Leaving Minnesota for Quilt Shops unknown
When my friends found out about my trip and this blog I told them it was just about Quilt Shops. And how they were welcome to follow along anyway (even though they are non-quilters). They might want to know where I've been, right? More than one chirped in with things like, "well you ARE going to blog about more than just the quilt shops, we want to hear about stuff like, the strange guy at the gas station, and what kind of food you ate.
My writer friend Sue even suggested that I read some of Bill Brysons books. So I have "the lost continent" with me. Bill is a New York Times-bestselling author. I am not a writer of any kind, I mostly post photos, but I will give it a try. So if I get too long winded, or boring, please comment and let me know. I can always go back to just documenting the quilt shops that I visit.
OK
All packed and ready to go. Departure time 9:57am today! With a fresh snow on the ground and a weather forecast of -2 degrees, I am off on my latest adventure.
The plan is . . . well . . . I don't have a plan. I am driving south until the snow runs out and then I will stop, look around, and call the nearest quilt shop to see if I can pay them a call.
I probably should admit up front, right now that I do have an ulterior motive for this trip. Golf. Yup, I started playing last summer and have become completely addicted. So my clubs are in the back along with my inventory of patterns and when I see a course that's open and not too intimidating looking - I might play a round. Provided of course that I've sold enough patterns that day to pay for food, lodging and gas.
Onward.
So long, Minneapolis skyline.
I just thought this photo turned out kind of cool.
Oh, didn't you know we line our tunnels in gold here in the twin cities?
Perhaps we should have spent the money on our bridges?
Enter Iowa - Have you ever driven south through central Iowa in the winter? Not snowing today, but it seems always windy or gusty, this means you have clear dry roads and everyone is sailing along at 70mph or faster and then you hit a wind blown patch of snow and ice and then you see this . . .
or this . . .
Enter Missouri - The snow has diminished the air is balmy and I am almost to Kansas City.
See you tomorrow, when I start hopping!
My writer friend Sue even suggested that I read some of Bill Brysons books. So I have "the lost continent" with me. Bill is a New York Times-bestselling author. I am not a writer of any kind, I mostly post photos, but I will give it a try. So if I get too long winded, or boring, please comment and let me know. I can always go back to just documenting the quilt shops that I visit.
OK
All packed and ready to go. Departure time 9:57am today! With a fresh snow on the ground and a weather forecast of -2 degrees, I am off on my latest adventure.
The plan is . . . well . . . I don't have a plan. I am driving south until the snow runs out and then I will stop, look around, and call the nearest quilt shop to see if I can pay them a call.
I probably should admit up front, right now that I do have an ulterior motive for this trip. Golf. Yup, I started playing last summer and have become completely addicted. So my clubs are in the back along with my inventory of patterns and when I see a course that's open and not too intimidating looking - I might play a round. Provided of course that I've sold enough patterns that day to pay for food, lodging and gas.
Onward.
But first, a quick stop at Trader Joe's for some travel snacks. Somebody wanted to know about the food - well besides this bag full, I have Margarita flavored potato chips, kettle corn, glad corn and bottled water. How exciting.
So long, Minneapolis skyline.
I just thought this photo turned out kind of cool.
Oh, didn't you know we line our tunnels in gold here in the twin cities?
Perhaps we should have spent the money on our bridges?
OK, so now I am a whopping 41 miles into my big 'shop hop adventure', I look down and notice this new little icon warning light lit up on my dash. I have no idea what it means, and don't know how fast I need to pull over and look it up in my owners manual. I have never had even the tiniest of problems with this vehicle so am surprise and a bit bummed out about this new development and its timing. Will I have to turn around and go home, call a tow truck? Uggh!
Well, I do pull over fairly quickly and pull out the owners manual and find out it has to do with some emissions thingy. It can be caused simply because the gas cap wasn't put on tight enough after the last gas fill.
I remember the last gas fill up too . . . when I took the gas cap off it was so tight I had trouble unscrewing it. So of course I didn't tighten it so tight when I replaced it. The manual said if the problem was due to this reason it could take up to three days for the light to go off.
If there is actually a problem with the emissions thingy I should take it to a dealer. SO, If it's still on after 3 days I will look for a Honda dealer. I am not turning around no sir-ree.
Well, I do pull over fairly quickly and pull out the owners manual and find out it has to do with some emissions thingy. It can be caused simply because the gas cap wasn't put on tight enough after the last gas fill.
I remember the last gas fill up too . . . when I took the gas cap off it was so tight I had trouble unscrewing it. So of course I didn't tighten it so tight when I replaced it. The manual said if the problem was due to this reason it could take up to three days for the light to go off.
If there is actually a problem with the emissions thingy I should take it to a dealer. SO, If it's still on after 3 days I will look for a Honda dealer. I am not turning around no sir-ree.
Enter Iowa - Have you ever driven south through central Iowa in the winter? Not snowing today, but it seems always windy or gusty, this means you have clear dry roads and everyone is sailing along at 70mph or faster and then you hit a wind blown patch of snow and ice and then you see this . . .
or this . . .
Please excuse the quality of some of these photos. I learned the technique from my friend Linda. You don't stop driving, you just hold the camera up and click while keeping your eyes on the road. You really need a digital camera, because with this technique you need to take hundreds sometimes thousands of photos to actually get a few good ones. I also have no means of cropping or editing my photos while on the road, Adobe Photoshop is on my desktop at home but not on my laptop. So what you see is what you get.
Enter Missouri - The snow has diminished the air is balmy and I am almost to Kansas City.
See you tomorrow, when I start hopping!
