Hello From

Postcards, both new and old, generally have a picture along with the words "Hello From....". In the 125+ years that postcards have been a popular way of communicating, I'm pretty sure there are "Welcome From" postcards from every big city, small hamlet, national park, and foreign country in the world.   Today was a "Welcome From" day at Afton Station, with folks from everywhere.

For example. . .

. . . these three ladies, from Vancouver British Columbia, Salina KS, and New Zealand studied a Blue Swallow pamphlet.  What better way to bring nations together than to share stories about an iconic Route 66 mom 'n pop motels?

And how about this group?  They're from Russia, the Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. The Russian couple has been to Afton before and on their last visit we made the acquaintance of their cute puppy Chili.

 Meet this big family from Jennings, Oklahoma.  Their little boy was so well-behaved that I gave him all the beanie babies which we weren't able to sell at the Garage Sale.   I believe that made him a happy little guy.

You've met Tiffany and James before.   They're some of the most ardent Route 66 fans around.  On their way home from the Route 66 festival in Springfield, MO today, they stopped by to say hello again.  Their knowledge of Route 66 is already amazing and they continue to learn.

Father and son from Chicago came by to admire the car collection.  Dad is making sure that his son understands the beauty of true vintage vehicles.   

These two retirees from Aurora, IL are enjoying their free time by taking an unhurried trip down Route 66. Sigh.  I'm jealous.

Others came from Elk City OK, Peoria OK, Evanston IL, Denton TX, Richmond KY, Oslo Norway, Salina KS, and Sycamore KS.

Do-It-Yourself Blog Post

Add these up :
  A very slow computer
  Many photos
  Extreme exhaustion

That's what I'm faced with tonight as I sit here trying to make sense of the chicken scratchings (also known as notes) I made today at this gloriously busy day at Afton Station.   Even with the help of Ron M. and Joe Meeks, I never really got it completely together.  I need help from YOU, too!  Thanks to a wonderfully well-attended poker run using the Station as one of the stops for the participants, and lots of others taking advantage of one of the first non-broiling days of the summer, we were swamped.   Oh, also, to add to the fun, there was no water in Afton today.   Twenty-six hours with no water whatsoever due to a main break out in the country.  We couldn't offer our beautiful clean restrooms to the crowd of visitors.   (The water came back on at 2 p.m. today, shortly before we left.)

Ok, enough complaining.  Instead, I'll dump these photos  here, mostly without captions, and ask Ron or Joe to let me know if they can add captions to those which I've been unable to identify. Also, if you visited the Station today and find your photo here, please let me know and I'll caption that, too.  I know I'm being lazy but I.... AM..... TIRED!

 The committee overseeing the poker run, which was participated in by almost 100 people in classic cars, hot rods, motorcycles, etc.

 Gorgeous '37 Ford woodie

 His 22-year-old daughter, serving in the military in Korea at the moment, is a Packard fan!  Wow, most interesting.  I can't wait to meet her when she comes home.

President and V.P. of Corvette Cruisers from Carthage, MO.  Their club is planning a visit to Afton Station soon.

 Paris, France

 Melbourne, Australia

 Lyon, France

Visitors today came from Chicago IL, Houston TX, Carthage MO, Alma AR, Champagne IL.  Paris France, Melbourne Australia, Lyon France,  Springdale AR, Denver CO, Bella Vista AR, and Langley, Monkey Island, Wyandot, Coweta, and Tulsa, OK.  At last count, we  had  between 50 and 60 visitors, but we know we missed a lot of them.

What a great group!

One Hundred Six Degrees of Separation

That's how many degrees it takes to "separate" visitors from Afton Station.  We were cool inside, of course, but just getting in the building through the blistering 106-degree  heat seemed like a chore.  Our attendance was low, but an early morning group helped to make it a great day anyway.

Our early morning visitors were a group of German tourists guided by Wolfgan Werz  (below).  They were full of smiles and laughter and they certainly liked what we had to show them.  Thank you to all of them for brightening our hot, steamy day. They are on their way to Santa Monica now.

 The rest of the day was achingly slow, but our expectations weren't too high.   An intrepid couple from Choteau, Oklahoma visited, as did a gentleman from Jacksonville, Florida and the owner of this very gorgeous newly restored vintage vehicle.

 Here is the promised photo of Afton Reamy from Crowley, Texas.   She visited on Friday but we had a struggle getting her photo on the blog.  But here she is now, and what a beauty she is.  I'm so happy that she's proud of her name Afton.  I wonder if she knows that Afton itself was named for a little girl, Afton Ayres, the daughter of one of the founders of the city before the turn of the century when it was still in Indian Territory.

Here's the banner that our cars earned at the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Pensacola Dam yesterday.I like it!

Here's What's Happening

Another jam packed day of fun at Afton Station.  Why have I only done this for the last 13 year  I wish I'd had the pleasure of working here all my life. .

Doesn't this look like true love?  These honeymooners, Karola and Guille, are from Madrid, Spain (him) and Poland (her).  They met in school in Madrid and got married just last weekend!

 Also from Spain (Barcelona) are these two  More beautiful people.

From here at home came this family from O'Fallon, MO.  The older boy did all the research for the Route 66 trip.  I think he knows more that I do about the Mother Road!

And our only four footed visitor today was Rebound, a rescue dog with his parents from Claremore, OK.  Wow. what a well-trained canine!   Since he lives nearby, we hope to see more of him.

As we were leaving, David and Marly returned with two of the cars that had spent the day being background for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Pensacola Dam, the dam which created Grand Lake.. I had been wanting a photo with these two in front of the Station.  This isn't much of a picture, but it's the best I could do in a rush.

Special note to Afton Reamy:  I have seen the great photo of you at my museum, Afton Station, and was told by my employee that you would love to see your photo on my blog.  I just want you to know that I'm working on it, but having trouble transferring it to the blog.   You will see it here soon!   So sorry I missed meeting the girl with the beautiful name when you were here!

Shirking Blogging Duties

Here's why I didn't post a blog last night:

My beautiful daughter Sarah was visiting from Chicago.

We were cheering on the Tulsa Drillers baseball team from our beautiful new stadium overlooking the skyline of Tulsa.

It wasn't the greatest game. The Drillers won easily while those of us intrepid watchers broiled in the 100+ degree stands.  But we had our beer, root beer, and luscious Seigi's sausages to keep our minds off the fact that our toes were sizzling.  It was a fun night.

Sarah and I had a good day at Afton Station, too.   Our visitors came from all over the map, and we like it that way.

Here's a family from Hamburg, Germany.

And honeymooners from Milan, Italy,

Four handsome young gentlemen from Imatra, Finland rounded out our foreign visitors.  Three of them were extremely interested in vintage vehicles.

The fourth was more interested in getting the wall signed.

Representing the good old USA, here's a couple from McAlester, Oklahoma. . .

. . . and others visited from Oklahoma City, OK, Kannapolis NC, Tulsa OK, and Louisville KY..

A full day of greeting interesting people with my daughter at my side followed by a minor league baseball game on a sultry night.  What could be better?

The Sound of Silence

Slow, slow, slow day at Afton Station.   The silence was deafening!   Ron M. and I were alone most of the day, with Betty coming in after church to spend an hour or two with  us.   Visitors were from only three places:  Dusseldorf, Germany, Naples, Italy, and right down the road at Vinita, OK!

The German couple signed the wall.

The Italian couple signed the wall.

And this fine lady from Vinita told us about her father's '55 Packard which got wrecked its first time out.  Oh my!

I believe I'll continue the silence of the day by stopping here.  Let's hope that the rest of the week will be livelier.

August: Ottawa County

The moon isn't really blue, you know, on this Blue Moon Day.  The name actually refers to situation in which there are two full moons in one month.  The next one will be in 2019.  There, a small bit of interesting to  trivia to open this short blog post.  

It wasn't very busy today at Afton Station and nearly everyone was local.  Other than a couple from Aberdeen, S. Dakota, the rest of the travelers weren't far from  home.  They came from Nevada MO, as well as Broken Arrow, Grove, Ketchum, Pawhuska, and Owasso OK.

One of the gentlemen from Tulsa came in his beautifully restored '56 Chevy.

Another group from Tulsa came on their Harleys.   It happened to be a beautiful day for bikers.

Tattoo Man came on his 3-wheeled Stallion and as usual, it drew a lot of interest.Betty also stopped in and we're always so glad to have her here.

Friend PJ the photographer came by and brought me a brand new Sony camera! He had an "extra", completely unused, and as soon as I familiarize myself with the instruction manual, you will see a decidedly improved quality of the images here.  Just wait and see.  What a nice gift!

Robin has made some beautiful jewelry which she will be selling from the Station.  Photos will follow in a day or two.  We have also restocked our t-shirts, really neat Route 66 ball caps, big 3x5 Route 66 flags in two designs, and an array of great do-rags.  Of course we also have the usual guide books, maps, and many other goodies.   We're open tomorrow.  Come see  us.