I will be flying out on Sunday to help a friend move her collection of geese, ducks, chickens, cats and dogs etc. across country from Sacramento to Cleveland. The preferred route will be I80 straight across, with I40 as the alternate in case of bad weather.

Any great quilt shops, or other places of interest, along the way to break up what looks like being a pretty boring drive?

Before you get to Cleveland on I-80 (the Fremont, OH area) if you go approx. 10miles south to Bettsville you can go to The DoorMouse.
It's a converted barn with tons of quilting fabric and patterns. They have so much it's almost impossible to walk down the aisle. I loved it but I don't live near there anymore.
Here's their website and map:
http://www.thedoormouse.com/map.htm

I don't envy you this trip!! I made it many years ago from Phoenix to the Akron area with three small children. Same time of year too. Wouldn't want to do it again!!!

Bless you ----- I can't imagine making that trips with all those animals! Yes...take a break and stop at quilt shops!!! Have a safe trip!

Elk Horn, IA has a wonderful quilt shop and dutch windmill (small town, but lots of fun stuff). Walnut, IA is an antique paradise and also has a couple of quilt stores.

These are both just a short hop off of 80. Have a safe and fun trip.

Des Moines, IA has many fun things "living history farms" and the Machine Shed Restaurant are right off of 80 and very popular.

Thanks so much everyone :-)

Ditter - I helped my friend move from Phoenix to Sacramento just a couple of years ago and I thought that trip was bad enough, lol. I just hope we don't hit too much bad weather along the way. Still, if you survived it, I guess we will :-)

Be safe.

My thoughts are with you as you make this trip. You are indeed brave.

I don't know of any shops along the way, but once you are in Ohio we have lots of fun places!

Thanks for the good wishes, everyone.

I should have a couple of days to look around the Cleveland area. We hope to get into Cleveland on Friday and I fly back Monday morning.

Just curious as to why this thread was moved from Chit Chat but not the other thread regarding a cross-country trip? What determines where the non-quilting threads go because I am totally confused?

Seems like this post belonged in Chit/Chat. I'd pm a moderator to take a peek.
Oh, I was going to suggest you also take a pair of ear plugs for yourself and one for your friend in case all those animals start making their favorite noises at the same time. :)

Luckily, most of the animals will be in my friend's horse trailer (the horses are being professionally shipped). We did get some strange looks when we stopped for gas the last time we did this, lol.

There is a shop in Peru, Illinois that I want to visit, off I-80.

Wow.....that will be a trip

Well, I am back, and still in one piece! We made the trip from Wilton/Sacramanto to Valley City/Cleveland in 4 days, driving 12 to 14 hours a day. We had domestic ducks, muscovies, turkeys, geese, chickens of various kinds, love birds, gold fish, cats and dogs. We got pretty lucky with the weather and just hit ice and snow in Wyoming. I80- was actually closed for a while, but re-opened before we got to that part. We did see a couple of big rigs that had jack-knifed though. The scariest part was actually driving on I80 near Gary, Indiana, while the worst winds were driving through the Salt Flats in Utah.

Unfortunately, once I got out to California, my friend told me that we had to be in Medina by 11.00am Friday morning at the latest to close on her new house, so we had no time to stop at quilt shops on the way :-( However, during our sight-seeing yesterday, we ran across a great little quilt shop in Olmsted Falls, so that sort of made up for it :-)

I flew back this morning on Continental. I was able to a special deal to upgrade to first class since my friend's company had paid full coach fare for my ticket, but what a mistake that was! They ran out of the main breakfast offering before reaching my seat so I didn't get anything to eat the entire flight and nor did the guy sitting next to me. He couldn't even get a bag of peanuts out of them. While waiting to pick up my luggage, I spoke to another lady who had been upgraded to first class for free (and who did get food btw!) and she told me that the same thing had happened to her the last time she had paid for first class on Continental. The cabin was also freezing cold. I actually got better treatment when I flew out coach on Southwest, lol.

The door mouse is wonderful If there is a color you cant find I am sure they probably have it...I have never in my life seen so many different bolts of fabric...I am only about 5 miles from there...It is a great place if you get a chance to stop do you will be amazed

I know you are probably gone on your trip already. But you could visit the International Quilt Study Museum in Lincoln NE. They always have a wonderful exibits. There are several nice quilt stores in Lincoln also.