50 States, Day 231

  Robbinsville to Franklin and Thereabout   98 miles
 
"You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself.  What you say is completely up to you."
~Madeleine L'Engle



 
QG didn't get it. "The quilt shop is over forty miles away. You sure you want to go there?"
Oh, yes. The joy is most certainly in the journey. We rode out and after a four lane divided road, it turned into a slice of a paradise. Tight, winding turns left and right, up hills and down with panoramic viewpoints. And pinch me, it's December fifteenth, the sun is out and it's fifty-four degrees.
"Did you bring the directions?" I asked as we came to a junction.
"No."


It was a deflection question really, since I wrote them, it would be logical to pick them up after that. Dur. Between memory, good judgment and a bit of luck, we rode straight (well, really crookedly actually) to Franklin. Now where was the quilt shop? QG went to the Post Office for a bit of business and I fired up the iPad and HotSpot. A few minutes later QG walked into her heaven and my invisibility. Twice I tried to chat up some ladies in the store and they totally ignored me! Fine. I went outside and wrote while seated on a bench. No good, QG snagged me and back inside for my opinions.
We returned the same roads, much to my pleasure and QG less intimidated. I could live here, street bike heaven.
Because the Gold Wing threw me under the bus about a bath, I washed it today. The 'biker friendly' Microtel provided rags (worn out towels, why not?) and a hose in the back. No sweat. Then I applied the (PP!) Mother's to the front wheel. An hour and a half later, the wheel looked...pretty good. Sheesh! Shame on me for letting it go so long.


We walked to Carolina Kitchen and time for a Rant. We sat at five, just after it opened. They serve lunch, close and reopen for dinner at five. The service was adequate, they took a while to spool up, the waitress told us. But they were out of potatoes, sweet potatoes, onion rings, shrimp, sliders, baked beans and chips. They know what's missing before the place opens. Send Wendy to the grocery store for over half that stuff. Pathetic! Plus if you're out of all that stuff, offer a free salad bar, free sodas or something. Come on people! Don't make me go into the kitchen.
 
And now, having forgiven the lame restaurant, our own Quilter girl!
 


The Stitch in Time quilt store was heaven for me. We met Judy coming out of the store bemoaning the fact she didn't have a camera to get a picture of the bike.    


There were lots of quilt samples all over the store for inspiration along with bolt after bolt of great fabric all artfully displayed.  I had a great time finding fabrics for Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee with Judy's help.  It was actually harder to come up with ideas of what to look for than to find it in this store.  We have gone through these states very quickly and I can only use stick trees so many times!  So here is what I found; music stuff for TN, stick trees for AR, dragon for NC, red Christmas for AR's capitol decorations, and gold & tan for MO capitol ceilings.  I am still looking for peanuts for George Washington Carver in MO and something else for TN.  Tomorrow I will sew those squares and work on the Irish Chain quilt along with some reading and knitting.  A nice way to spend a day.


QG
 
And the two quilts displayed that I liked were the Harley t-shirt one and the American Flag. Nice.





See you tomorrow for Church Surch and The Week in Pictures. See you then!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

3 comments:

Mel said...

Glad to hear you FINALLY gave GW a bath. Maybe he/she/it will do less whining at the next interview session! By the way, what gender IS a Gold Wing with a trailer hitch, anyway? I'm guessing male, due to the appendage that fits into the receiver on the hitch.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

Oh, great. Now you've offended her. Nice.
KP