Quilt Shows, here we come

Hi to all,

 Where do I begin.  I guess as with all good things at the beginning.  Myself and two good friend Judie and Kathy, decided to do the Spring Quilt Show in Chicago and Paducah, KY.  Now you say to yourself how do you do this...well, by car, of course.  We decided to leave on Monday and head to our first stop in Chattanooga, TN for the night.  So you would think this would be easy, well, there were a few humorous if not hysterical deviations from this plan.   It began quite simply, we pulled away from my house at 6:20am. We proceed to the Florida Turnpike and we sped down the highway.  As we left the house I said, gee, all we need to have is our wallet, credit cards and money and we are set. This would become prophetic as the morning continued.  My cell phone rang and it was Mom, alias Betty, asking if any of us were carrying a gold-yellow handbag as it was here on the kitchen table.  Immediately, I said, Judie your purse is at my house.   Of course, we had already passed the Ft Pierce exit, next place to turn around was Yeehaw Junction (always wanted to blog that one) a mere 40 or 50 miles up the road.  Quick thinking Judie called Earl, her hubby who earned big thank yous from us to meet us at the Ft Drum rest stop and bring her purse.  He graciously agreed. To say we laughed would be putting it mildly.  The tears were blurring our vision.  It got even funnier when Earl went to FT Pierce first, of course, with his cell phone left at their house, no way to verify where we were.  On the word of a rest stop worker, Earl headed to Ft Drum and the purse was given to the owner.  Now, of course, poor Judie has to tell us her purse location at every stop. 

Okay so with breakfast eaten at the Ft Drum rest stop.  No stopping at Ocee and the Perkins as planned, we were on the road again.  Florida became a dream as we crossed the Georgia border.  Gas was procured, thinking it would be less expensive in GA, that 5 cent saving was worth waiting for.  We exit I-75 and based on a now proven faulty premise we chose the Shell, thinking nice Bathroom.  Kathy can attest to that being a false hope.  The store and bathroom left lots to be desired. Outside of Atlanta, we believed again and were led down the primrose path. A word to the wise, bathrooms at gas stations are worse than exoected. Lunch at Popeye's and their cold slaw with pickles in it was a goodie.  More on that later in the trip


Two stops in the greater Atlanta area, made out arrival at the hotel at 10pm or so. The stops were well worth it. A lovely Quilt Shop and yes we found things to buy. We stopped based on a billboard.   Ran into a sales rep but we were not there as a shop owner but rather a quilter. He was surprised of our quest to hit Chicago and Paducah.  But the best stop was to visit Kristy.  Big hugs abounded and Kathy and Kristy had a much needed hug.  We got to see her work place.  Quite impressive printing equipment and her boss, Sterling, was so gracious in making us feel welcome.  We went to downtown Roswell and had drinks and chips (also, known as dinner.)  New drinks have been tested and are a find - Mango Mojitios.  Thiis stop could not go without a bit of driving with a Garman fun.  A word to the wise, "Never believe that when someone has on her blinker that it means she is turning.  You need to yell, turn."  But have no fear, we did a Stuart U-turn in front of all the gracious Atlanta drivers and laughed until we cried again.  When the crew wakes up, we are headed to Paducah, to see the Museum sans crowds, then to Springfield to visit Judie's daughter and Thursday eta CHICAGO.  Bye for now...pictures tomorrow.