Wild and Crazy Afternoon

I woke up so early this morning that after I drove to Vinita for breakfast at Clanton's I still had nearly an hour before I had to be at Afton Station.  I decided to pull into a parking lot in Vinita to read the paper and listen to Howard Stern on Sirius/XM (which is the best invention ever!).  Instead, I fell asleep and had a magnificent dream that nearly caused me to be late to open the Station.  In it, I was in the car with Howard Stern and we were driving through New Mexico looking for a motel to purchase.  We planned that I would be the desk clerk and he would be the maid. We were also going to buy some stuffed horses and open a "horse museum" next to the motel.  Then I woke up, but I'm sort of sorry the dream couldn't have continued. It was quite bizarre!

Among the travelers today were my first Bulgarians, a man who has 15,000 squashed pennies, and a Public Radio reporter from Berlin, Germany.   Just another day at the Station!

 The morning was quiet, but the afternoon was wild and wooley!  There were 19 visitors altogether, and they came from Paris, France, El Reno OK, Twin Rivers MI, Sofia Bulgaria, Nashville IN, Bella Vista AR, Hollow Rock TN, Berlin Germany, Kansas City MO, and Santa Rosa CA.

This French couple was first in the door this morning.  They had a chance to speak French with David for a while, since he and Marly were out back working on the motor home.   Despite many years of French language lessons, I still carry on a very marginal conversationn  myself.

This man and woman from El Reno, OK were driving a semi, and said they'd been eager to see the Station for some time since his father is a strong Packard owner and lover.  They were quite satisfied with what they saw, and I have a feeling he'll be back with his dad one of these days.   

I don't believe we've been visited by any Bulgarian citizens before, but this young couple were adventuring across Route 66 and seemed to be enjoying every minute of being their country's pioneers.  They took some pressed pennies home to Sofia to show proof of their trip.

So many visitors arrived at the same time near the end of the day that I was getting confused.  I just hope I gave a good welcome to each and every one of them.  In the midst of the rush, this beautiful lady from German Public Radio came in to interview me.   She has been stationed in the U.S. for a couple of years and transmits stories back to Berlin from here.  She's doing a story about Route 66, so after she interviewed me, she was able to talk to some of the folks who were visiting the Station.  She was most pleasant, and I believe I pulled it together enough during the chaos to have some good words for the Mother Road.  

I was a little late leaving, but Marly was still at the Station in case any others drove in.   This Thursday, I'll be very late getting home due to a visit from a bus load of people from Green Bay, WI.  They're supposed to be there around 3 or 4 p.m. so I might not have time to write a blog that afternoon.  I'll tell you all about it on Friday.