One of THOSE weekends

Did I keep busy during our 3-day weekend?  Nah, not really.  Just:. . .

** Hosted daughter Sarah and her wonderful boyfriend John for the weekend.
** Officiated at a beautiful wedding at iconic Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa
** Worked Afton Station on Sunday
** Did a little touring of Tulsa
** Dinner at everyone's favorite Tulsa eating place, Villa Ravenna
** Dialysis Monday morning
** Visited the J. M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum on Route 66 in Claremore
** Visited Totem Pole Park in Foyil, OK
** Finally scattered my portion of Bob Waldmire's ashes over his beloved Route 66 in a small ceremony

John had to leave this morning on an early plane.  Sarah leaves late this afternoon.  So, today we are going to continue this fun and do some shopping and errands. But first, here are a few photos from the weekend.

 Sarah and John meet the owner and builder (right) of the incredible "Back to the Future" DeLorean which was parked outside of Cain's Ballroom during the wedding at which I officiated.

This car is amazing, and completely accurate to the one in the movie.

Getting used to the stage, microphone, etc. for the wedding.  Sarah and John meet my friend Susan Yates, a wedding guest.

Presenting. . .  Mr. and Mrs. Rhys Martin!  I got through the ceremony without a stumble.  The nerves I felt when seeing the huge room filled with people melted quickly when I read the beautiful words that Rhys and Sam had written for the ceremony.  They're a great couple, and I'm honored to be the one who joined them together legally.

 They signed the papers. . .

. . . and here they are, all  hitched!

 On Sunday, with the usual help of Ron M., we greeted guests at Afton Station.  These two fellows from Arkansas came to see the Packards.

 A couple from Tulsa with their rescue dog, Taco Bell" also came for a visit.

And of course I took time out to accept a hug from my dear daughter.

I have been acting as guardian of a portion of Bob Waldmire's ashes ever since he passed away and was cremated about 4  years ago.  His ashes were divided between about six of us whom he considered his best Route 66 friends (an honor in itself!) and we were charged with scattering them where we felt would be approved of by Bob himself.  Until now, the inspiration just hadn't hit, but Sunday was such a lovely cool, breezy day that it seemed right.  Sarah was there, and she and Bob always hit it off so well. (Sarah was especially fond of Bob's home made salsa, and she got the very last jar of it which he made before he died.) Anyway, we went out to the front of the Station, into the road next to Roamin' Rich's stencilled sign, and scattered Bob to the wind.  He would want to be on  his beloved Route 66, and the ashes blew in the air and then settled on the Mother Road. We miss you, Bob!

 The newly repainted Ed Galloway Totem Pole looked good, despite being taken over by an uncomfortable swarm of wasps.  Sarah and John didn't stay there very long.

The J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum is always interesting.  It's the largest gun collection in the world, but if you're not a gun fan (that would be me), there is SO much more to see there.  Some extremely interesting exhibits there!   Here, Sarah is contemplating a shoot-out.

Guns, guns, guns. . . 10,000 of them!

Sarah and John visited David at his new place in the country and were introduced to his 4 new miniature donkeys.  So here are a couple of asses (Oh John, you know I love you.  I just couldn't resist. . .)

Since Afton isn't ugly enough as it is,  someone is now having a broken toilet sale on the side of the road.  Sigh.....

That's all for now.  The other hundred photos we took this weekend will  just have to wait.

Coming Soon!

So much to tell, so little time.   As soon as I have some free time (probably Wednesday) I'll be back to report.   Stay tuned. . .

Surprise!

What started out to be a quiet morning soon turned to anything but.   Surprise!  A group of travelers we weren't expecting started pouring in the door.  Many were driving cool vintage vehicles.
Early this morning, before leaving the house, I had checked my Facebook pages are realized that Craig Parrish's group, the National Route 66 Motor Tour, was heading our way, so I shot a note to Craig to remind him to mention Afton Station to his travelers.  He did.  Eventually we had dozens of people in the building, most of whom had decided to visit us either before or instead of going to Daryl Starbird's Custom Car museum.  We ended the day with 42 (and then some) visitors, most of whom were from the tour.  Those on the Tour were all driving their own vehicles.  Craig supplied evening motel reservations and suggestions for places to visit between nights, but otherwise the members of the group were on their own.  We are so pleased that so many chose to visit us, and we thank Craig for any gentle nudging he may have done.

 It started with Lou and Debi from Rainham, Massachusetts who came to visit us instead of heading for Daryl Starbird's museum where a majority of their group was going.  Lou and Debi are from New England so we had something in common to chat about, and they were delightful folks.

Here's Craig, tour guide extraordinaire, who finally arrived later in the day.

One visitor tried on a do-rag and immediately transformed himself into a Willie Nelson look-alike!

This member of the tour is sporting the official tour t-shirt.

Some visitors who came on their own in the afternoon were this couple from Barcelona, Spain.

Others came from Eagle Grove IA, Sydney Australia, Iowa City IA, Clackamas OR, Minneapolis MN, Davenport IA, Granby OK, Rochester MN,  Hazel Park MI, Joplin MO, Kansas City MO, Bella Vista AR, Knoxville TN, and Tracy, CA.

Our junior volunteer Justin, who is now being home schooled, came in during the busiest time of day and was a big help to us, making change and bagging purchases.  Ron M. was there, as always, and did his usual expert job of telling folks the story of Afton Station and leading them to the showrooms.  We have such a great team!

Interesting Guests

There are always a lot of interesting folks traveling Route 66, and today some of them stopped in to visit with us.  Early in the day, two couples from the Netherlands visited.  They are part of a larger group, but only these few chose to come to see us.  This group shipped their cars to the U.S. in containers for their Route 66 trip.   For instance, this couple brought their rare Nissan Murano Soft Top because it is not possible to get it repaired in the Netherlands.

This couple brought their Bentley with them.  We don't see very many Bentleys here in Afton, so it was quite exciting.He is a lover of Packards and showed me photos of two of his from the early '50s.  Needless to say, it wasn't difficult to get him deeply interested in our collection.  

 His wife was busy selecting souvenir magnets.

Australia was also represented in our guest book today when a nice couple from Australia came in.  They're driving a rented RV for the trip.  Here is the husband checking out the DeSoto.

From Europe came a couple from Marseille, France, and from the U.S. came people from Tulsa, OK, and Iowa City, Iowa.  

Michael Sager from Tulsa and his friend Laurel arrived toward the end of the day.  He was helpful to us back in 2004 when we coordinated the Tulsa Route 66 International Festival.  I hadn't met Laurel before, but because we share a rather rare name, we did a bit of bonding.

Back in the late '90s when we were "shopping" for a place on Route 66 to create our Packard museum, there were two similar buildings in Afton that appealed to us.  Unfortunately, the one that was on the National Historic Register was just too small for our needs so we chose the other one.  Shortly thereafter it was, for some unfathomable reason, torn down.  Since that time, the old floor has served as a sort of "park", Afton style, complete with artificial flowers and a couple of metal chairs.  So far, we have never seen anyone sit in the chairs or pay much attention to the site.  It's kind of sad

The Sound of Silence

Well, it wasn't really THAT silent today, but it certainly was more low key than all the previous Saturdays of the summer.  Today felt more like fall, both because of the cool weather and because of the drop in numbers of visitors.  Today, we had 19, and they were from Lindenville NY, Ft Wayne IN, York PA, Collinsville IL, Albuquerque NM, El Dorado KS, Disney OK, Grand Lake, OK, and Brussels, Belgium.

This young couple won our distance award today.  When asked why they chose to travel Route 66 on their first trip to the U.S., he said "It was on my bucket list".   From what we have discovered,  Route 66 is in a lot of European buckets!

This good looking 1957 Chevy belongs to a couple from Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  Pretty, isn't it?

These folks are from Collinsville, IL, home of the World's Largest Catsup Bottle!  They arrived in a beautiful Corvette.

These folks, a mother and son, live near Niagara Falls, so we had a chat about the Falls.  I used to live near Niagara Falls myself and visited it so often in the early '70s that I  actually got sick of it.  I'd love to see it now and take note of all the changes.

Betty and Ron M. were present today, as usual.  Life is good.

Blue Tie Affair, 2015 Style

For the second year, Ron M. and I attended the Blue Tie Affair, a fund-raiser for the Blue Whale in Catoosa, OK, one of the truly iconic stops on any Route 66 trip.  The event was such fun, with perfect weather, incredible food, and nice people with whom to share it.  

Molly's Landing, a great restaurant just down Route 66 from the Whale, served filet mignon (cooked to order on site!) which had been donated by Reasor's grocery, baked potatoes, salad, and bread pudding, along with a full bar. We all ate our fill and, in my case, well beyond my fill. Here are some of the folks who were at our table under a big tent.

The Master of Ceremonies was Erin Christy, news anchorwoman for a local network channel.

Kids from Catoosa High School were our waiters, waitresses, hosts, hostesses, and did cheerfully and carefully any jobs they were assigned.  You could tell they were having fun, too.

A small band played in the mouth of the Whale.  There was also a silent auction and, most exciting, announcement that a walkway was going to be built from the parking lot to the mouth of "Blue".  As a person in a wheelchair, I can attest to the fact that this is sorely needed.  Rolling over gravel and lumpy sod just doesn't work.   Bricks are being sold in order to fund it and will be embedded in the walkway.  Donors can choose to have something engraved on a brick.   Brick sales seemed to be quite lively at the dinner.  I was eager to buy one myself.

On the right is Linda Hobbs who runs the gift shop at the Blue Whale.  She is a busy lady who is committed to the preservation and welfare of Blue.   Beside her is Felicia Lanquest.

On the left (with Erin Christy) is Blaine Davis, son of the creator of the Blue Whale.   He is committed to the preservation of  Blue and all the grounds around it, a very big job for a retiree.

The City of Catoosa sponsored the event, and it was a rousing success..

Some photos "borrowed" from Linda Hobbs.

Cool Day, in more ways than one. . .

No noisy air conditioner today at Afton Station.  The cool air has arrived, and it's much more pleasant to listen to the train whistles and truck brakes than the deafening rattle of the a/c.  I like autumn.  Wish winter didn't have to follow.

In an entry I'll post later today, I'll tell you all about the very neat Blue  Tie Affair at the Blue Whale which we attended last night, but now I'll just report on the goings-on at Afton Station.  There were 22 visitors, including. . .

. . . these sisters who met on U.S. soil in order to travel Route 66.   One is from New South Wales, Australia, the other one from London, England.  What a neat way to carry out a sisterly reunion!

This couple from Victoria, Texas is traveling Route 66 near his 66th birthday.  Additionally, he has a '66 T'bird at home but didn't bring it on this trip.  Congratulations on all the 66's in your life!  (He's one of ten kids and did a lot of cotton picking on his family farm as a kid.  I wish they could have stayed longer because I'm thinking he must have lots more interesting stories of his childhood.

This young man was brought to Afton Station by his grandpa from Afton.   He has found a perfect use for the running board on the DeSoto!  Cute little redhead!

And finally, these two from Anadarko, Oklahoma beat all records we've been keeping on honeymoon couples.   They were married just one hour prior to arriving at the Station!   They came straight from the wedding chapel in Miami to Afton because he loves old cars.  We are honored that this was their first stop on  what we  hope will be a long and happy life together.

Others came from Stillwater OK, Atlanta GA, Disney OK, Brooklyn NY, and Frederick MD.

Tune in later for my report on the Blue Whale event.