Our trip this past Friday to Kansas City for Arts on the Hill IV went really well. We had planned to leave at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, and ended up getting off at 8:15, which for us is pretty good. After stopping in Tyler to get ice for the cooler and gas, and to drop off some paperwork at Crown Motors, we were off! We took US 271 up to Oklahoma, eventually getting on the Indian Nation Turnpike. From there to the Creek Turnpike and then the Will Rogers Turnpike. Suffice it to say, we gave our share of financial support to Oklahoma's turnpike system! Thankfully when we hit Missouri, that ended! We picked up US 71 outside of Joplin, which rode much like an interstate--not having to go through all kinds of little towns. From there it was a straight shot up to KC. We had a little trouble when we got into Kansas City finding the Liberty Memorial, which was where the show was being held. We had very good directions, but a few blocks of one of the streets we had to take were totally blocked off by road construction. We did take the posted detour, but apparently the turn we were to take off of that street was within that construction zone. Oy! So we went around part of downtown Kansas City for a while (in the dark) before finally finding the Memorial, more by luck than skill!

When we got there, the drive in front of the Memorial was blocked by more road construction, and there were a few cars stopped. There was a guy who seemed to be talking to the driver of the first car. After a few minutes all the cars there pulled away and turned around. What was this?! So we pulled up to the guy, who turned out to be an attendant of some sort, and asked him how to get to the Liberty Memorial parking. He gave us directions, and we found the parking lot. It really helped that we had been there last year, as I kind of knew the lay of the land around the Memorial. So we found a parking place and walked a short distance to the Memorial.

We got inside and I gave our names to the "check-in" girl at the door. Then I got my badge/ribbon identifying me as one of the exhibiting artists. As we hadn't eaten anything except crackers since lunch, the first order of the evening was getting food! Luckily they had what I would call "heavy hors d'oeuvres." Mama had some Asian salmon and some pasta salad and I had some(gourmet) bologna, cheese, and crackers. We also had some miniature cupcakes, then went around to find my painting. We walked all around the display room, FINALLY finding my painting. It had been professionally framed by a Kansas City-area framer, as had all the paintings there, and this was the first time I'd seen it in this frame. It looked really good! Mama took a couple of pictures of me standing next to it, and then we walked around looking at the rest of the artwork.

All the art was created by people with various disabilities. As last year, it was phenomenal! As Mama said, it's amazing what people with disabilities can do with artwork. There were a few pieces that could be termed "outsider art," but most of it would be at home at any high-end gallery anywhere. One of the artists who really stood out to me was a visually-impaired guy who does black-and-white photography. Amazing! I mean, how does someone who is visually impaired take such wonderful photos? He even develops his own photographs--a skill he taught himself. He had some there from his "Twin Towers" series, of the World Trade Center towers in New York. Pre-9/11, of course. They were absolutely breath-taking! This was his first year to exhibit at Arts on the Hill. There were a number of artists there for the first time. I think the longest any of this year's exhibiting artists had been there was four years.

The format of the sale was a little different this year. In the past, the artworks have just been bought outright. This year they did a silent auction. Each artwork had a clipboard next to it where people could write their bids, with the minimum starting bid being the sale price the artist had specified. 70% of the original sales price will go to the artist, with the rest going to benefit the Rehabilitation Institute of Kansas City, which sponsors the show. So it's a win/win situation. Unless, of course, the artwork doesn't sell! The main show was Friday and Saturday, but after that any remaining artwork will be moved to the Institute for an extended show, where it will still be on sale. This is also new. So hopefully my painting, "Blue Awnings," will sell at some point. Not that I don't like the painting, but I've had a good run with it and I would like it to have a nice home--elsewhere. The sales check would be a big help!

Around 9:00 p.m., after we walked around and saw all the art, we left to go to the motel. We had directions on how to get from the Memorial to the motel in Lenexa, KS. But, as you might know, we got lost again! This time it was because the first street we had to turn off on did not have a street sign on it. Then, after we FINALLY went back to start over and found it, we missed the first exit we needed. AAAAARRRRRGH!!!!! After a lot of driving around, we finally found I-35 and got on that, taking that to the motel. It took us almost an hour to drive the "14 minutes" to the motel! After we checked in and deposited our stuff in the room, we went to a nearby Applebee's for supper. Thankfully they were still open AND serving. We got back to the motel well after 11:00.

Saturday Mama and I left the motel around 9:00 a.m. We had decided, especially since US 69 (yes, the same that runs right to Jacksonville) ran right near the motel, to take that back home, rather than going the turnpike route. So we got on 69 and headed south. It took us about the same amount of time to get home that it had for us to get to Kansas City. No changing routes multiple times. And no paying toll fees! We had to stop in Bullard to get some hot dogs and stuff for supper, and so it was about 8:30 before we got home. The house was still standing and not in a state of chaos, which was a good thing. The animals were happy to see us back. Ian was, too, when he got home from his weekend job just past 10:00. It was a nice trip overall, but I am glad to be back.