Oh, Hail !!

Just another beautiful sunrise on Route 66!
I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to start opening earlier. I might as well, since I'm awake anyway. Today I arrived at 8:45 and visitors were at the door at 9, folks from Waco, TX who emitted orgasmic shrieks over the cars. I love it when the oohs and aahs are that loud! David was here yesterday and managed to wedge another two cars into the showroom, so it's pretty tight in there now, with barely any room to pass between them and making photography difficult.

Lots of log trucks are driving past today. I wouldn't think of Oklahoma as being much of a logging state, but what do I know of it?

More visitors arrived prior to official opening time - a couple from Wyoming doing the Route. We talked about perception based on past experience. To folks from a tiny town in Wyoming, eastern Oklahoma seemed busy. To me, coming from a NYC suburb, it seems as dead as last summer's crickets. After that, in rather rapid succession, we were visited by folks from San Francisco, Kansas City, Miami OK, and Tampa, FL.

By noon, Betty had come for a visit and we'd already visited with 13 guests. Ron called from Tulsa to say that a big storm was heading my way, and we saw a lot of blackness in the western sky. We brought the flags and signs in, then sat and watched the lightning and listened to the thunder boomers. When the heavy rain stopped, Betty left and I called Ron, who was experiencing a hailstorm at that moment. So, I drove my car under the portico to protect it and waited. With no signs out, I didn't expect any more guests, so I started to get ready to leave. At the last moment my friends the Mormon missionary guys came in to say hi. Then I left and had an exciting drive home through not one, but TWO hailstorms. Fortunately, the hail was small and my car survived. I waited one out under a tree, then boldly went forth through the second one. I've had it with precipitation of any kind at this point! At least I had that beautiful sunrise this morning.