In 2021, my husband (Alan) and I decided to take a trip to visit several of his friends in Idaho and go bear hunting with them. (Alan was going bear hunting - NOT ME.) One of them had lived in North Carolina and then moved to Idaho. He had also bear hunted in Michigan and made more friends who lived in Idaho.
Since it was my birthday and our wedding anniversary, he also said we could take time to stop at quilt shops on the way out and on the way back. So I planned several routes, researched several quilt shops on the way, figured out about how many miles we could drive per day and hotels we could stop at each night.
During this time, my mother's health was deteriorating. My brother had lived with her for more than 20 years and they had taken care of each other until she fell and broke her ankle about 6 years ago. She never walked after that but had a daily caretaker and a motorized wheelchair that allowed her to continue with daily living. Her memory had been slowly failing and, during the Covid year of 2020, it became apparent that someone was going to need to be with her 24/7.
Of course, we agonized over what to do. Do we go? Do we stay home? What if she got sicker or even worse? We called in Hospice for help and finally ended up placing her in the Hospice Home.
After much discussion, we decided to go on the trip. If anything happened, I would deal with it at that time and decide what to do.
We left on Sat, May 15th and I talked on the phone to Momma every time my brother visited her. She seemed to know who I was but was not able to carry on a conversation. We returned on Sun, June 6th and visited with her on Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday, Alan, my brother and I had visited and had left between 8 and 8:30.
Momma went on her final Journey that day on Tuesday, June 8th at 11:30 pm. She had stayed until we got home from our trip and then waited for us to leave before going on her Journey Home.
Our family has lots of great memories and she was very ready to go be with my Daddy. She was 95 and had lived without him for 19 years. I know that they had a great reunion when she got there!
So on a lighter note, here is a condensed diary of our trip.
Day 1 Sat, May 15th
We left Lewisville around 10:30 headed to my first quilt shop stop in Wytheville, Va. I hade made a quilt and planned to take a picture with it at our stops. This is the last time that I thought about it.
As you can see, we were packed to the hilt!!
We crossed into State #2, Virginia and then got to Batiks, Etc (Quilt Shop#1) around 12:30. Later that day, we crossed into State #3 (West Virginia), State #4 (Kentucky), and State #5 (Indiana). We spent the night in New Albany, IN and traveled 462 miles.
Day 2 Sun, May 16th
We left around 10:30 in the morning headed to Missouri Star in Hamilton, MO. Crossed into State #6 (Illinois) and State #7 (Missouri) and passed the St. Louis Arch.
Traveled 392 miles for a trip total of 854.
Left around 9:30 am for Hamilton, MO. Got to Missouri Star (Quilt Shop #2) around 12:15. I thought that it was much bigger than it was but I still had a great time shopping and looking at things.
Sisters on the Fly were camping there. I had never heard of them but it is big business in that area of the country. Check out the website.
There were 12 themed shops and a main gathering area with Missouri Star logo items. Check out the link to see the quilt shops.
We ate lunch at the Cafe and I shopped until I dropped. Here are some of the items that I bought. (some of the pictures are rotated. I did not take extra time to rotate them!)
We left around 3:30 pm packed up in the car just a bit more and headed to St. Maries, ID. Crossed into State #8 (Iowa) and State #9 (Nebraska) and spent the night in Bellevue, NE. We celebrated our upcoming wedding anniversary (May 19th) and my birthday and ate at Anthony's Steak House. It was easily one of the best meals that we had ever had. Here is where the steak came from:
Drove 321 miles today for a trip total of 1175 miles.
Day 4, Tuesday, May 18th
We left around 9:30 am headed to Idaho. Crossed into State #10 (South Dakota) and stopped at Dutch Rose Quilt Shop (Quilt Shop #3) in Sioux Falls, SD and then South Dakota Quilt Shop (Quilt Shop #4) in Chamberlain, SD. We are seeing lots of minky, native american fabrics, cowboy fabrics, etc.
We also came by the Porter Sculpture Park but did not stop. Saw that big bull head though.
Nothing but miles and miles of nothing. No place to eat except Subway. Miles and miles of nothing. Oh, did I say that there were miles and miles of NOTHING! except miles and miles of rolling land -- no trees, no nothing.
The only place to spend the night was America's Best Value Inn in Kadoka, SD. Talk about a DUMP. It was clean (maybe) but it was old and needed refurbishing ( or demolishing). I thought about spending the night in the car.
We ended up going through the Badlands National Park that night and ate supper in Wall, SD. We saw big horn sheep, pronghorn sheep, bison, coyotes and my very favorite -- prairie dogs. I so wanted to take one home with me! We also learned about boondocking which is camping in an RV or tent but without any hook ups. There were trailers and big huge bus RV's parked on the cliffs of the Badlands. Looked a little dangerous to me but it is a big thing out west. I later figured out that restaurants (and bathrooms) are few and far between so carrying your food and potty with you might be a BIG reason for boondocking.
Drove 564 miles for a trip total of 1739.
Day 5, Wednesday, May 19th Our 48th Wedding Anniversary
Left around 9:15 am headed to Idaho. Visited the Minuteman Missile Park. This was a fascinating place. There are still silos in the mid west that can be used in case of nuclear attack. I am sure that anyone my age or older remembers the bomb shelters when we were children. This place brought back those memories and the silos can still be activated if needed. They are still being maintained. Check out the website.
We also visited Wall Drug in Wall, SD. We got our doughnut and free water and bought some gift items. It is a tourist trap for sure!
We drove by Mt. Rushmore but decided not to actually go in. We took some pictures from the road.
We also drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial but did not go in. We could see it from the parking lot and the road. They are still working on it and were not allowing anyone to go too close to it. Decided not to take the time to visit it.
This area was more populated and much prettier than yesterday. We went through Deadwood and I would have like to stay longer there. Cute little town between mountains. I had never seen any city quite like it.
We crossed into Wyoming (State #11) and spent the night in Sheridan, WY.
Drove 398 miles today with a trip total of 2137.
Day 6, Thursday, May 20th
Left the hotel around 10 am. Today we crossed into Montana. (State #12) We went by the Little Bighorn National Battlefield Monument. The website calls it a place of reflection and it really is. There are markers placed every where that someone died and it is really a place of thought and reflection about the day this happened. In Billings, MT, we stopped at Four Winds Quilting (Quilt Shop #5). Later, we stopped at Back Porch Quilt Shop (Quilt Shop #6) in Livingston, MT.
Near Bozeman, MT we ran into snow mixed in with rain. When we crossed the Continental Divide, there was at least an inch of snow on the ground. We spent the night in Butte, MT where it was snowing and continued to snow most of the night.
We drove 379 miles for a total trip mileage of 2516.
Day 7, Friday, May 21st
When we woke up, there was about an inch of snow on the ground but roads were clear. We found out later that the roads had been slick earlier in the morning and there had been several accidents.
We stopped at Quilter's Corner (Quilt Shop #7) in Deer Lodge, MT. We tried to get into the Confident Stitcher in Missoula, MT but we could not find any parking anywhere. It was the downtown area and around lunch time so the restaurants were full and the parking lots were full too.
We found Goin' Quilting (Quilt Shop #8) in Missoula and stopped there. Later, we crossed into the destination state of IDAHO!! (State #13)
Around 3 pm we got to our destination of St Maries, ID.
Drove 304 miles for a total of 2820.
Day 8, Sat, May 22nd through Day 10, Mon, May 24th
Alan went hunting with various people each of these days. I stayed in the rental house and sewed and watched movies.
Day 11, Tuesday, May 25th
Alan went hunting but came back very early. We were not far from Washington so we decided to drive over to another state and tour the area. Washington was State #14. In Spokane Valley, we went to The Quilting Bee. (Quilt Shop #9) Of all the quilt shops that I visited, this one was the biggest and most spectacular! They sold Bernina, Baby Lock, Pfaff, Brother, Janome machines. They had one whole side of the store with floor models. Long arms, embroidery, sewing machines plus the accessories for each brand. It was just enormous. They had quilts and samples every where. It was just amazing. I could have spent days just looking at the samples, fabrics, kits, etc.
Day 12, Wednesday May 26th through Day 16, Sunday, May 30th
These days were spent sewing and watching movies for me and hunting for Alan.
As of Day 16, we had driven a total of 3701 total miles which included the sight seeing that we had done during this time.
Return Trip Home Day 17, Monday, May 31st
We had taken a southern route to Idaho going out and we wanted to see new sights so we left using a northern route home.
We left around 9 am to come home. Lots of snow on higher elevations that we could see as we drove. It was Memorial Day weekend so there was lots of traffic. We headed to Kalispell, MT to see if Quiltworx was open. This is Judy Neimeyer's company and I have several of her paper piecing quilts that are WIPs. There were not open but we did find the building. Later, we found out that customers were not allowed to visit due to Covid restrictions.
We ended up at Quilt Gallery (Quilt Shop #10) in Kalispell. This was another impressive store. They were in a brand new building which was huge. There was lots of fabric and samples. Big classroom and lots of classes before Covid stopped them.
This was an absolutely beautiful area to visit. We spent the night in Kalispell, MT.
Drove 249 miles with a trip total of 3941.
Day 18, Tuesday, June 1st
We left around 10 am and headed out to Glacier Quilts (Quilt Shop #11) in Kalispell. This was another really nice quilt shop that I enjoyed touring. It was another big store that I would like to have spent more time in.
We left there and headed to Whitefish, MT. We decided to stay the night and tour Glacier National Park before we left the area. Originally, we were going to skip it but after talking with people at the quilt shops, we decided to take the extra day to see it.
This area was incredible. In my notes, I wrote "nice area with lots of $." After we got home, I would see different things on the Internet about Whitefish, MT and the movie stars who visited or the big events that were being held there.
We toured all the areas in and around Whitefish and went to Whitefish Quilt Shop (Quilt Shop #12). It was very small but had lots of batiks that were made especially for the area. They had cherries, bears, elk, Glacier National Park and other items that were specific to that area. I did not realize that you could have custom batiks made like that. Several of the stores had custom batiks.
We drove through Glacier National Park as far as we could get. There was still snow in part of it that closed the main road through it. It was supposed to be open by June 16 but was still closed during the time we were there. We were so glad that we stayed. It was an absolutely beautiful area.
We drove 150 miles for a total of 4091.
Day 19, Wednesday, June 2nd
Continuing on our trip home. Nothing really special today. Just driving and driving. We were in the Great Plains area with flat, flat land and many, many wheat fields.
Spent the night in Wolf Point, MT.
Drove 460 miles for a total of 4551.
Day 20, Thursday, June 3rd
Left at 9:30 and crossed into North Dakota (State #15). Drove through Teddy Roosevelt National Park. Saw bison, feral horses and antelope. Also stopped at the Painted Canyon Scenic Overview.
In Richardton, ND, we stopped at Suzy's Stash. (Quilt Shop #13) It was a Fabric Shop, Lunch Cafe, Coffee Bar, Gift Shop, Flower Shop and Classes all rolled into an area about the size of Sewingly Yours' class room. It was truly a one stop shop!
In New Salem, we saw Salem Sue - the World's Largest Holstein Cow.
Spent the night in Steele, ND.
Traveled 390 miles for a trip total of 4941.
Day 21, Fri, June 4th
Left around 9 am. Crossed into Minnesota (State #16). Stopped in Fergus Falls at Quilter's Cottage. (Quilt Shop #14) This was half fabric store and half appliance store. Interesting place!
Stopped again at Gruber's Quilt Shop (Quilt Shop #15) in Waite Park, MN. This was another large store with lots of stuff to see.
Crossed into Wisconsin (State #17).
This was one of the days that we still laugh about. I had a new Toyota Highlander with navigation. Sometimes it would do some crazy things and send us on wild goose chases. One time it had us taking 4 left turns and we ended up right where we started.
We were looking for the Comfort Inn in Black River Falls, WI and our navigation took us to someone's house! That is when I started using Google Maps on my phone along with the navigation system in the car.
Travelled 536 miles for total of 5477.
Day 22, Sat Jun 5th
Left around 10 am and headed to Mill House Quilts (Quilt Shop #16) in Waunakee, WI. Another large quilt shop with lots of stuff to see. They had the largest wool collection of any shop that I had been in. This town's claim to fame is that they are the only place in the world named Waunakee.
We also went to Quilting in the Valley (Quilt Shop #17) in LaSalle, Illinois. Another wonderful store with lots of samples to look at.
We spent the night in Richmond, IN.
Drove 570 miles for a trip total of 6047.
Final Day -- Day 23, Sun, Jun 6th
Left around 8:30 am and crossed into our final last NEW state -- Ohio (State #18). Since it was Sunday, I could not find any stores open. So no quilt shops today.
We drove and drove and got home to Lewisville around 4:30 pm. It was great to go away but it was wonderful to be HOME!!
450 miles today and a final trip total of 6497.
RECAP
6497 Total Miles
18 Different States
17 Quilt Shops that we visited
2 Quilt Shops that we drove by
No comments:
Post a Comment