Holy Cow! (or Bison!)

O.M.G.!!  I wanted to take a drive up to the Tallgrass Prairie today.  I wanted to go because this is probably the last free day I'll have for a while after I head back to Afton Station four days a week.   So, I invited Ron M. to go along, and he agreed.  It was a rather incredible trip.   The Tallgrass Prairie Preserve is the largest protected remnant of tallgrass prairie left on earth.   Its 39,000 acres is home to approximately 3,000 head of bison.  I go there often when I need to get away alone and be where there isn't a human being for miles and miles in all directions.

But today was extraordinary!   At one point, near the end of our travels through the Prairie preserve, we became entirely surrounded by bison.  A herd of several  hundred approached our road and, determined to cross to the other side, blocked the road both in front of us and behind us.  Were we frightened?  Not in the slightest!  Bison don't mind humans if you leave them alone, which of course we did, and eventually we crept forward and gently "herded" them out of the way.  It's their land, after all, not ours.  Had we not done that, we might still be there. It was thrilling, to say the least.  The only moment of pause I had was when we wondered if one of the bisons might mistake my brown, hump-backed car for a member of the opposite sex and attempt to climb aboard.  They were that close, and we had to keep the windows rolled up or they might  have stuck their heads in -- their HUGE heads!

I was taking short movies with my cell phone and Ron was doing the same with my camera, but I haven't figured out yet how to put them here on the blog.  Hopefully, I'll have one tomorrow. Meanwhile, here are a few photos, but they don't really tell the whole story.

 Here are a few more photos from just outside the Conservancy.   Oil wells dot the rolling country in the Osage Hills.

 The Tallgrass Prairie is made up of both donated and purchased land in northern Oklahoma.  This is the original ranch house on the property, and near it is a small gift shop and interpretive center.  Other than that, there's nothing to remind a visitor that he is in 21st century America.

More information here:
http://www.infobarrel.com/Travel_Where_Few_Have_gone_Tallgrass_Prairie_Preserve_Oklahoma

Sidewalk Highway

Coincidentally, just yesterday I was complaining about the condition of the historic and iconic 9-foot highway that stretches between Afton and Miami.  Today, Rich Dinkela posted this video of that stretch of highway on Facebook.  He's the guy who traveled all of Route 66 in the past couple of weeks, painting shields on the highway wherever he went, including in front of Afton Station.  Rich's video takes you through Afton, past Afton Station, past the new monument we put up last fall, and onto the 9-foot highway.  His narration also explains the history of the road.   It's worth watching, especially if you've never driven that piece of Route 66 !

I left for Afton Station a little earlier this morning because I wanted to be out in the country in time for sunrise.  I was rewarded by a pretty dawn near Claremore.  Does everyone feel as I do, that the variations of sunrises are quite amazing?  I've never seen two alike.  This morning there were some low clouds which added to its majesty.  

This was my first Sunday back at Afton Station since December, so I really wasn't sure what to expect in regard to numbers of visitors. After breakfast at Eggbert's on Route 66 in Claremore, I still had some time to kill, so I decided to take a ride on the 9 foot highway out of Afton.   It's so incredibly disappointing to see how it is being ruined by the dumping of gravel on it, covering not only the road bed but in most places obliterating the iconic curbs.  Since the county doesn't seem to be willing to do much about it, I started having fantasies of rounding up a couple of dozen volunteers with shovels to move the gravel off of the curbs -- not the roadbed itself,  just the curbs.   However, dealing with two sides of a 4-mile road would probably be close to impossible.  It's a thought. . . .

It wasn't a particularly exciting day at the Station, but we did have four very nice couples drop in, plus a long haul trucker taking a break and wanting to see the cars.  Our visitors came from Tulsa and Pryor OK, Holton KS, San Diego CA, Pittsburgh KS, and Monett, MO.   At various points of the day, Robin, Phil, David, and Marly all came by.   Marly helped me close up after the last group left at 3:15.  

I took a better photo of the stained glass piece which Robin gave me for my birthday.  It really sparkles when it's put in the window.   When Tattoo Man saw it last weekend, he immediately ordered one for himself with his name on it.   Robin has only been working in stained glass for a short time and this is one of her first larger creations.  

 It's winter, but it feels like summer, and looks like autumn.  Here's a shot of a pretty stretch of road near Claremore.   My car thermometer was reading 75 as I drove home this afternoon.  Ahhhh... perfect!

Cute

Cute kids. . . cute bunny. . .  cute sign.   That pretty much wraps up our day at Afton Station.  These cute kids came to visit with their mom and grandmother and, as is not uncommon, they took an immediate interest in the pressed penny machine.   They're from Broken Arrow, OK and are home schooled by a mom who thinks it's important to give them a good basis in Oklahoma history with emphasis on Route 66.  Today, they visited the Totem Poles, the Coleman Theater, and us.  We're all for that!

This cute bunny (who has been hanging around the Station for several months) stopped hopping long enough for Ron M. to take a quick photo.  He seems to live between the front showroom and the back showroom.

Ok, "cute" might not exactly be the most descriptive word for the small billboard Marly has almost finished painting and which will soon hang on a fence across from where Route 66 travelers exit the Miami section of the 9-Foot Highway. "Beautiful" might work better.  I thank Marly so much for all the work put in to make the sign, and I can't wait until it's in place and guiding people to the best museum in Afton!

 There were 12 guests altogether at the Station today, from Tulsa OK, Bella Vista AR, Hudson WI, Broken Arrow OK, and Wagoner OK.  Also, Ron Warnick and Emily Priddy dropped in for a while, Tattoo Man sat in for a good part of the day, and Robin and Phil arrived early and had the place warmed up and opened up by the time Ron M. and I got there.

I took the photo below on the way home.  The clouds inspired me to think of the famous 1947 Andreas Feininger photo, so I snapped this and converted it to black and white.  When I got home I made the comparison, and it was then that I realized that Andreas Feininger I ain't!

                  L. Kane

                A. Feininger

Two Posts in One Day? Must be time for me to go back to work!

I cruised over to Admiral this afternoon to check on the Admiral Twin.  I found that another tier of screen has been put up on the west side and they're working on the east side now.  Progress!  

 Meanwhile, just over the hill, apparently these folks stopped to get some new tires for their horses???  Never a dull moment on Route 66!

Get Lost

It isn't unusual for me to wake up in the morning with a burning need to get lost.  I'm not quite sure what that says about my mental stability, but I'm admitting it here because this is the place where I admit things.  The need to get lost is as strong or stronger than was my need for a cigarette back in the '60s when I was, shamefully, a smoker.  But the addiction to "lostness" is harder to explain than that of nicotine.   It's a need to be someplace I've never been before and where I'm not quite sure where I am or in which direction is home. It's a need to see things all around me that I've never seen before.  And it's strong.  Very strong.  

Generally, this need has to be subjugated because there are real-life tasks I have to perform. Today was not such a day.   I had lots of time to roam.

 The second part of my crazy addiction is the occasional need to see manufacturing in action.  This can be very difficult in the Tulsa area.   When I was a kid in Cleveland, Ohio my dad, at my request, would take me down to the waterfront where we'd drive around the big factories and warehouses on the shores of Lake Erie. Or,  he would take me to his own factory, where I had free rein because I was the boss's daughter, and I got to watch the giant machines turn sheets of steel into bed springs. When I lived in Buffalo, New York in the late '60s and early '70s, I'd drive to South Buffalo where the steel mills were still growling and putting out great plumes of smoke.  I can still smell that oily aroma, long gone now in the age of pollution suppression.   The last time I was in Buffalo, I went there again, only to see the rotting hulks of the few mills that haven't already been razed.  The oily aroma still lingered , however.  But maybe it was all in my head.

There isn't much heavy manufacturing in Tulsa, Oklahoma (or anywhere else in this country any more, from what I hear), so I have to make do with what I can find.  Here, the oil refineries come the closest, but they're all closed off with fences, gates, and barbed wire.  At least I can get a whiff of one of them occasionally as I drive past.  

Anyway, this morning I needed to get lost, preferably in an urban setting.  I drove north of town and headed randomly toward Sapulpa, but NOT on Route 66 for a change.   Lo and behold, I came upon an area of small to medium manufacturing facilities, and indeed I was lost there.  I have no idea where I was, nor was it entirely satisfying, but for a short time I got that old feeling, just watching the workers pull into the parking lots and rush toward their jobs, lunch bags in hand.    They probably thought I was a stalker, just sitting in my car and watching.  I truly don't think I could find this place again, despite the fact that it can't be more than 20 miles from home.  But I came home feeling refreshed in the knowledge that life goes on in the world of manufacturing.  It's not quite the same, but it will have to do. 

                                      LIFE Magazine

 Smoke of a brick-red dust
Winds on a spiral
For a hidden and glimpsing moon.
This, said the bar-iron shed to the blooming mill,
This is the slang of coal and steel.
The day-gang hands it to the night-gang,
The night-gang hands it back

               From:  Smoke and Steel by Carl Sandburg
_________________________

I had a nice visit yesterday from Rich Dinkela, or as he calls himself,  "Roamin' Rich".  He's the fellow from St. Louis who drives Route 66 in a SUV and paints shields on the roads as he goes along.  The hood of his car is covered with signatures of the people of Route 66.  I signed the hood several years ago, but the signature had worn off somewhat, so he met me here at my house so I could re-sign it.  He's on his way back from California, and along the way he's stenciled dozens of shields.  He does this out of his commitment to Route 66 and not any other reason.   Yesterday, after he left Tulsa, he stopped at Afton Station and painted this one for me.  It's in a perfect spot for photo ops when visitors come to call.  Thanks so much, Rich!

 

_______________________

 I also met yesterday with a young woman who is doing her Masters thesis on Route 66 and is using some of my images for it.  I expect this will be a very impressive and unusual project, and she intends to publish when it's done.   More about this later.

Keeping In Touch

Every now and then I receive an email or letter from someone who once visited Afton Station.  I got this  yesterday from Peter Bartel of Germany, a gentleman who took part in the Trans America Footrace which came to visit us on July 26th of last year.   I remember Peter very well because he was doing the "footrace" on a kickbike (a bicycle with no seat or gears, which one pushes with one's foot), in deference to his age, although he'd had previously participated in years and years of footraces actually on foot.  Whether on kickbike or foot, both were amazing accomplishments for someone 70 years old.   And it doesn't sound like  he plans to stop any time soon!

I just loved that he wrote to me and told me what he's up to these days.  I was so thrilled to hear that he finished the race, although I never really had any doubts that he would.  Here's his delightful letter with no corrections:

Hello Mrs.Kane,
please remember july, 26th, 2011. We met together in your museum at Afton which is a famous home for Packard Cars. I was the kickbiker in the Trans-America-Footrace from Los Angeles to New York. I gave my race number to you. And one month later at august, 27th, I was one of 10 finishers in New York. Six runners were out of the race. Please have a look to the pictures. Now I am in the 71st year of my life. Therefore I will participate this year only in the "little" Trans-Europe-Footrace from Danmark to Gibraltar (4175 km).
I am not only a runner. I am also an owner of a Packard Car ... built by myself. But only in scale 1/16. It is a Packard Coupe Roadster 12 Cylinder from 1937. I am also an owner of a "museum" because I have built more than 150 models: cars, race cars, bikes, race bikes. But my wife does not love this hobby.
All the best for you !!!
PETER BARTEL (Berlin/Germany)

This is the model Packard which he built.  He's quite a guy!