Snap out of it!

Besides seeing a few lakes where there were never lakes before and doing a lot of swerving in Claremore to avoid the dozens of very large and deep potholes that seem to have opened up overnight, driving to Afton this morning was essentially a non-event. I did pass through one locally-contained thunderstorm that was showing off it's power by producing continuous cloud-to-ground lightning strikes. The cows seemed blissfully unaffected. I thought it was pretty.

I'm at the Station now and it's dark, chilly, and drizzling. I'm hoping for at least a few visitors. This being Kentucky Derby Day, I'm already a little bit depressed, as has happened to me every year for the past seven since my divorce. I miss the Derby, all the parties and hooplah and, in the years when we didn't actually go to the Derby, the gigantic party we would throw. Ah well, life goes on. It would just be nice to share this day with other people, but the weather being what it is, I'm not optimistic.

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David just appeared with several 10-lb. bags of Vidalia onions that his Masonic shrine is selling. I told him I'd try to sell a few bags here. I'll buy a bag myself because I plan to make pickles next week, and my bread-and-butter pickle recipe uses a lot of onions.

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Noon. Still no visitors.

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How much do I like the sound of the train whistle as the trains rumble down the tracks? Sometimes it makes my whole day.

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2:30 p.m. -- The rain has let up, and travelers have come out of the woodwork. In the last two hours, I've visited with 14 people: two from Red Oak TX, three from Grove OK, two from Springfield MO, two from Phoenix AZ, three from Tulsa OK, one from Coffeyville KS, and one from Owasso OK. I'm always fascinated by people's touring styles. The slow ones stay for a long time and look at everything in great detail. The quickies look around and dash out. Fortunately, even the quickies generally express their satisfaction with Afton Station and leave a nice donation. I think it's just how people differ. The funniest ones are the couples in which the man wants to spend tons of time oohing and aahing over each car, while I can tell that the wife just wants to move along. In that case, I try to engage the woman in conversation so she won't go nuts while waiting. There was a lot of that going on today.

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I encountered a loose cow on Route 66 on the way home. Since several others had pulled over and were trying to direct her to the side of the road, I didn't stop and add to the confusion. It would have made a great photo op, though. I made it home in time to watch the Derby on TV.

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On the way out of Afton, I stopped to take a few pictures for the upcoming Afton slideshow (I'm still working on it.) Since I don't have any other pics to show you today, here are a few of those.

The bank, before and after.....

The school, before and after....