Road Trippin' Together!

 Since my car is still in the shop (actually still sitting outside the shop, hasn't gotten in yet), The Hubs and I are spending lots of quality time together in his truck.  It's not all bad.  We're spending quality driving time together and can share more about our days, etc.  I've even discovered that on long trips I can read in the truck without getting sick............2 books were finished on the trip to Iowa for basketball games.  The only one who is really not liking sharing the truck is Kinze.  She hasn't been allowed to ride in the cab since DH cleaned it up for me to ride in.  She looks on very sadly each time I hoist myself into the cab, remembering the good old days when she was invited to spring up lightly into the truck and then jump out ready for adventure, very unlike the sliding down/falling out system I have mastered.  

She would definitely have spent the money to rent me a car to drive.  I pointed out that all the money we are saving by riding together and not renting a car can be used to purchase a golden retriever puppy this spring.........a companion for Kinze!  I'm not sure she would agree that this is a good idea.  She's even failing to acknowledge me coming in and out of the house anymore.

 Oh well, maybe she'll forgive me some day.

This week's truck trip (aside from DH taking me to work, etc.) was to the Western Farm Show in Kansas City on Friday.  The Hubs hadn't been to the show in about 5 years, not since Yuliya was with us and she went to the Farm Show with the FFA.  (Can I just say here that while I appreciate all of the FFA students who were visiting the farm show, really enjoying their day out of class, the booth that was giving out the long walking sticks to all of them was NOT appreciated.)  I later found the dastardly booth giving out the sticks...........the Fellowship of Christian Farmers!  What were they thinking?  My thoughts weren't exactly Christian at that point.

Anyway, I want to share some photos from the show..........

The first thing I learned was that I was incorrect in calling these things tires...........they are TRACKS!

This self-propelled hay baler really caught the Hubs attention!  Now, we don't have cows and he hates to put up hay, but he circled this machine several times.  I finally said, "Having something like this might make putting up hay worth it."  and I was shocked when he said, "Well, it just might!"

There were several large semi trailers and I was questioning how they got them to the second floor of the building.  After all, we came up in a tiny elevator, so it did make me wonder.  Later we found the big ramp that was used to drive them up.  I was still impressed with the ability it must have taken to get them around the corners and into the building.  

This also made me wonder how they got it to the second floor.  The Hubs has been looking for a combine, but the John Deere booth didn't have any.  So, instead, we looked at this one.

It's a Fendt, the largest combine there is!

And it has TRACKS!

We decided not to get one.  As they say in the movie Jaws, "You're gonna need a bigger boat!" (make that barn!)

After we finished up at the Farm Show, we headed out to get some lunch.  We have a list of the 10 Best Tenderloins in Missouri, and are attempting to try them all.  We have already sampled the one at the Perche Creek Cafe at the Midway Exit at Columbia following a trip to the fabric store in Pilot Grove.  It was number 3 on the list and was very good.  The Farm Show was located near the number 1 on the list, The Tenderloin Grill, so that was our mission.  

It was an old place sandwiched in among several Mexican Restaurants.  The smells on the street were wonderful.

And the inside............

I was lucky to get this picture when it wasn't too crowded.  

We each got a tenderloin and shared some home-cut fries.  Honestly, I don't know how this one made it on the list, let alone #1.  The breading was more like fish batter, and the meat wasn't great.  The fries were good.  After watching several of the orders, we decided that they probably had really good burgers.  We won't be going back for tenderloins though.  I do think some of the Mexican Restaurants around looked and smelled good.

Since our last tenderloin try included a stop at a quilt shop, we decided to stop at Show-Me Quilting in Raytown.  

I checked out the longarm machines they had.  They sell A1 machines.  

I was really interested in the Butler Robot, the computerized system they sell for their machines.  I had seen these in Paducah and was interested to learn that they were made in Logan, Utah, where DD went for her big engineering conference back in August.

I also got to admire this quilt the owner was getting ready to quilt for someone.........an old one with the most interesting fabrics!

And on the sewing front, I worked on the borders for the snowman embroidery project.

I don't really know what I have done to offend Cici here.  I don't know if she didn't like the fabric or what, but she is on the cutting table and her tail is still intact, so I'm unsure what the problem is.

Maybe she just needed a box of fabric to sit in!

So here it is with borders............I did fussy cut the middle border to get the words "Merry Christmas" just the way I wanted them.  I have the batting and backing cut and the binding in the same red as the inner border made.  I may just stitch in the ditch on my machine and get it finished.

Hope you enjoyed the farm show and quilt shop stop!

Christi