I thought I heard banjos playing.....

I've never seen the movie "Deliverance"..but isn't

it about some people getting lost in Arkansas?

On a Friday in July I thought I might possibly be

involved in the re-make of that movie...and

yes...I was hearing banjos playing in my head.

Cheryl (back row, far left) had made arrangements

for a girls' getaway to Greer's Ferry Lake

in North Central Arkansas.

Her friend, Sue (in the blue shirt) has

a lake house and it promised to be a retreat

that we all needed and would enjoy.

Cheryl, Cheri (back right) and Barbara (front left)

left on a Thursday.

Kara (back center) and I left at 6:30am

Friday morning.

It promised to be a great adventure.

Kara and I had decided to "enhance" our trip

by also making it a "shop-hop."

For you non-quilters/sewers this is

when you go from quilt store to quilt store

to admire (we didn't plan to buy) all

the different collections of fabric.

I'm sure that sounds totally weird...

Me being the smart one that I am decided to google all the quilt stores between here and the lake. We skipped the two in Springfield and the one in Branson for the 5, yes 5...shops in Harrison, Arkansas! Guess what...we only found one! We drove at least an hour going from one end of the town to the other only to find closed stores or a random farm house at the said address! Being greatly disappointed we continued on our journey, and about an hour from our destination we got a call from Sue with "better" directions! We proceeded to drive another couple hours and a hundred miles up and down hills, around corners, over bridges, etc (note to travelers: there are no straight roads in Arkansas. I don't know if they were designed by people drinking moonshine or what). Kara and I thought we were permanently lost in Arkansas...never to be found...and we were getting low on gas! We finally found the dirt road leading to the lake house. We met Cheryl and Sue on that road as they had set out to "find" us. Cheryl was panicked because she couldn't reach us (note to travelers: Sprint and Verizon don't work in Arkansas). She said they had literally prayed us there!

Despite the "trials" in traveling we had a wonderful time...great food, lots of laughter, rides in the boat, sleep, deep talks and friendships increased. The bonus is a book we found, "Guide Me To Eternity" by Christine Monsen. I highly recommend it...check out Amazon to find it.