From Lincoln, NE to Lincoln Square, Chicago!

Let’s just say that from the past couple of days I’ve had --- That I have learned the value of friendship –AGAIN!!

I do know that it is always risky to plan a flying ((or sometimes even DRIVING)) trip in Jan/Feb. It just is. Weather is always an intriguing game of Russian Roulette. Sometimes I luck out, sometimes…WHAMMO!

But even through the whammo bits we experience some AMAZING things that we could have missed if the road had been less rocky!

The flights yesterday just did NOT cooperate! I’m sure you all watched the news, listened to the stories, spent some time glued to the weather channel, saw messages coming through your email and the blogosphere tracking the weather….much like tracking Santa Claus on his Christmas Eve progress!

I got to the Lincoln NE airport just as my phone was going off telling me my flight had been delayed from 2:53 to 3:55…and from there it got crazier. I won’t say “WORSE” because I am trying to be positive about this whole experience so bear with me!

The Lincoln airport is very small….there are two gates. One is Delta, One is United. They don’t even open up the security check lines until 1/2 hour before boarding, so everyone just kind of mills around in the downstairs area of the terminal. I got to talking to some people and we had a really great time! There was a snack bar upstairs for food with a TV…we had our computers, our phones, our ipods, and stories to tell of “travel days worse than this” to commiserate. But really…..what this 7 1/2 hours of delay did for us was give us a chance to SLOW DOWN --- to say “OH Well! Whatcha gonna do?!” and blame EVERYTHING on the weather. If the weather had cooperated I never would have learned these people by name, shared some food with them, laughed over stories and had a really good time just being in the moment.

And through it all I stitched HEXAGONS!

If things had gone on schedule, all of us would have crossed paths, remained as un-named strangers and thrown ourselves back into the hectic mess of weather afflicted passengers. It was a nice time out!

That 7 1/2 hours also gave me a chance to put two Quilter-Friends on alert! Thanks to the wonders of the internet, and of quilting travel adventures, I have a friend here in the Chicago area who has said repeatedly:

“If you get stuck at O’Hare, just call me. You will always have a bed!”

I also have a friend close to Washington Dulles Airport who was also on the alert…

“We have extra beds, and so does my mother in law, just let us know, we’ll come get you!”

I am the luckiest Quilter alive! Of course the question was….how far could I get last night. And I couldn’t make it any farther than Chicago, getting in finally at a bit past 9pm.

I have to thank Lynn from Klein Meisje Quilts for coming to my rescue! She pulled right up to the curb, loaded me in her car..bundled me off to her lovely home, fed me home made chicken and noodles ((with peas! My favorite!)) and bundled me off to her daughter Eve’s room – who gladly gave up her personal space for this road weary traveler! I slept like a log, snuggled under a bliss of flannel sheets ((going to get me some!)) and down comforters and covered with quilts. I slept til 8am!

This morning we headed out and decided to stop at a wonderful local place in Lincoln Square for traditional Dutch Pancakes at the Pannenkoeken Café. YUMMY!! It was a warm fragrant place, perfect for conversation, tea for me, cocoa with huge amounts of whipped cream for Lynn and Eve…..and THESE:

The one on the left had bananas, chocolate and whipped cream! The one on the right…Oooohhh! Apples, raisins, bacon and Cheese! They were so good!

I had to sneak a pic of the menu…..just get a look at some of these offerings:

And for fun, here is a pic of Eve and I with the menu….this is me…no make up..no change of clothes…everything had been checked all the way through to Greensboro, so I look pretty much like road kill, even with a shower! LOL!

So needless to say….there is MORE of this going on today:

My favorite tunes on my ipod, More hexagons to stitch together. A few more hours --- And I’ll be HOME!