A Dog Named Chicken

It was a marvelous mix of visitors at Afton Station today, but surely the most uniquely-named was a dog named.... Chicken! Yes, really. Here he is, and he was a cutie! The pet of a family of three from Norman, OK was so named because when he was a pup he was afraid of just about everything. That's not true any more, but the name stuck.
Birthday Boy Ron M. rode with me to Afton today, and Tattoo Man was already there when we arrived. The morning was a little slow, but we used the time by pondering important questions such as who said "Sufferin' Succotash" in the old comics. (We later recalled that it was Daffy Duck, but I just looked it up on Wikipedia I found we were wrong. It was Sylvester the Cat.) But I digress....

A gentleman from Afton came in with his grandson from Houston, TX. The older man, who has visited before, told me he has some old pictures of Afton he'll let me copy for our history slide show. We also had several avid Route 66 fans visit. James Dawson from Bentonville AR and the Nagel family from Des Moines, IA were all on seriously-researched Route 66 trips. Having studied the Route for years, they were sure they could complete their trips without missing any of the significant sights. Oh, how I wish others would take a page from their book!

Other visitors hailed from Tuscaloosa AL, Centerton MO, Independence MO (with two very cute dogs), Miami OK, Blue Jacket OK, and those folks from Norman OK with their dog. Several children accompanied their parents today, too.

Could it be? Are those people on the Afton water tower? Yes! Looks like they're up there prepping for a new paint job. So that's what they're doing with the $12 Occupancy Tax they collected from Afton Station this year! :-)

Friend Brad Nickson tells me that the wonderful old neon sign at the El Rancho Grande Restaurante on Route 66 in Tulsa is in the process of being restored. I'll furnish a photo tomorrow, or even better, I'll post Brad's excellent picture as soon as I get his permission. Great news for Tulsa Route 66!

Signs

Although the above poster hangs in my office right next to my desk, I tend to look right past it because I'm so used to seeing it there. But today, for some reason, it commanded my attention. Since I've chronicled the restoration of Tulsa's beloved Meadow Gold sign here on the blog, I think you might be interested in it. It's a very popular piece by local photographer Greg Roach, produced just in time for our 2004 International Tulsa Route 66 Festival. It's a photo collage of signs from all over Tulsa, and on the original poster Greg quotes from Michael Wallis's "Route 66: The Mother Road":

"Signs are the ambassadors of Route 66. They are symbols of who we were and who we are and they connect travelers to their journey. Signs are forever."

It's amazing how many Route 66 enthusiasts are also interested in signage. Attempts to save, resurrect, and restore signs are taking place in many Route 66 states and cities. New Mexico has been very actively restoring it's neon heritage. I recently heard that the Tulsa Historical Society is logging all the neon in the city and so far, if I remember my figures correctly, they've logged 60-some existing neon signs right here in town.

It's always sad to see a beautiful neon sign replaced by one of those evil backlit plastic things. I wonder if some day we'll look back and feel nostalgic about backlit plastic. I doubt it!
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Thanks to a suggestion by Ron, I've changed my blog instructions so that it isn't necessary to have a Google email account in order to post a comment. I never even knew this was a problem. But now... go ahead and comment away!

Oh, what a beautiful morning!

Call me weird, but there's nothing like waking up in a motel on a cool midsummer morning, when the low-slung fog blankets the surrounding fields and the sun is rising like a gigantic flaming ball in the east. I am energized! Now I'm sitting in Mom's, a cafe in Miami that's brand new to me. The chance to try a new diner adds to my enthusiasm. I think I'm the only one here who isn't sporting a John Deere cap (or a close fascimile).

This is a mini-vacation for me. Eating in this new place is a two-part experience. Atmosphere is No. 1, and Mom's gets an A from me for that. The food, on the other hand, gets a B-. My breakfast just arrived. The omelet is big and decent, but the bacon is somewhat flavorless, and both the grits and toast are swimming in melted margarine. But never mind that. I'm just glad to be here. The temperature was only 65 when I left the motel this morning. It's only 6:30 now, I'm only 15 minutes away from Afton Station, and I don't have to be there until 9:30. I have three hours to roam! The motel last night was just fine. No mistake about it, it was definitely of the mom 'n pop variety, but very clean and lacking nothing (except perhaps a decent sized bar of soap). They do have "theme rooms", but I didn't ask for one. I managed to sleep like a baby without, surprisingly, any nightmares involving being devoured by gigantic purple roses. The photos of the room will explain. But hey, nobody ever said that motel owners have to be interior designers!

Last night was great. I met up with old friends Nancy and John Howard from South Carolina at David's house, and after cocktails we all headed for dinner at a local Grove restaurant where I had the greatest catfish EVER (although way more than we could eat). It was nice to catch up with John and Nancy, whom we've known for about 30 years. They'll be driving over to Afton Station later to check out the Station.

After breakfast, I drove east on Route 66 to Miami, Commerce, and Cardin. There wasn't much new to photograph other than one of the new Route 66 stencils on the roads of Commerce (coming soon to Afton too, if I can swing it), the Dairy King building in Commerce, and the beautiful Coleman Theater in Miami.

And so.... finally it was time to drive back to Afton and open the Station. My first visitor was a man from St. Paul MN who came to see the town where his father was born in 1918. Since it was obvious that Afton is nothing like it was almost 100 years ago, I produced some of the postcard images I've collected of the town at the turn of the century. He was thrilled, and I promised to send him scans of all the images I own.

Nancy and John arrived with David shortly after that. I think they enjoyed finally seeing Afton Station, since Nancy is a regular blog reader. It was so great to spend some more time with them, and wish their visit could be longer. I'm upset, however, that David rushed them out so quickly that I didn't get to take a picture of them. There were 16 other guests today, from Dexter MI, Fairland, Grove, Tulsa, and Claremore OK, and Paso Robles, CA. I was especially excited about a visit from four high school seniors from Tulsa who decided to spend a day of their summer vacation exploring Route 66. I told them to tell all their friends to give it a try, too! Wouldn't it be wonderful if traveling 66 became a high school fad!

Can't think of a name for this entry :-)

After a succession of thunder boomers interrupted my sleep several times last night, I drove to Afton in a fog, both literally and figuratively. I have just arrived and it appears that the rain has stopped for good. I'm now awaiting my special guest of the day, Lauren Kidd from the alumni office of my alma mater, the University of Kentucky, who has decided she wants to spend the day with me at Afton Station to see what Route 66 is all about. I just hope the weather won't interfere with her plan to drive here from OKC this morning, because I love to show off "my" Route 66 to newbies.

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Well, Lauren arrived, and so did lots and lots of visitors. Since I just got home from dinner (sushi!) with Lauren, I'm a little short on time tonight, so this will be brief. I had visitors from Lakewood CA, Independence KS, Fontana CA, Norwood CA, New Eddingburg AR, Perkins OK, Claremore OK, Richmond KY, Montreal Quebec Canada, Garner IA, Minneapolis MN, Oologah OK, and Paris, France. Also, my friend Emily Priddy from Tulsa came by for a couple of hours on her way to a job in Miami. It was an extremely busy day, and I think Lauren got a good taste of what Afton Station is all about. Just as we were leaving, Marly came by. I left him there to close up, and as we were driving away, two more cars came in. So, the 32 people I recorded as visiting today increased by several after we left.

Lauren (left) and Emily (right)

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Since I won't be home tomorrow night, I'll tell you my plans. Since some old CT friends are coming to OK, I'll be driving up to Afton tomorrow after dialysis, then going to dinner with David, Sylvie and our CT friends, then staying at a motel up there in Afton so I can take my time at dinner and drink a little wine without having to drive back to Tulsa. I'm looking forward to this because although I have recommended the Route 66 Motel (just 2 miles from Afton Station) to many visitors, I've never stayed there myself. I'm not very comfortable recommending a place for which I don't have first-hand knowledge, even though others have told me it's quite nice. After tomorrow night, I'll let you know.

Birthday Observations

Wednesday is the 1st birthday of this blog! It's hard to believe I've been doing this for a full year. I've enjoyed it immensely and have no intention of stopping my daily ramblings. From childhood, beginning almost as soon as I could write, I was a very determined diary-keeper, and somewhere around here I have a whole carton of my old journals and diaries. I did this for years, then stopped soon after I got married and never resumed daily writing. I must say that I've evolved just a little bit from those early days, where my most pithy entries were things like "I got an A+ on my multiplication tables" or "My mother made me go to my room and I'm SO MAD!" I just hope I haven't bored any of my readers into a stupor this year -- but then if I had, I guess you wouldn't still be around to read this. I do appreciate all of you, and hope you stick with me for a while longer. Since I'm the one who won't be around on Wednesday, I'm giving myself an early birthday cake.

I'm trying to clean up my photo files a bit, so here are a few pictures I took in the past week or two, all on Route 66 of course.
I posted a picture of part of this mural mural in Chelsea a few weeks ago. The artist has been at work every day when I drive past, and soon the whole building will be covered with color.


This is how I display my magnets for sale at Afton Station. I get some from a supplier/friend and make some of them myself.


Just another broken window in an abandoned building.

A day of gifts

A day of gifts on Route 66 ! The weather itself was a gift -- sunny, balmy but not hot, a great day to be outside. So, that's what we did. Ron and I sat outdoors as much as possible, but a steady stream of visitors prevented us from basking in the greatness of the day for very many uninterrupted periods.

We had 37 visitors, and they came from everywhere. Our only foreign visitors were from Denmark, but we also visited with folks from Cookville TN, Amarillo TX, St. Louis MO, Golden CO, Louisberg KS, Springfield MO. Betty came and brought a gift of some corn from her friend's garden for Ron and me. (I just ate some, and it's mighty good.)

A large family group came in -- five little kids and three adults (3 generations). The kids all got a kick out of the penny smashing machine. They're staying at Grand Lake with other relatives , a total of 34 people in the house this week, 11 of them kids! Yikes! As a person with virtually NO family, I thought that sounded both incredibly scary and lots of fun! A wonderful gentleman named David Eames came to Afton Station this afternoon with his two sons, and handed me one of the most lovely gifts I've received in ages, and surely THE best I've ever received from someone I don't really know. He said he just wanted to give it to me because he knew and respected my work here at Afton. Here's a picture of David and his sons, and here's the beautiful metal sculpture he made himself, which will soon be hanging in a window of Afton Station. Frankly, I really felt honored that Mr. Eames would gift me without knowing me. Some of his work can be seen here: Fossil Forge - Fossil ForgeThis is a rather abbreviated blog entry today, but I have much to do, and next week will be kind of crazy, too. Meanwhile, here's a picture of today's sunrise.

Look Down

Since I began my love affair with driving Oklahoma Route 66 almost 10 years ago, I've been constantly seduced by the big skies, expansive vistas, monumental cloud formations, and spectacular sunrises and sunsets. I've barely taken a moment to look down, to think small instead of big. So today, I cast my gaze downward as I drove to Afton.

What did I see? Litter, of course. . . But also small, delicate yellow flowers growing by the side of the road . . . . . .roadside crosses memorializing those who lost their lives on Route 66 . . .. . . the sadness of roadkill.

There's so much more on Route 66 than the vintage buildings, the romance of nostalgia, the iconic sights, and the wonderful people. There's also a whole tiny, usually-ignored world down at street level. There is birth and death happening. Animals are being slaughtered by passing cars. Wildflowers are flourishing in their remains. Discarded paper is undergoing natural, albeit ugly, recycling. Aluminum cans and plastic bags are not. Birds are feeding on the seeds from the wildflowers. Grasses are trying to reclaim the plains which belong to them.

A few years ago I gave up my fantasy of finding an old Burma Shave sign lying in the tall grass along the side of the road. It was probably then that I stopped looking down. I vow to correct that in the future.

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What began as a fairly slow day at Afton Station morphed into a crazy busy one, with some great, interesting guests, 34 in all. Fifteen members of the Valley Antique Car Club from Russellville, AR came for a second year in a row to have a look at the cars. A gentleman selling popcorn machines stopped in (sorry, we already have one!), a family of four from Kingsville Ontario, Canada visited, as well as folks from Bixby, Ponca City, Eufala, and Salina OK. Chanute, KS and Nixa, MO were also represented in our guest book.

A lovely family from Wales in the United Kingdom visited (my first Welsh visitors this year!). The 14-year-old daughter is a vintage car lover! Wow, that doesn't happen very often. The family has purchased an old Packard in St. Louis and is having it shipped back to Wales.

These three ladies are having the time of their lives on a "Girl Trip". Two of them are sisters and the other is their best friend. What fun they were! They said they'd be buying a motorhome so they can do more traveling together.

This gentleman, Bob Brotherton from just down the road in Vinita, has stories (and pictures) of growing up in Afton. He told me he even has photos of the old building across the street that used to be a livery stable. I've been looking for those. He promised to provide them to me so I can copy them. Yes! Great way to end the day!