Show and Tell

People are so interesting!     And interesting people make my days at Afton Station worth every bit of the long drive to get there and get home.  There was an abundance of interesting folks on Route 66 today, and I'm grateful that so many of them dropped in to the Station.

Here is Johan, from Kinrooi, in the Belgian province of Limburg.  

Johan is, without a doubt, one of the most avid foreign Route 66 fan ever to have visited us here.  He's also a big fan of any Americana from the '50s, particularly Buddy Holly.  He has enough English to converse with ease.  He's on his very first vacation, and Route 66 was tops on his bucket list.  His enthusiasm was contageous, and Ron M., Tattoo Man, and I caught it immediately.  He produced a book, fully professionally bound, which included photos of his residence in Belgium, decorated entirely in a '50s theme -- but not the usual cutouts of Elvis, etc.  Oh no!  He has all the bushes around his house sculpted into topiary Route 66 shields, guitars, etc.  He has a mock cemetery in his yard and "graves" (rather elaborate ones at that) of Marilyn Monroe, Buddy Holly, Elvis, etc.  He has a couple of fabulous '50s cars, and I could go on and on.   This man lives and breathes Route 66!

He's collecting autographs of all the folks he meets along the road.  Oh boy, I wanted to go back to Belgium with him!!  [Sigh...]

There was more show-and-tell today, too.  This couple from Seneca Falls, NY (on the Finger Lakes) brought Jake for us to meet.   Jake is their mascot when they travel, is present in all of their vacation photos, and has a whole chain of hat pins that commemorate his various travels, both in America and abroad.

This lady from Wilmington, Delaware is traveling Route 66 with her mother, destination Los Angeles.  Their pup named Shelby came along for the ride, so of course we greeted him warmly at Afton Station.

This very cheery couple came to us from Verona, Italy and are intrigued by everything they've seen so far.  Off to California for them, too!

Other visitors today came from Cameron AR, Hackett AR, Jamestown IN, Laguna Beach CA, Dade City FL, Houston MO, Tulsa OK, and Osawatomie, KS.  It was a very busy and pleasant day.   There was a lot of buying done today too, and I never complain about that little plus!

There's a Wikipedia entry for Afton Station!  I don't know who put it there, but I like it.  It appears to be a compilation of portions of a dozen or so articles about the Station.  I made some minor corrections to it, and Ron M. is going to make the corrections on line for me today.  If anyone knows who posted the article, let me know.