Rainy Sunday

Today is one butt-ugly day, weatherwise. My childhood Easter memories of getting all dolled up for church on a beautiful spring day in hat, new outfit, and even a corsage from my daddy are the direct anthesis of my reality today -- 10 a.m., constant drizzle, gray skies, chilly, sitting in an ancient filling station watching a small town crumble before my eyes. But life is nothing if not contrasts. How can we appreciate one thing if we don't know it's opposite?

I like the splash of tires as cars roll past. I love the train whistles -- so regular, so predictable. I don't even mind the intermittent hum of the heater, pumping out a little comfort for me. And I love the silence that falls between these things. I have a big bag of those fat, barely salted pretzels for lunch. I've been craving them for weeks. I have all day to completely ignore responsibilities such as washing the display cabinets, scrubbing the toilet, doing paperwork.

The basket of Hershey's Kisses wrapped in Easter purple is all that's around to remind me of the significance of the day. But it's warm here, and I have a stack of saved Sunday crosswords to keep me occupied. I don't anticipate many, if any, visitors. If they do come, it will be a bonus blessing. Afton is finally starting to feel like home, or at least home away from home. I am, for all intents and purposes, content.

Well, well, well! Four visitors arrived, all at once -- a couple from Enid, OK and one from Kansas City. They seem to be enjoying themselves although this isn't much of a travel day. The man from Enid is a big time car collector and enthusiast and we have some friends in common. He told me that Tulsa is developing a Concours of it's own, and we'll be getting an invitation. Excellent!

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It's now 1:30 and the sky is clearing and the rain coming to an end. Perhaps we'll see some sun today after all. I cleaned a little, changed the message on the answering machine, ate pretzels, and did a crossword puzzle. I miss the New York Times Sunday crossword. The ones in the local papers are too easy.

More visitors, this time a carload of Brits. Only three of the six in the big SUV came in, and the rest stayed in the car. The gentleman said they'd had a trying day, having to be pulled out of a deep mud puddle, then getting lost several times in Missouri despite having an EZ66 Guide and several navigators. They're still enjoying America, despite it all.

Finally, Marly came in to say hi and do a little work on the 2CV. He told me to go on home and he'd close for me. Perfect! I got on the road about 15 minutes early, after a day that turned out to be pretty good after all.

Eat your heart out, Rich Henry!

Rich Henry is a terriffic guy who owns and operates Henry's Rabbit Ranch on Route 66 in Staunton, Illinois. He has a great gift shop, an interesting building and property, and dozens of bunnies! The queen bunny, Montana, passed away last year, but Rich is training another of his crew to take her place as official receiver of visitors. They are great ambassadors of the Mother Road. Anyway..... today Afton Station took on the rabbit theme in honor of Easter weekend. Here are a couple of our bunnies.

Both Tattoo Man and Tripper were embarrassed about posing for these pictures, and made me promise I wouldn't publish them. I guess this proves I just can't be trusted. LOL!

The morning started out slowly, but picked up later. The day was gloriously sunny, a perfect traveling day. Lots of cars and motorcycles drove past, but we only had 13 visitors in total. One group was a mini van that unloaded 8 adults, a la a clown car at the circus. Turned out it was a big family -- mother and father, three adult daughters and their husbands. The parents live in Afton and their kids had come to visit them from North Dakota and Minnesota. We also hosted a father and his young son from Dewey, OK and a very sweet lady from Vinita, OK.

We were closing up when Karen and David Baker arrived. He was sporting a University of Kentucky shirt, so I was delighted to reopen and invite them in. I've never met them before, but I think they were the first folks from my alma mater to darken the door of Afton Station, and I was thrilled!!! They live in Springfield, MO now, but we had some good exchange of college memories before they left.

After the Bakers left, we closed up and headed for home. We left 45 minutes late, so I hopped (to continue the rabbit theme) on the turnpike and floored it. Tomorrow we're supposed to have rain all day. That, combined with the fact that it's a holiday, will probably mean very few visitors, but I plan to go to Afton Station anyway. I really don't have anything else to do.

Happy Easter! Happy Passover!