Just another cattle drive on Route 66...

It's often said that life on the Mother Road is rarely dull. Today was one of those days that proves the point in a big way. To begin with, there was the longhorn cattle drive down Route 66 this morning. I kid you not. Beginning in Bushyhead, a full-blown herd of 66 longhorn steers were being driven down the right-of-way toward the Claremore Rodeo grounds, and of course you know there was no way I was going to miss that. Ron M. was with me, and we caught up with the cattle at about the halfway point of their trip. I venture to say there were more drovers than there were cattle, but I guess that's necessary when you're herding steers down a public highway. Also, it lost a little of that Wild West feeling since the drive was being protected by a half dozen state police cars and a truck that bore the legend "Cattle Drive In Progress" bringing up the rear. Nevertheless, it was quite a sight! Unfortunately, the state cops were hell-bent on not letting us stop or even slow down for photos so, while I drove, Ron hung the camera out the window and took these on the fly. I think he did a great job. http://tinyurl.com/qcbwzy

The whole 12-mile event was done in tribute to Rogers Co. citizen Clem McSpadden (great-nephew of Will Rogers) who died recently, and who had been the mover and shaker behind the rodeo scene in this part of the world. Bet you didn't know that today was officially Clem McSpadden Day, did you? :-)

But that was just the tip of the iceberg of my less-than-boring day. We had a whopping SEVENTY-THREE visitors at Afton Station! It was on wild day, with scarcely a minute for breathing or having lunch or just kicking back. The biggest surprise was the annual visit from the Tulsa Harley Club, which roared into the Station forty strong. They come every year, but never let me know ahead of time. It really doesn't matter, though. I love having them and they're great guests. They stayed for about 20 or 30 minutes, bought a lot of water and pop (it was a hot day) and checked out the cars and the Route 66 stuff.

The rest of the guests came from Idabell, Broken Bow, Grove, Salina, and Vinita OK, Fayetteville AR, Chanute KS, Plano TX, Laguna Beach CA, Belton MO, Milwaukee WI, Shreveport LA, Poplar Grove IL, and Germany. I believe that greeting visitors from 9 states and one foreign country breaks the one-day record at Afton Station. Everyone is on the road for the Memorial Day weekend, and it certainly isn't hurting us. I love days like this. And tomorrow, the Wichita (KS) Model A Club is arriving. If anyone wants to see about 20 Model As, come to Afton at about noon tomorrow. It should be fun!

Note the new paint job on our roof in one of the above photos. Yes, it's finally done, and back to it's terra cotta look.