7 o’clock in the morning is way too early for me to do anything, but that’s the time we were given to meet in the Iriquois mall parking lot to meet the bus, and that’s the time Steve delivered Sheila and me on Wednesday morning. (Was he looking forward to a few days to work uninterrupted or what?) We actually had to wait a few minutes for the bus to arrive and then we were soon on our way…
A good nap later we arrived in Effingham for an early lunch and then it was just 3 hours to Quilt City USA. The hotel wasn’t quite ready for us so we stopped in at the Rotary Club’s antique quilt show before checking in. Some of those old quilts looked like new. I guess their makers never used them… no Sterilite tubs back then so they must have had some other safe method of storage… My quilts will have been sold at garage sales and demolished as pet blankets in 150 years.
The bus…
The bus took us to the Kentucky Oaks Mall for the evening. A real happening spot! We found dinner at Chic-Fil-A and wandered around the vendors who were set up there. We were done with 2 hours to spare so it seemed like a good idea to get the shuttle bus rather than our own back to the hotel. It took a while to find the bus stop but eventually we did and we (Yvette, Sheila and I) settled in to wait, and wait, and wait…
We met some interesting people at the bus stop… including Mary Cunningsworth (nee Greenhalgh), who we soon realised was from England. (that accent will get you every time) Not only was Mary from England but she was from Lancashire, and not only from Lancashire, she was from Ramsbottom and had attended Bury Grammar School the decade before me!! So, much to the amusement of everybody else we had a good time reminiscing about shared teachers and our headmistress, Miss Lester.
After more than an hour of waiting we gave up on that plan and made our way to the other side of the mall, finding some of our group on the way. Here are Bonnie and Gloria taking a break.
Then back on the bus to the hotel and bed time.
End of Day One.
