seamstome

Yeah I know the rest of you have been home for days, but not me.

My girliefriend and I got down to the quilt show. Trip down was a dream...made great time. We were there ONE HOUR when her car broke in the Hancock's parking lot. The ignition was messed up and since she had a digital dash that meant we had NOTHING--no speedometer, heat, windows, turn signals, fuel indicator, or wipers. We could wiggle it and get it to work...kind of but one minute one thing would work and the next it wouldnt.

So what did we do? We went quilt shopping of course! When you have driven 500 miles to do something by God you are going to do it. Then after a bit we decided we better get to the town where we had a hotel if we were going to have a broken car. For sure we could get it fixed there.

So here we are in Murray. KY, 500 miles from home and an hour from Paducah. We take it to the local Caddy dealership and they REFUSE to help us. Bring it back nest week when you have an appointment. None of that great "we love quilters" hospitality in Murray. More of the "Yankees Go Home" attitude. He wouldnt even tell us if it was safe to drive or call another dealership.

Well we got to another dealership in Mayfield and they were very nice but they needed a part. Nothing we could do so we rented the ONLY available vehicle in the community of 10K people. An F150 pick up with an extended cab and full bed. Mind you my GF and I are only 5'2'' tall and and to literally climb into this thing. I drive an Audi roadster and she drives that infamous Caddy...we are not F150 people.

But undaunted back to the quilt show we go, even if it is in this huge truck. I spent an ungodly amount of money but picked up kits for 5 bed quilts and 5 wall hangings, mostly batiks and hand dyes.

Then we got the bad news.....the part came in wrong. It has to be shipped in from some other state!

So here we were stuck in this town of 10K in the pouring rain from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday at noon in a older Super 8 with a truck we cant back up and can barely drive. We watched TV. We did laundry. We ate. We read books. We went to the movies. I went to Walmart (think Sunday in the Bible belt--there is nothing open) and bought a rotary cutter and matt and we cut out two of the quilts I bought yes that would be TWO twin size. Yes we were bored!

Counting the lost wages, additional hotel, rental car, gas (dang those F150's suck gas) and food expenses, we could have gone to the Carribean for a week but this makes a better story. I enjoyed the show and got some great things (Bali Wedding Star, two other Niemeyers) and all is well that ends well.

Are we making plans for Paducah next year? As Sarah Palin says, you BETCHA! But we are getting a new car!

LeslieSkelly

hahaha....glad you made lemonade out of your lemons!! :-)

Lisa_wanna_b_quilter

I'd love to be stuck in a big town like that!! 10K huge compared to where I'm stuck every day!!

Did you have to parallel park? :shock:

seamstome

No. The problem was we are so short, we couldnt see the front of the truck or the back. I did not try to drive it since she had rented it and I didnt want to be responsible. Parking was a riot! This thing had to be 20 feet long.

By this morning at breakfast, she finally manhandled in to just one parking space. We ran over alot of curbs. I just know the locals had to be laughing their butts off, seeing us climb in and out of this thing with no running boards in the pouring rain.

sharon b

LOL Oh My :shock: You did have quiet the adventure !

Glad you were able to enjoy yourselves anyway and got two quilts cut out. Just think now you are ahead of the game, we get to see them finished sooner :thumbup:

cjomomma

Oh man I wish I had known you were in Murray. I bet I could have found a mechanic to fix your car for you. I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience while you were here. I could have told you some places to check out while you were in town so that you wouldn't have been so bored. There are some nice people in this town but you gotta know where to find them. There are a lot of college kids here and they kind of ruin the mood for people, everyone looks forward to when school is out for the summer. We hadn't had rain for some time but because there was the quilt show it just had to rain. You got lucky though because we were suppose to have severe storms but they moved further down south then expected. Maybe next time you are here you will have a better experience.

Lisa_wanna_b_quilter

My daughter has to drive a F250 extended cab. It is HUGE to say the least, but it is the junkiest we own she she gets to drive it.

Saturday night she took herself to prom in it. I thought you might get a chuckle out of the picture. Keep in mind she is 5'8" so I'm sure th climb is easier for her, but it's hard to be a lady!

MissM

This was the best laugh I had in long time. Only the true stories are the best ones. Just think of the memories you will have every time you look at those quilts. :)

seamstome

Your daughter is very pretty and makes that truck look good. We are 50 something, cubbies with short legs and wide fannies. We literally had to pull ourselves in. I was behind my GF one time when she was climbing in and all you could see was this butt with her legs going a million miles an hour as she was shimmying up in there. Nothing ladylike about it.

Lisa_wanna_b_quilter

LOL! I understand your pain. I hate getting in that truck and once I'm in I hate driving it. As near as I can tell, it takes up the entire road and rides like an ox cart.

On the bright side, you two ladies will be laughing over this for years to come. Some times minor disasters make the best memories............once you've recovered from them.