In my last blog post I told the story of how our experience as vendors at the big AQS quilt show in Paducah, Kentucky got off to a disappointing start. The Expo Center in Paducah became part of the Ohio River that week and the the show was relocated to makeshift quarters at 2 abandoned retail stores out by the Interstate. After we calmed down about the situation, Judy, Virginia and I set out to do the best we could. After all, neither us nor the show promoter could do anything about the weather.
When we arrived at the abandoned Circuit City we unloaded the trailer and Judy took off for Lowe's to find something we could use to cover the big oil slick in the middle of our booth. She returned with some multi colored foam rubber tiles that are used for kids' playrooms. After a few hours of work, the booth was looking pretty good, as was the vendor mall at Circuit City. At this point I should explain that there are no rookie vendors at Paducah. You must have been a vendor at another large AQS show before you're even allowed to rent space there. Trust me, experienced quilt show vendors can make any space look good. That's what we do.
Satisfied that the booth looked as good as it could, we had dinner and headed back to the B&B. At dinner the TV set at the restaurant showed severe thunderstorms in the area, but we weren't overly concerned. By then we had lived in the South for 5 years, where thunderstorms are commonplace. On our way to the B&B we were caught in a really big storm, it was dark and suddenly Judy asked, "What's that bouncing on the road ahead?" It was hail so large that we were afraid it would crash through our windshield. A minute later a tornado siren started blaring. Remember that Judy is a native Californian and I spent most of my life there. We didn't know what to do. Should we lie down in a ditch? Try and find an underpass for a bridge? I tried to remember TV shows about tornadoes and what you're supposed to do, but was drawing a blank. So we drove to the elementary school where the siren was blasting to figure out our next move. It was there that I thought "What are the odds that we're moving in one direction and a tornado moving from another direction hits us? Not very good." So we drove back to the B&B through constant heavy thunderstorms but no tornadoes, thank God.
However, our ordeal wasn't over yet. Our daughter Lea was en route from California to join us that night. It took nearly 3 hours for her connecting flight to get from Dallas to Nashville while dodging numerous heavy thunderstorms. From there she had a 3 hour drive to Paducah which included the same country roads where we had heard the tornado siren. It wasn't until I saw her headlights coming up the driveway of the B&B that I could breathe again. I was even more amazed that she got there safely when I saw her rental car. She had a tiny sub compact that looked like a car you ride in an amusement park.
By morning the thunderstorms had subsided. The 4 Musketeers - Judy, Virginia, Lea and I headed to the show not knowing what to expect.
No comments:
Post a Comment