Two In A Row

We're hitting the jackpot at Afton Station this weekend.   We've had lots of groups, individuals, and friends drop in on both Friday and today.   Sue was working yesterday and had the pleasure of meeting travelers from all over the world.    Yesterday it was a group of Norwegians, as well as people from Australia and Scotland.   This morning, the focus was on a group of Corvette owners from Tulsa on a cruise.  After they left the Station, most of them were heading to Kansas City for a meeting of the National Corvette Restorers Society.    My friend and expert videographer P.J. came to interview and film the group.   I'll post his work when he sends it to me.  Meanwhile, here are some of Ron M's pictures:

P.J. interviewing a member of the Corvette group.

 Those 'vettes certainly make a nice display!

Therapy!

Here's the whole group.

In the afternoon, our favorite tour guide, Dale Butel from Australia, brought his tour group (as he always does) and the Aussies once again swarmed all over, showed genuine appreciation for the antique cars, and bought lots and lots of mementos of their trip.  There were 31 people in his group this time.

 These Aussies had an ingenious method of signing our wall.   That there's no space left near the bottom wasn't a problem for them!

 Here's Dale (in the cowboy hat) chatting with Tattoo Man, a customer, and me

Meanwhile, some other members of the tour were checking their route with the help of Bob Waldmire's wonderful map.

Besides the two groups, we also had visitors from Strasbourg France, Rogers Arkansas, Balearic Islands Spain, St. Paul Minnesota, Jonesville Michigan, San Diego California, and Jay Oklahoma.  That's 61 visitors altogether!  

 Tucker, a very cute pup, brought is family from Jonesville, Michigan to visit.

And this family of four from Strasbourg, France also came to call.   Bon jour!

These Aussies were traveling independently and weren't part of Dale's group.  They're from Victoria..

Sue will be working tomorrow as I have to go to a meeting at the J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum in Claremore.  I've never visited there, so it should be interesting to see what's billed as the largest collection of guns in America.  I'm not a huge fan of guns, but I understand there are some very nice historical exhibits  there, too.  Of course, I'll report here tomorrow.

Water Logged!

Wow, that's a lot of rain!   I drove through it both coming and going to Afton Station today.  But curiously, it didn't actually rain in Afton  and barely rained  at all in Tulsa once I got home.  It's everything in between that's water logged.

But never mind that.  We still had some intrepid travelers stop in to the Station to look at the cars and hear about Route 66.  They came from Kansas City MO, E. Berlin PA, Buenos Aires Argentina,  Hull IA, and Adair and Bernice, OK.

Grandma and Grandpa from Bernice, OK are treating their grandson, who is from E. Berlin, PA to a Route 66  trip.  What could possibly be more fun?

 Toward the end of the day, a big group of 8 people, both kids and adults, arrived.  They're all from (or near) Hull, Iowa.   They're staying at Grand Lake and today was their day to explore Route 66.  After signing the wall, one of the men confessed that he had to stand on a chair to find a spot to sign.  It's true.  We're running out of space.... but what a glorious patchwork of memories the wall holds.

The kids in that group became enchanted by the pressed penny machine, and I think some of them may have blown their allowance on it.  Many pennies were squashed.

That's about all for today.    Ron was with me all day as usual, and Rann Lee dropped in for a bit.  But in all, it was a quiet, manageable day which I enjoyed very much.
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I jotted down the places from which visitors came on the two days I wasn't at the Station.   Robin and Sue greeted folks from Illinois, Indiana, Texas, Wisconsin, New Jersey, California, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Italy, and Denmark, among others.    Is there any question about this being a fun and interesting job?

At the end of a long weekend. . .

. . . I'm feeling a little tired tonight.  Since I'm still recuperating from my recent ailment, I hope nobody will care if I make this short and sweet.  Our Sunday at Afton Station was very sweet, but not short.  We had another busy day, with people traveling Route 66 for many reasons.  Those who dropped in at the Station included this group of six friends from nearby Langley and Vinita, Oklahoma....

We especially appreciated the bumper stickers on one of their saddlebags.  He is a true roadie!  "Its not the destination, it's the journey" is my very favorite.  "So many roads, so little time" is so very, very true.

This couple from Solon, Ohio arrived via Paris, France.    They were using Route 66 as their preferred pathway to Tulsa, where they will stay all week and enjoy  Tulsa's many, many Mother Road attractions.

Other visitors included folks from Anchorage, Alaska, Chandler OK, Adelaide Australia, Carbondale IL, Perth Australia, and Quinton, OK.  The Adelaide (Australia) couple is embarking on a great adventure.  After three weeks exploring Route 66 and the rest of the U.S., they will end up in New York City where they will board a cruise ship for a 35-day trip back to Australia.

The Fourth Plus One

Since I didn't blog yesterday, allow me to take this opportunity to assume you all had a festive Fourth of July, filled with fireworks, picnics, families and friends, and beer.  This year the calendar afforded us a glorious three day weekend to celebrate and I hope you are all continuing to do so.   Quite a few people chose today to drop in to Afton Station, and we were there to greet them.   Ron M., Betty, Tattoo, Scott, and I were the official greeting committee.  Also, our friends from Tulsa, Joe and Jim, came to visit at noon and spent most of the afternoon with us.  

We had visits from some very cool cars as well.

This couple from Claremore, OK along with their cute doggie named Trudy, enjoyed chatting with Tattoo
Man about their mutual love of '56 Chevys.   This neat wagon belongs to the couple from Claremore.  Photos of Tat's red, white, and blue beauty can be found elsewhere on this blog.

Three gentlemen from Joansun, Finland arrived on motorcycles.   Nice guys.  People west of Afton should be on the lookout for them, as they plan to traverse all of Route 66.

This '65 Buick Riviera was being driven by Rob Norland from Winnetka, California and his young nephew from Kewaunee, Wisconsin.  They are seeking information about ghostly occurrences on Route 66.  I told Rob to be sure to check in with Jim Hinckley when they're in Kingman, Arizona because Jim  has similar interests.  Rob's blog is about the trip can be found at www.route66riot.com.  There are some very fine Route 66 photos there.

Other visitors came from Omaha NE, Grove OK, Wisconsin Rapids WI, Bargersville IN, Van Buren AR, Dallas TX, Daytona Beach FL, and Tulsa OK.

Ron M. and I stopped at the tiny Chelsea Farmers' Market this morning and scored a quart of gorgeous blackberries and some mighty good looking tomatoes.  Yum!    See you tomorrow.  That picture makes me hungry!

Oh, What a Beautiful Day.....

This was the kind of day that causes almost everyone to remark about its perfection.   The morning was cool and the afternoon heated up, but never became stifling.  At Afton Station, we had the door open and the A/C off all day.  Nineteen travelers came through that open door, some doing major Route 66 trips and others just out for the long Fourth of July weekend.  Here is a sampling of some of those folks. . .

This couple came from Cassville, MO and were our first visitors of the day.

Then came this intrepid bicycle rider from Utica, Michigan who is pedaling his way across Route 66,and a whole lot more.  He started in Michigan and was anticipating a 60-mile leg today.  He was certainly enjoying the coolness of the morning.

These folks are from Shawnee, OK.  I loved his enthusiasm... and his t-shirt.  

Here are a couple of bikers from Palmyra, Indiana.

P.J., our frequent visitor and primo videographer, dropped in to check with me about the scheduling of groups who will be visiting Afton Station in the near future so  he can be here to immortalize them on CD.  I'm sure that the videos he produces will be available right here in the future.

There were also visitors from Sarnia, Canada,  Idabell OK, Fort Wayne IN, Ponca City OK, and Wichita, KS.   Ron M. and Betty were present to do the heavy lifting, a huge help since I'm still not particularly mobile.  Using a walker is kind of a bummer, but I should be rid of it soon.   See  you all on Saturday!

The Writing on the Wall, Part 2

Yesterday, Ron M. spent a little time snapping photos of a few of the signatures Route 66 visitors have left on the walls of the work room.  Please note that I said "walls" and not "wall".  That's because the autograph explosion has moved on to another wall due to lack of space on the first one and soon might migrate further to a third wall.  Some folks prefer to just sign, but others like to express their personalities by leaving small cartoons, funny sayings, etc.  Here are a few.  Unfortunately, the plaster on the walls doesn't make for the most user-friendly canvas, but people do the best they can and we love each and every one of them..  

Happiness is . . .

. . .sitting at the computer, fresh-from-the-farm ear of corn in one hand, deciding what to say on my blog about the wonderful visitors we had today without running over at the mouth or using too many superlatives.  I guess I'll just munch on this heavenly ear of corn and plunge right in.

Today there were 34 visitors smart enough to make the pilgrimage to Afton Station.  Some were taking long Route 66 trips and some were just taking in a bit of the Mother Road for the weekend.  They came from Memphis TN, Edgewater WI, Middleburg FL, Columbia MO, Checotah OK, Lakeville MN, Hartford SD, Alexandria VA, Lexington KY, Paris France, Dallas TX, Springfield MO, Sacramento CA, Anaheim CA, and Afton, OK    Quite a varied group from all over the USA, with a couple from France to add to the  international flavor of Route 66.

When Ron M. and I arrived at the Station, a car was just leaving.  We gestured to them to please not leave because it might take us a few minutes to open up all the rooms, but they should come in anyway.  I'm so glad we did that.  It was a great couple I've met before, from Memphis, TN and real veterans of the road.  He kept telling me that he's been waiting to meet me after I wasn't around for the last couple of his visits to the Station.  He also said something like I was the  highlight of his trip, but I think he was just trying to make me blush.  Here they are, practically newlyweds after a two year marriage.

This mother, father and son are visiting Route 66 from just outside of Paris, France.  

This family from Checotah, OK was mesmerized by the pressed penny machine.

Toward the end of the day, these two lovely '55 Thunderbirds pulled in right in front of the Station.  They were two friends, one from Sacramento, CA and the other from Anaheim, CA who are traveling together to the International Tbird Convention coming up in Springfield, MO.  The cars were painted in warm and eye-catching colors -- mint green and coral -- and they looked beautiful in front of the Station.    Coincidentally, a couple from Springfield was also visiting at the same time, and they have a white '55 Tbird!  Copious Thunderbird chat ensued as would be expected.

Betty came by and showed us the neat airbrushing she just had done on her brand new Jeep Latitude.  I like the shield so much that I'm seriously considering getting one on my Subaru.  The airbrush artist did a nice job on Betty's name as well.

 I wish I had photos and write-ups on each and every traveler who visited us today, but there just wasn't time.  Needless to say, they were all interesting people... because aren't ALL Route 66 fans interesting and special?