The man said he is the husband of a vendor, and the
CEO, which he says stands for Carry Everything Out. After he left, I
walked to the bus stop area to see which bus would take me to
Hancock's. When one arrived and I got on, I called Beverly, our
cruise director, to tell her where I was going. When I got there, I
took a cart and went to the back to look at remnants. But there was
nothing I wanted. So I rolled up and down each aisle, which was
difficult in some cases because the aisles were so narrow. Anyway,
when my cart was filled with bolts of fabric, I got the fabric cut,
and then loaded my cart up again. I loaded it three times while
walking around the store. I bought fabrics to beef up my smaller
stashes: pink, grey, white-on-white, and batiks. I also got some red
backing fabric. I was surprised that the 108” wide backing fabrics
were only $2 more than the 45” ones. I paid for my selections and
went out to sit on one of the benches outside. A man sat next to me
and told me his story. Soon our bus arrived with the rest of our
group. As they shopped, a lady walked up and asked if anyone needed
a ride anywhere. She said she has been offering rides in this manner
for 23 years. She even had a 'business' card. When no one took her
up on her offer, I said I would like to see Eleanor Burns fabric
warehouse. She knew where it was and off we went. The place turned
out to be small, and mostly not my taste in fabric. BUT, they were
$4.50 yard, so I picked out the few I liked and bought yardage. Then
the very nice lady drove me back to Hancocks and would not accept any
money. Although we arrived before the 5:45 departure time, our bus
was filled and waiting on me. But my seatmate said it hadn't been
long and that I saved her from being the last one on the bus. The
bus took us to Kentucky Oaks mall. Some of us got off there, and
others were dropped off at a nearby restaurant. There were some
quilts displayed in the mall and some vendors. I bought some more
fabric. The others bought food in the 'food court' and I ate
sunflower seeds. I walked around looking in stores for a flannel
backed tablecloth in a solid color. Nope. When we walked out to the
bus at 7:25, it was packed and waiting for us. That was funny
because our cruise director was with me and she said it would be
there at 7:30. It was good to get an early start on the road.
The trip home was long and
uncomfortable. My back was not happy and I packed stuff behind me to
support my lower lumbar region. I could hear the ladies talking, but
not make out what they were saying, so I could not participate in the
discussion. I tried to sleep. The bus pulled into a gas station so
we could all use the restroom. Jane passed around a bag to collect
tip money for the driver. Then the long trip continued. When we got
to Alabama, we dropped off some people in Athens, then took the back
way to Madison. Why did the driver go the back way? The lady in
front of me said she thought his Garmin told him to. I thought she
said his Gramma told him to, and that struck us all as extremely
funny. It was almost midnight so that explains a lot. In the
parking lot, we debarked. I got off almost last because of all the
bags I had to carry. Then our carload of ladies waited until
everyone got their engines started before we left. It was around
12:30 when they dropped me off. I scanned my inbox and replied to
one from Chris and then went to bed.
* this pic was taken at Kentucky Oaks Mall *
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