4,000 miles and almost home!

Yup.. our whole trip is putting just over 4,000 miles on the odometer.  We are in the last 100 miles as I type this.  Winging our way through frozen farm fields and salty roads.... sigh.   It looks pretty....  but....

The temps are still in the single digits, and the wind chills are below zero! 

We left Bethel, Missouri yesterday (Wednesday) in the morning after saying our "see you laters" to Rosie.  As we drove, it was SNOWING on us!  Nothing much accumulating anywhere on the ground, but it was coming down pretty good. The clouds were thick and heavy with snow, but the weather reports into central and northern Illinois looked good.  We pushed onwards. 

We stopped at a fuel station off I39 at Winoma that advertised RV hookups.  We paid $5 to dump our holding tanks there, so we were completely winterized now to head into Wisconsin.  We had a couple gallons of drinking water and a five gallon jug of water for washing up.  We heat in a teakettle on the stove, because Steve had all the water blown out of the lines and our fresh water tank drained out too. 

We were okay for the last 24 hours with limited water resources.  As we drove north, the temps kept dropping, but at least the snow flakes quit!   We made it to our friend's driveway in Beloit, WI ...we were finally back in Wisconsin!  And look at that danged snow...arggghhhhhhh!!!!

Parking in our friends' driveway, --- 

Jim and Norma of Pa and Ma's rugs, 

http://www.paandmasrugs.com/

Soon, we joined up with more weaving friends---

 Juanita and Norm Hofstrom of Vavning Studio   

http://www.vavningstudio.com/

We all went out to a nice dinner at a place called Damenico's in Beloit.

After much gabbing and laughing (and eating!)    it was  time to head out.  It had been a long long day for us, because we had travelled 376 miles!  whew..... 

Outside by the parking area, Juanita got out her new creation for me.  Juanita is an art major and retired art teacher with her studio in Shopiere, WI.  Her husband, Norm, is a photographer.  A while back, Juanita made me a sign for the Loom-A-Tic Workshop. Seeing as I don't do many events any more with the whole group, I consigned her to redo the other side of the sign for me when I do sales with just myself as the sole vendor.  This is the result! 

Normie helped us unwrap it ... outside in the bitter cold!  Brrrrrr but it was worth it! 

 I was soon warmed up by all of the LOVE 

from this dear friend and her lovely sign!!!!

What a gal! 

We went back over to Jim and Norma's for the night.  Steve was tormenting sassy little Taffy.... and the stinker was checking out my camera up close with a sniff sniff sniff so I let her have it... right in the eye!   I guess that is really giving me the ole' stink eye, eh? 

Taffy rules the roost at Jim and Norma's house. 

 We get such a kick out of her each time we visit. 

 So we sat around inside for a while, chewing the fat and catching up and making future plans.  I will be seeing Jim at the Jason Collingwood workshop coming up in May at Juanita's studio... and we have a few other plans for over the summer and fall too for getting together.

Steve and I were getting pretty tired and headed out into the cold frosty night to bed.  The motorhome was nice and warm with both propane heaters running, and we kicked on an electric heater to warm it up a bit in the back before bed.  Plus our electric mattress pad heater was on HIGH to keep us cozy and warm.

We woke up to 7 degrees, and wind chills below zero... ack!  Our side windows are all dual thermopanes, but the front windshield is like any car windshield and is single pane.  This frost build up was on the INSIDE!   Yup.. Jack Frost left his mark!

   

Jim took off the morning from work, and we all went out for breakfast.  We tried to treat them for the overnight parking space in their driveway, but they threatened the waitress to give the slip to them.... and she complied because they come in there all of the time and we are strangers to her!  LOL.. she knows which side of the bread is buttered for her.

Thanks Jim and Norma! 

As I type this, we are about 20 miles from home.  Our plan is to swing around the block and park on the sidestreet. We can unhook there and bring the Tracker into the driveway to survey the conditions.  Our neighbors were going to keep the driveway cleared while we were gone, but in no way did we expect them to have kept the entire parking space for the motorhome plowed too.  We may be facing some snow shoveling  snow blowing and ice chipping this afternoon.  It will be a cold one, because the temps only came up to a mere 21 degrees.   The high MIGHT get to 28....

WHY OH WHY 

DID WE COME BACK TO THIS??????

Weaving Conference - Vavning Studio - Jason Collingwood 3 End Blockweaves - Shopiere, WI

After a very blustery windy 200+ miles, we arrived at Vavning Studio on Thursday night and parked in "our spot" out in the back corner of the parking lot....

We woke in the morning to bright sunshine, singing birds and a lot of excitement (on my part) to get the day going!   Friday we helped Juanita Hofstrom and her husband Norm around the studio a bit.....

They have purchased a Methodist church in a tiny village (4 blocks long)  and turned it into a studio... for her weaving and his photography.  What a wonderful place to meet, create, enjoy and share.

Here are a few shots around the studio... from the entryway to the main loom studio....  Now to you *non weavers* this may not seem so interesting... but keep in mind that each one of these huge tools runs in the thousands of dollars, and the *weavers* reading this will be going OOOHHH and AAAHHHHH  there is a Cambridge!  There is a Barbara V, there is a row of Kessenichs!    It's like an auto show for the guys....

Juanita has various rugs she has completed hanging around the studio for us conference goers to view, touch and enjoy.  She is a wealth of information and creativity.... a retired art teacher, she has done it all!

Friday evening, we met with friends Jim and Norma for a fish fry at a tiny pub down the road.... Friend and fellow conference goer, Lynn Twitty joined us along with Norm...Juanita waited at the studio for various other weavers to come and bring their portable looms to the studio and set up in advance for the early morning start on Saturday.  (Norm brought her a fish fry back to the studio)   Big storms moved through the area overnight, and tornado warnings were all over the news.  We were safely parked near this huge old church and if need be, we could have scooted into the building as Juanita left me with a key....  but it's been around probably for 100 years, so I don't think a bit of high wind would bother it?

By Saturday morning, the folks started arriving... I was in the studio early to make up pots of coffee, hot water for tea, set out breakfast snacks and fruit... I am known as "The Kitchen Wench" to help Juanita hostess this event.   It sure helps her with the early mornings to get this all done before things get busy.

We were a tad bit worried about Jason getting there, as last we heard he was on Madeline Island out in Lake Superior the day before and nobody had heard from him yet.  Turns out he did quite a journey to get to us!  He was on a boat.... then a car.... then an airport for flying from Duluth MN to Chicago, IL .. then a bus from there to Rockford, IL, then a taxi from there to his hotel in Beloit, WI   Whew!!!  

The workshop started out with a gift from Juanita... I will post a pic of it on tomorrow's blog.... all I can say is WHAT A SWEETIE that gal is!

Lectures were held upstairs in the main area, which is bathed in golden sunlight....

We scribble down notes as fast as we can , before we move on downstairs to weave, learn, laugh and enjoy

This is  the lower level, with everyones portable looms moved into the center area of the room... a bit crowded but each needs a loom of their own to work on the techniques and lessons

Juanita's daughter, Melanie, stopped by with a little orphan named Susie.... awwwwwwww

And yes, she needs a diaper because she is a BABY! 

These are the kind of rugs we are learning to weave.  This one was brought in by a gal who went right to Jason's studio over in Great Britain.  She went for a whole week of lessons, and wove the entire rug before coming back home.   This is what is called a lesson in residence.  What an experience! 

These rugs are also reversible, getting double the use outta your handwoven item

We ended up Saturday evening with a swap meet,  where we could get rid of items we didn't want and pick up items we did!   Then we did a *Show N Tell* where we could share what we have done or like to do....

Whew... I collapsed into bed after a quick shower at 10 pm.....  and now it's Sunday morning.  Time to get up and make that coffee!!!! We have a whole nother day of weaving ahead of us!


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Loading up and getting ready to roll!

We have the motorhome all packed up and ready to roll for the weekend.... actually it is for a longer four day weekend!   We are going down to a cute little weaving studio in  a tiny village called Shopiere, WI.  It's owned by my friend Juanita Hofstrom and the name of the studio is called Vavning.   (about 200 miles from here)

She bought this vacant church and made it into the most comfortable studio, complete with lecture hall, studio space, kitchen area and offices.   It is in a tiny town about 4 blocks long, nestled in a vally along a bubbling brook and a tiny park.   I have been coming here for close to 10 years now.  I help Juanita hostess the event, and she contracts with Jason Collingwood to come and teach for the 3 day session.  He is a famous weaver from Great Britain,  son of the late Peter Collingwood, an innovator of a special technique for rug weaving called Shaft Switching.

We come early and help Juanita and Norm with some projects around the studio, and in return we can park for the four days in their parking lot.   Sure saves on the hotel fees and transportation from nearby Beloit.   Usually about 20 people attend and it's a very intense hands-on workshop with evening classes of interesting field  trips, swap meet of weaving supplies, show n tell, and eating out with groups for social times.

Being on site, I can unlock the studio early for weavers who want to come and get in some loom time before the classes start, or stay late into the evening after classes are done.  Also I am known as the Aide De Comp, or the Kitchen Wench...  we prepare various snack foods and lunches in the kitchen, and on the last day I prepare a full meal for all the weavers and their significant others to join in and wind up the conference.

Steveio finds many things to do while I am busy in classes.   He later joins us for socializing, eating out down the road at the restaurant, and just hanging out with many of the workshoppers spouses who are also looking for things to do.  Norm knows lots of cool things to do and see in the area, so Steveio hangs with Norm too.

In 1996 we were here in April in our Coachmen gasser motorhome... and Steveio took a ride on the scooter to get a replacement part for our Onan generator.  Lo and behold, he just HAD to drive past an RV dealer in Rockford, Illinois.  There he wandered among the rigs, and saw "THE MOTORHOME of his DREAMS!"    He came back all bubbly and excited and wanted me to go see it too!  But I didn't want any more payments and for sure didn't want another bigger motorhome.   But he was persistent.  Each week he would check the website and see if it was still there.  Each week it was.   Finally... finally.... (after some life-changing events)  I gave in to go and just "look" at the rig.   Three days later, it was ours!    So THAT is how we got our diesel pusher.