since he has a larger-than-ordinary head.  Roz, on the other hand, fit nicely into a standard helmet, and here she is!  Their trike is scheduled to be delivered in about 2 weeks.

Ron M. was with me today, as usual, and after all the friends had left, we finally received the travelers.  A couple from Okmulgee came to visit.   I had every intention of taking their photo, but we had such an interesting conversation that I completely forgot.  She was from Germany, he an American, and both seemed delighted to be out on the road.   Our final visitor was a truck driver from Southern Illinois who has passed by on many previous trips, but finally had time to stop today.  He's a collector of automobilia.

That's it for today.  There's a car club coming tomorrow morning, so there may be more excitement to report then.

Where The Buffalo Roam

I hope you won't mind if I present another post filled with photos of bison.  I apologize, but I can't help it.  On my last free day before going back to Afton Station full time, naturally I used it to drive up to my favorite place on earth, the Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Reserve, to visit my favorite animals, bisons.  I've written about this place before, and I've posted lots of bison photos, but you can never see enough of them, in my humble opinion.

Today, I hit the jackpot.  I seldom make the 2-hour drive up there in the middle of winter, but I was curious to see the differences in the flora and fauna after a big snow.  As it turned out, the snow was virtually all melted, but the dirt road (the only road for miles) was a sea of mud, made worse by the fact that the work crew was scraping the last of the mud and gunk off of it and piling it, for the most part, in the middle of the road.  It was a messy drive, but worth every mud chunk and ice boulder that hit the underside of my car.  

Here's the dirt road as one enters the reserve.  At this point, it was clear and easily driveable.  I love how it stretches out as far as the eye can see.  It continues that way across the many miles of the reserve, with only an occasional electric pole to break my fantasy of being the first explorer to discover the land.  (a fantasy I repeat every time I visit the prairie).

Of all my trips to the Tallgrass Prairie (and there have been many), there were more bison grazing within my sight this time than I've ever seen before.  There are over 2,500 bison there, but the prairie reserve is so large that one usually only sees a few hundred per trip, depending on where the herds feel like grazing that day.  Today, I believe that most of them chose to graze within my sight, and some of them chose to graze within a few feet of my car.  Some even dared to cross the road in front of my car, which isn't really much of a risk, since I drive about 5 mph when I'm in the reserve.  

 The brown grass was an interesting change from the lush green fields that I usually see there in the spring and summer.  The bison look a bit different as well, since they are wearing their winter coats now.  Otherwise, nothing ever changes at the Tallgrass Prairie, and that is as it should be.  The many books that I own which describe the biota of the prairie say that there are literally hundreds of living things there, but most are too small to see.  In the summer,  there are dozens of varieties of flowers and other plants.  I've seen several interesting insects there, and today I saw my first bobcat quickly dash across the road in front of my car.  That was another thrill for the day.

On the way home, I drove through the small towns of Pawhuska, Wynona, Hominy, and Cleveland.  One of these days, I need to go back and spend more time in each of these charming villages.  But that will have to wait, either until next fall or on the day that I decide to play hooky and let someone else take over the Station  while I roam with the buffalo once again.

Loose Ends

I'm always impressed by the number of excellent photographers roaming Route 66.   I was very disappointed that I was unable to be at Afton Station last Saturday, Feb. 16 when a group of shutterbugs from the Photographic Society of NW Arkansas came for a visit.  Marly was kind enough to give them a good tour and all 16 of them set up their tripods and clicked away.   The results are quite wonderful!   So far, I've only received permission from one of the photographers, David Stowers, to show his photos  here.  Here are two of them.  To see more of David's work, go to http://stowers.smugmug.com.  He tells me he hasn't posted all of them  yet, but here are two of them.   To see the work of others in the group, go to http://www.psnwa.org/ and click Galleries.  It will lead you to the photos taken by all the members of the group on their Route 66 tour.  

                                         

 Now, here are some shots from a bad photographer -- me!   The first is the stained and leaded glass window hanging made by Robin and given to me for my birthday.  It represents three jumping blue whales, and it's really very pretty.  I love the cobalt blue glass.

 This summer, a group of producers from the Jerry Springer Show toured Afton Station on another day when I wasn't there.  Robin gave them a tour, and they must have very much appreciated her hospitality because the other day she received a package with two t-shirts from the show enclosed.  She gave me one of them for my birthday, and here it is!