Thoughts from a Route 66 Business Owner: May 2011

Monday, May 30, 2011

Still around, still on vacation

I couldn't resist making a short post, despite still being on vacation. Happy Memorial Day to all.

I've been to a picturesque gristmill. . .

. . . a very tall waterfall. . .

. . . and said hi to these folks in the only Route 66 town I visited (bet many of you can guess which one!) . . .

. . . and daughter Sarah and I spent a very rainy night in a mom 'n pop motel.

. . . and, the best part of it all, attended the wedding of lifelong friend Dana and her beloved Shakir!

I've been in seven states, with more to come, but I'm heading home now. It's been great to spend a week with Sarah, visit my oldest and dearest friends, explore some new territory, and just get away. I'll fill in details when I get home. Meanwhile, can you identify that gristmill, waterfall, and wall mural?

Sunday, May 22, 2011

On Hiatus

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'll be taking approximately the next 10 days away from blogging. My daughter and I are planning to spend a week together, and since I see her so infrequently I want to devote every moment to her and the activities we've planned. You might hear something from me, but it won't be much, and I don't plan to go back to Afton Station until June 2. While I'm gone, the Station will be open for its normal days and hours, and will be lovingly tended by Phil and Marly.

Just wanted to let you know that I wasn't raptured or anything like that. I will be back, and I do look forward to resuming my blog.

I spent a good deal of last evening watching the Weather Channel's coverage of the tragic Joplin tornado. Sad, unbelievable, and so close to home. Having lived up that way for a couple of years, I'm quite familiar with that area. My heart and my thoughts go out to all who have been affected.

C. C. Ryder

"I said C.,

C. C. Rider
Oh see, what you have done
(Yea yea yea). . ."

I'll bet most of you remember that song, but I'll bet you haven't met C C in person! We had the pleasure at Afton Station today when two intrepid motorcycle riders from Keene, NH stopped in with their rescued beagle C C Ryder! This has to be the cutest doggie we've hosted at the Station, but then who can resist a pooch that gets her Route 66 kicks by riding in a basket cantilevered behind his owner's BMW cycle. Her other owner, the husband, has a nice rig as well. CC rides with goggles and a helmet, of course. Safety first, even for canines!

This isn't just a short hop for this threesome, either. They're on the road for 3 months! Great folks with a super CC whom, they say, is a perfect traveling companion.

We didn't have much business today, and I can't explain why. It was a lovely day for the most part, although those on bikes complained of major wind.

This couple is from Paris, France and are traveling Route 66 from start to finish. In the background is Richard, our new friend from Afton. He is recovering from a terrible accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury, and we welcome him to the Station any time he cares to walk down and visit.

Our only other visitor was a frequent drop-in from Bartlesville who was out for a pleasant ride. Other than the strong wind trying to toss him right off his motorcycle, he was enjoying the one day a week when he doesn't work. Always glad to have him stop in, too.

Ron M. was with me today, and Betty stopped by as well. We were able to sit outside for much of the morning. Nice!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Puppies, Babies, Lovebirds

A cute puppy, an adorable baby, newlyweds in love -- the way to a reader's heart!

Today, allow me to present some of each.

Among our 20 visitors today were . . .this cute puppy who followed a group of local Afton kids into the Station late in the day. He refused a doggie biscuit but didn't mind posing for this photo. . .

. . . and these two from Exeter, NH are taking their honeymoon trip on Route 66. They have been married one short week!

. . . and this couple from Afton biked into the Station. Baby Emily Lou had a nice ride on dad's back on a perfect day for a bicycle jaunt.

Here's Emily Lou up close. Really a beautiful child!

There were others, of course. They came from Odessa MO, Vinita OK, Alta Loma CA, Miami OK, Punta Gorda FL, and Parsons KS. Ron M. and Tattoo Man were also on hand, Tattoo Man sporting -- you guessed it -- a new tattoo! That makes 90-something. Frankly, I've lost count.

I've had more time to read Jim Hinckley's new book "Ghost Towns of Route 66" and I become more and more enthusiastic about it each time I pick it up. The photos are magnificent, and of course Jim's deep research and his way with words puts the icing on a very beautiful cake. I hope many of you will consider buying a copy, available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com or at the 2011 Route 66 Festival in Amarillo in June. If you're a true Route 66 fan, you need this in your collection!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Not much. . .

. . . to report today. We had our usual visits from lots of nice people, but there was never a crowd, so we had time to chat with everyone. Ron M. was with me all day and Betty W. stopped in for a while, too.

Our visitors, 10 in all, came from Salina KS, Thompson's Station TN, Augusta KS, Prior OK, Inola OK, Lima OH, and Olathe KS.

These two former college friends were very excited about the cars. They're from Olathe, KS and Lima, OH and are taking a partial Route 66 vacation.

That's all for today. I'm looking out the window at very cloudy skies and extremely high winds. My TV weatherman Dan says we may be in for some "severe" weather late tonight. We shall see.

ADDITION: Just received Jim Hinckley's new book "Ghost Towns of Route 66 in the mail a half hour ago. It is WONDERFUL, and the chapter about Afton (which, to be honest, is the only one I've read so far) is great and totally accurate, with about 6 great images of Afton, too.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Big Honkin' Day

Literally.

Let me explain.

This being the last day of school, the kids from the elementary grades in Afton all marched down to the new Shaved Ice stand, class by class, to get some celebratory slush. The younger kids came first, then the older ones. This march lasted all day. And since kids will be kids, they were getting their Route 66 kicks by giving the universal sign for "honk your horn" to each and every big rig that went past. So, there was constant, unrelenting truck honking all day. To be honest, I kind of liked it. Finally there was a little youthful activity in nearly-deserted Afton!

The little ones sat on the wall and slurped their slushees.

The big kids coaxed horn honks from every truck (and most cars, too) for hours as they waited for their shaved ice. This is just one class.
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Meanwhile, inside Afton Station, quite a bit of chaos was breaking loose as well. We had 22 visitors. David brought 5 ladies from the Grove Newcomers Club and gave them a great tour. Here he is with several of them.

Here are two sisters and one sister-in-law who are taking a fun "sister trip" on Route 66. They're from Somis CA, Dayton OH, and Decatur IL.

Here's another family that delighted me with their knowledge of Route 66 and their enthusiasm. They're from Buffalo, TX. The little boys are homeschooled, and this trip is part of the learning experience. Best learning experience one can get, if you ask me!

Other visitors came from Leesville LA, Coolville, OH (very cool town name!), Grove OK, Langley OK, and we finished up with four motorcycle riders from Woodstock, GA. I was busy all day with barely a moment down time. Just the way I like it!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

People. . . People Who Need People. . .

. . . are the luckiest people in the world. I guess that's why I'm so lucky. I need people, particularly those like several who came to Afton Station today.

Our first two couples were absolutely delightful and their sunny outlooks and enthusiasm for Route 66 brightened our day. These two cute people from Melbourne, Australia are on a 3-month tour of the United States. No wonder they're so happy! I'm jealous! They're traveling all over the country with a camera, mounted on the front of their car, which is taking pictures every 5 seconds. They intend to post the results, time lapse of course, when they arrive back in Australia next month and he promised he'd let me know when it's posted, at which time I'll share with all of you. The couple spent a long time walking around Afton and snapping photos of everything!

Following closely behind was this couple from Denton, TX. They too are taking their time and seeing and doing everything along Route 66. They've enjoyed meeting a lot of the people along the road, and intend to continue slowly enough to make sure they don't miss a thing. I can't tell you how much I like people like these folks. Enthusiasm is contagious, and sometimes I need people like this to make my day.

It wasn't a very busy day today, but we didn't need busy. It was great nonetheless. Later in the day we were visited by a couple from Austin, TX and after that by a couple from Duncan, OK. His father owned the movie theater in Afton many years ago! Naturally, I asked him if he had any photos, and his wife said she'd see what she could find. I've been looking for a photo of the Ritz Theater for a long time. Maybe we'll meet with some success soon.

Betty W. dropped in after church, and Dean "Crazy Legs" Walker also drove down from Baxter Springs, KS to spend part of the afternoon. And of course Ron M. was with me all day. He's such a help at the Station and is great with the visitors, too.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

In a Nutshell

Akron OH, Bird Island OK, Sapulpa OK, Lancaster CA, Spavinaw OK, French Lick IN, St. Louis MO, Afton OK. . .

That was the parade of 15 visitors who marched into Afton Station this cloudy, chilly Saturday. There were also surprise visits from Betty W., Tattoo Man (who brought visiting California friends to see the Station), and Reuben and Colleen Tipton (who came to tell me of a great vintage car video and also told me that they planted many acres of corn on their farm outside Afton, so it looks like we'll be getting more of their unreal, magnificent corn this summer!!)

Betty W. brought me beautiful roses from her own garden. Nothing like the perfume coming from fresh cut roses to obliterate the "gas station" smell of ancient leaking oil, I always say!

The young couple from Sapulpa live just a few houses down from the now closed Frankoma Pottery factory and showroom. How sad that the iconic business is permanently closed and will be selling off everything next week.

This gentleman, Dr. Howell, is a historian working for the newspaper that covers the Vinita-Grove-Afton area. I've read many of his wonderfully-researched articles in the past few years. He is also the former Tulsa Superintendent of Schools. He was spending Saturday researching Afton and had previously never visited the Station. So good to meet him, and I look forward to seeing him again and hearing his stories of the "old days" in this area.

The husband and wife from Akron, OH are fortunate enough to be about a quarter of the way through a 3 month tour of Route 66 and other destinations in their RV. They are in absolutely NO hurry. In fact, they visited us around noon. At 3:30, when Ron M. and I left to drive home, we passed the winery that's 14 miles down the road from us and their car was there! That's s-l-o-w! They're missing nothing. I'm so jealous!

A young couple from Afton stopped in. She's the Principal of Afton Elementary School and he's a local agriculturalist. We need more enthusiastic young folks like these in Afton. We even discussed the possibility of having a parade! Between our old cars and the kids in the grade school we'd have a pretty good start!

Ron M. wandered outside and found this little doggie who had been left to wait in the Jeep while his people, the Sapulpa couple, were inside. On such a cool windy day, I'm sure he was as happy as could be to just hang out in the car for a while.

On the way out of town, Ron M. and I stopped for our very first Shaved Ice from the new stand. He had cherry and I had pina colada. That stuff is going to be GREAT on a hot summer day. Even today, it was refreshing!

I may have forgotten some details, but I'm hurrying so I can watch a special Route 66 edition of the TV show "Discover Oklahoma".

Friday, May 13, 2011

There are days, it seems. . .

. . . when the roster doesn't show great numbers of visitors, but there's activity all day. Enough to make me tired! I'm home now, and watching the weather since a big, vicious storm is implanted directly over Afton, according to Dan, my favorite local weatherman.

We had 12 visitors today, and eight of them were German tourists on Harleys who drove right past Afton Station and down to the convenience store to get gas. Ron M. went outside and waved to them, indicating they missed the best (and virtually ONLY) good Route 66 attraction in the town. So, they walked back a block and came for a visit. Not all of them, but eight of the probably 12 in the group. Thanks, Ron M.!

The lovely gentleman from Miller, MO who donated the antique cash register to us stopped in for a visit and told me about an interesting vintage motorhome parked near where he lives. I just might need to make a little trip up there one of these days! Another man, who said he was from New Jersey but wasn't very forthcoming with other info, stopped by and perused the cars.

Our final visitors were a couple from Shelbyville, KY who are doing Route 66 the right way. They have their guidebooks, their motorhome, and a huge load of enthusiasm for everything they've seen or plan to see as they make their way to Santa Monica. They were fun to talk to and brightened the day for us. The husband makes miniature models of gas stations, and I hope I planted the idea in his mind that I'd love to have one of Afton Station!!

Other bright spots of the day were visits from Betty W., and several hours with Phil, who hung out with us for much of the morning. Phil has also donated a framed enlargement of an amusing photo of an early car (circa 1910) that has been in a wreck. I'm sure it wasn't amusing for the guy who lost his beautiful "flivver", but ... well, you have to see it to understand.
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Blogger, which is my blog host (I think that's the term) was down for most of yesterday and this morning, so this blog post is pretty late. Bet you didn't even notice! LOL!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Up and Down Day

In his comment on yesterday's blog, my friend Denny suggested that I went through a whole range of emotions yesterday. He was correct, and today was no different. Since today was a mixture of boredom, sadness, and crowd control, I will present today's activities in a series of short thoughts I wrote throughout the day.

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I'm in Afton, and I can't stop looking at all the nice things Betty Baumann has made for me to sell here. The word of her passing has spread and all of her friends are mourning her loss and the loss of her great talent.

_________

It's a good day for mourning. The sky is dark as if rain is coming, although none is predicted until much later tonight. The Station is so hot and humid that I had to turn on the A/C. My first guests arrived before I did. A carload of French folks got an early start after staying in Baxter Springs, KS last night. The Leost family is from Paris, and the dad spoke fine English and had studied a lot for their trip.

Following that, a trucker from Gary, IN came in looking for a match to light a cigar. I guess I should keep some handy for such occasions. The best I could do was a couple pulled out of one of the vintage matchbooks in my collection, but that was fine with him. We aim to please! He also took a quick look at the car museum.

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Tattoo Man was in Pontiac, IL last weekend for the Bob Waldmire/Red Carpet Corridor celebration and obtained for Afton Station a tire from one of Bob's vehicles. Knowing that Bob traveled thousands of miles on Route 66 on that tire makes it special, and we will hang it in the new showroom.

Speaking of the new showroom, I can't wait to motivate someone (ahem, David) to create for me a means to begin hanging things on the walls. It looks very empty in its current state, and I've accumulated plenty with which to decorate it.

__________

I've had no visitors for the last two hours and I'm bored to death. I forgot to bring a book to read and it's hot in here, causing me to be too lazy to do much of anything. My energy level is ZERO!

__________

A nice lady named Terrie made the later hours very pleasant. She came to fetch my entire Afton postcard collection to scan and put on a disk for presentation at the annual Afton High School reunion. We had a great conversation and she really cheered me up. I'm glad to make this new friend!

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It's been one of THOSE days! Remember when I said I was bored? Forget it! Everyone showed up at the last moment, and I didn't get out of Afton until after 4 p.m. Super couples from Sutter Creek, CA and Miami, OK came after my regular closing hours, and I'm sure glad I remained open for them, because not long after that, our friends from the Czeck Republic came for a visit, a group of 11 led by Zdenek Jurasek. Zdenek has brought his groups before, and they're always great people. Good to see them! (Ironically, they bought quite a lot of Betty Baumann's merchandise.

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The Shaved Ice place opened right at 3 p.m. and seemed to have quite a good number of customers. Excellent!

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Ok, I'm done. And I'm not kidding. Time for me to collapse. Tomorrow is another day.

Betty Baumann, the very nice lady who made all those beautiful hand crafted items we sell at Afton Station, died, along with her boyfriend, in a motorcycle accident last night. I'm quite shaken by this, having just heard about it on the news program I was watching during dialysis this morning. She and Jim, her boyfriend, loved to ride their Harley and spent many weekends touring the back roads. This is such a tragedy. Besides being a lovely person, she was an incredibly gifted seamstress and craftswoman. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this at a later time.
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Lately, I've missed out on several great Route 66 gatherings, most of which take place on weekends when I don't like to leave Afton Station, even though I have capable, trustworthy, and usually-available help. I believe in the philosophy that an owner/manager should be on site every moment, if possible. There are a few exceptions to this, such as a couple of short trips I'll be taking soon, but for the most part, I won't go anywhere during our "open" hours.

I missed two great events this past week. One was the Blue Tie Affair and the Blue Whale on Route 66 in Catoosa, held to raise funds for restoration of our beloved Whale. It was an evening, al fresco dinner party and from what I've heard it was extraordinarily fun. In that case, I didn't go because I was afraid it would be a long night, and I had to get up the next morning around 4 a.m. for dialysis. (I'm not as young as I used to be!) Then, this past weekend, Pontiac IL held a tribute to Bob Waldmire during the Red Carpet Corridor event, and among other things, attendees were each allowed to paint a bit of a large mural as a tribute to Bob. That, too, sounded like a lot of fun, and it would have been nice to visit with some of my Route 66 friends from around the country. Alas, when I made my choice to commit myself to Afton Station, I knew I'd be limited in my ability to travel. I'm not complaining. Sometimes I'm just wistful.
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Yesterday I was interviewed by a writer and researcher from Albuquerque, NM named David Dunaway. David King Dunaway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia He's doing some oral history research and was interested in me as an example of someone who hasn't had a business on Route 66 for a very long time (although 10 years seems like a long time to me, it's peanuts compared to folks like Angel Delgadillo and others). He's a fantastic interviewer and the hour went very quickly. I took one of his books that I own and he autographed it for me. The interview took place at the McBirney Mansion in Tulsa, a huge mansion left over from Tulsa's "Oil Boom" days, and which is now used as a very elegant hotel/ bed and breakfast. The only problem was lack of air conditioning on a very warm afternoon. All in all, it was a good experience. McBirney Mansion - Tulsa, Oklahoma