Shop Hoppin I-80

Thursday and Friday were very special days.  Started out Thursday with email newsletter form Robert's Sewing Center.  One of the items was the Shop Hoppin I-80 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  It consisted of picking up a "passport" at one of the nine quilting stores and visiting the other eight during those four days.  Ron and I decided to give it a try.  Didn't have anything planned so why not?  Started out Thursday afternoon at Roberts Sewing Center in Crest Hill.  Then back to Lockport and Thimbles and on to Frankfort.  We decided the chauffeur deserved to have a passport too so we got them both stamped at the three stores.  We didn't purchase anything at those stores but learned a bevy of information regarding the rest of the journey and conveyed some to people for the ones we'd been too.  If you haven't been on I-80 thru Joliet, DON'T.  Construction is making it a giant parking lot.
Friday morning we slept in but still managed to hit the road about 9 am with a cup of coffee, donuts, lunch and plenty of water and snacks.
First stop was Morris because of a tip we got the day before.  Got our stamps and a kit to make a Christmas runner.  Next actually get on I-80, activate the GPS and head west to Molene.  The trip went fine till we got within a block of the quilt store.  Road construction with the lane closed for a few minutes at a time.  We did get to Quilt's by Oz and got our passports signed plus a yard of pretty Civil War material.  The lady there told us how to get to the next stop, East Molene, by not getting back on the road under construction.  Which we used and it worked.  Ron fell in love with a quilt that they were raffling off to celebrate something in the Quad cities so he bought chances on it and I got our passport stamped.
Back on the road, Kewanee is the next destination but with a stop at an empty baseball diamond with a shaded picnic bench for lunch.  Hard rolls with ham and swiss for you Milwaukee relatives.  Kewanee was one of my personal favorites.  They had pieces made and set up thrughtout the store with kits next to them so you could purchase the kit or just get the pattern.  Got our passports stamped and bought material for Christmas tree napkins, pattern was free.  OK, my favorite thing about Kewanee was when we walked in the door.  Someone greeted us with "the bathroom is straight back, bottle water, chocolate and coffee is to your right".
Next with Princeton.  It was a small shop on the main street and we didn't find anything so we got our passports stamped and our free pattern and left, minus Ron's passport.
Last but definitely not least was Peru.  When we couldn't find the quilt shop and stopped to get the phone number off the passport we discovered Ron's was missing.  Eight shops and you had to visit all nine to be eligible for the grand prize. Not happy.  I called Princeton and they advised me I had left Ron's passport there but they had already called Peru and told them to tell us they had it and would validate it for Peru and send it in from there.  Ron called D Quilt and got directions which meant go back where we had been and read the sign to go in back to the quilt shop.  As we discovered, the people on this hop were friendly and helpful.  By then we'd seen the same groups of people for 3 or 4 times so we were old friends.
I left my completed passport in Peru and bought 6 yards of material on sale.  Heading home with one more stop, I-80 exit 90, Ottawa, Cracker Barrel for dinner.  We talked about our adventure and both agreed it was a lot of fun and would do it again with another group of shops.  Except for people complaining about the giant parking lot thru Joliet, everyone seemed to be having a good time, too.  Shops were eager to help you around I-80 for the three out here but we explained we were from the area and knew how to by pass I-80.  Maybe next time we can get other people to join us.