Soap and such

The day at Afton Station was both good and bad. The good parts: Ron M. came with me, friend Josh Bowen from Fayetteville, AR stopped by and stayed for most of the day, and Betty, whom I haven't seen for a week, was able to stop by for a while. The bad parts: Cold rain falling all day and only three legitimate visitors. They were from Eucha, OK and came specifically to see the '58 Packard Hawk. The gentleman used to have one, and since they're very rare he came to see ours. I'm not saying that their visit was a bad thing. It was great to have them. It's just that we all would have enjoyed seeing more people on the road today.

Josh, who has visited several times before, brought four bars of the soap that his wife makes. They smell absolutely divine and are beautifully crafted and packaged. Today he brought Lavender, Orange-Clove, Pomegranate, and a cute Honey scented bar impressed with little bees. I have asked her to create some Route 66 soap that I can sell at Afton Station. Her soaps are truly well-crafted, made with natural ingredients, and are, well, just really neat. http://www.luxuryfalls.etsy.com/

Josh is about as much of a wanderer I am. It's good to know someone else who would rather be behind the wheel of his car than anywhere else. His visits to Afton Station are always welcomed.

Ron M. brought me a container of the chicken and noodles he made last night, so I'm off to enjoy it now.... and to watch the Olympics, of course.

Potpourri

When the fog folds itself around my car, making me feel like I'm maneuvering inside a giant cotton ball, driving becomes somewhat claustrophobic, but nonetheless kind of fun. I'm naturally claustrophobic, as shown by my reluctance to fly, my need for natural light in every room of my home, and insistence that I take my treatments in the only room with windows in my dialysis unit. Today, heavy fog shrouded me, my car, and everything else as I drove down Route 66 to Afton. In a way, the fog is good. It proves that it's getting warmer. It's the first day in months that I haven't dreaded shivering through taking out the flags and signs. David brought me a more efficient space heater, but I'm not sure I'll need it today. Even so, I'm rooting for some sun.
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Right after opening I had a visitor, a trucker from Dunkirk, NY. He was driving an 18-wheeler flatbed with nothing on the truck except a motorcycle. I told him he really needed to get a smaller and more efficient bike carrier. :-) Actually, he was just returning home empty. I'm sorry to say, he's the first and last visitor I had today. True, it wasn't a very pretty day, but it's a weekend so I expected to be busier.

David and his son Patrick arrived almost immediately after I opened up, and they stayed until 2 p.m. We made some pressed penny necklaces, and of course Patrick "needed" some popcorn from the new machine. David took Patrick out and showed him how to drive the tractor. Not bad for a 4-year-old!
I had a call from the owner of Route 66 Vintage Iron in Miami. They're sponsoring a poker run for the Red Cross on May 1 and asked us to be one of the stops. Indeed we will! We love to host folks on poker runs. Fun!
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I stopped for breakfast at Clanton's again this morning, but didn't have the giant omelet this time. I sat right next to one of their photo walls, and managed to snap these two photos of the "old" Clanton's. Remember, it's the oldest family-owned restaurant on Route 66 -- one year older than the Mother Road itself. I was surprised to see that the old "EAT" sign has been there for so long.

My homebound trip was through several small downpours but mostly just drizzle. More of same tomorrow, I'm afraid. I hope it doesn't keep the visitors away again.

Very true!

The British are Coming!

I don't even like to tell you about a beautiful warm, sunny day at Afton Station (the first one this season) when Ron M. and I sat there all day WITHOUT A SINGLE VISITOR! I don't believe that's ever happened before. However, I found this on a British travel site shortly after I got home, so it cheered me up and gave me hope that travelers will start pouring in the door soon.

Route 66 is a 'favourite' among Brits
17/02/2010
Brits taking a holiday in the US continue to choose to travel along Route 66, according to the United States Travel Association (USTA).Stella Clery-Ackland, UK representative for the USTA and DiscoverAmerica.com, said many holidaymakers are taking advantage of numerous fly-drive packages and coach tours dedicated to the route, adding the people can rent a Harley motorbike or an open-topped Cadillac to travel along the road."Some visitors will take in Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma, which will give them a taste of the history and pop culture of this famous road," she noted.

So, what did we do today? Well, Ron mopped the floor, I cleaned windowsills and the bathroom, and we talked and read and I did some writing. I took a picture of the old popcorn machine, which I plan to put on Craig's List now that we have a new, smaller one. Since it's the only photo I have for today, here it is. Anybody want this old movie theater machine? I'm willing to deal, but you must pick it up.

Fat Tuesday. . .

I don't know if it was named after me, or if it means we can eat all the rich, caloric foods we want today. Anyway, I try not to celebrate it. :-)

On the way to Afton this morning I stopped at a new little diner in Chelsea called the Prairie Rose. (Topix puts it in their "Fine Dining" category, but, well. . . that's an incredible miscategorization.). The omelet was marginal but the price was right. [By the way, for those who think my cholesterol must be sky high with all the eggs I consume. . . no. Kidney patients have to keep their albumen and protein levels up, so I'm encouraged to eat all the eggs I can put away.] Anyway, the waitress, one other customer at the counter, and I were the only people there. Lady Antebellum was blasting from the sound system, adding to the small town diner atmosphere, although not necessarily in a good way. Then as I was departing, leaving behind half the omelet, the music changed. Hotel California! One of my favorites! If I hear that song once a year, it haunts me for months.

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I see from the Afton Station guest book that there were two visitors yesterday, a couple from Victor, New York. Apparently David was here to let them in. I didn't have any visitors today until after noon, when two gentlemen showed up. One has been there before, a collector of antique motorcycles from Miami, OK. During this visit, like the last time he was there, I tried to talk him into making a motorcycle museum in the building next to the Station. That would be so wonderful, to have another tourist attraction in our sad little town. He brought with him a friend from Tulsa who enjoyed the old cars and bought a small pile of merchandise.

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I spent the rest of the day doing some writing. I really feel that tourism will start to pick up as soon as the super-cold weather breaks. That should happen soon. Today was another cold one, with a downright frigid wind chill. I wore my coat most of the day inside the Station. Spring, please PLEASE hurry up!

Snow, sun, and a horse

I almost turned around and headed back home at 7:30 this morning. I'd picked up Ron M. and was heading for Afton when the snow started coming down in near-blizzard quantities. I freaked out a little, but Ron convinced me to keep going, and after a few minutes the snow had stopped. It was pretty weird. By the time we'd driven the 80 miles from Tulsa to Afton, even the memory of snow had faded. It remained very cold all day, though.

The best way to combat a frigid atmosphere is to do some work, so we set about to clean out my "junk" cabinet, a bigger job than it may seem. I have this great antique cabinet that was a catch-all for anything that came into the Station that had no immediate use. But I was sorely in need of a place to put my stock inventory, so while I organized things Ron did the heavy lifting, and we threw away or stored tons of stuff. I should have taken a "before" photo but didn't. Here's the "after". Now I can see what I have, what I need to order, etc.

We weren't heavy on the visitors today, but we did have a very pleasant family of four stop in. A husband and wife from Grove, Oklahoma were with their two daughters, one who had flown in from Boulder, Colorado and one who had flown in from Asbury, New Jersey, to help their parents make a move. They were taking a little break today for a short Route 66 trip.

There was an odd passer-by today, and I managed to snap a quick photo of him/her. Someone, so bundled up against the cold that it was impossible to tell if it was man or woman, trotted past on a horse, heavily-laden with full saddlebags, thus indicating a long trip and not just an afternoon jaunt. I wish we'd been able to catch the pair before they got away so we could find out where they had come from and where they were going. I recently recall a woman who had announced an upcoming cross-Route 66 trip on horseback, but I believe that's happening this summer. So the mystery remains.

Finally, another good idea from Ron. . . I'm frequently asked about "the funny thing" on the steering wheel of one of the Packards, so recently I asked David for the correct answer -- the throttle. However, I keep forgetting it despite being asked at least once a week. Today, Ron suggested (tongue in cheek) this remedy for my poor memory, learned recently from the behavior of a certain quasi-political entity who got a lot of publicity for her use of the memory method. I've heard it called the Wasilla Teleprompter. It works for me (although she DOESN'T!) :-)

Short, Sweet, and Unphotographed

I'm short on time tonight, and not much happened at Afton Station today anyway, so it'll only take you a few minutes to read this and then you can go back to watching the Olympics. (Wasn't last night's opening ceremony great!)

Thank goodness both Betty and Tattoo were there today to keep me company, because we were pretty short on drop-in visitors again. Early in the day, a trucker from Seymour, Indiana stopped and was dazzled by the '58 Packard (which looks like a Studebaker). Later in the day, a couple from Chillicothe, Missouri heading for Dallas stopped for a while. And that's all, folks! I do hope tomorrow will be better. I'm not sure if people roam the roads on Valentine's Day or stay home and cuddle with their honeys. I guess we'll find out!

The good news of the day is that my badge maker probably isn't broken after all. I complained to the company and they sent me new button parts. Now it seems to work fine, so I guess the problem was in the parts and not the machine itself. I'm sure you're all thrilled to hear this. (Ha ha!)

Ok, I'm done for today.