We did it !! We finally took the trip to follow highway 127 for the yard sales. We did not go the complete 640 miles, but did cover 135 miles. We went as far South as Chattanooga.
Rhonda, husband Mike and daughter India,(from Kansas) met us at Wallyhoo campground near Crossville TN. Don, Donya and I had camp set up by the time they arrived. Not the best campground in the area. Could have been, but the owner/operator bought the campground and moved from Michigan about 3 or so years ago. He is letting it run down something awful, and cares not for his campers comfort. He opened the office about noon IF he felt like it. The only way to get wifi was to sit right outside his office, in the sun, and try to see the screen on your laptop. Swimming pool was out or order along with all the other things promised on the web site. The shower and bathrooms were in great working order and kept clean. We will choose a different campground for next year.
Yep, we had so much fun, we decided to go next year. The food was so much fun. India and Donya had real fried green tomatoes. I missed those. But the cajun boiled peanuts were done to perfection. Home made ice cream, fried pies, beans and corn bread, smoked chicken and ribs. yum !!! One of the best hamburger and french fry plates I have ever had.
We took advice from people who have been going to this event the 22 years since it was started. Take plenty of water to drink, toilet paper (those portapoties run out of paper, then what?) and baby wipes. You put your hands on grungy and sticky stuff, while sorting for the 'good stuff'. And then you sometimes get sticky eating the fried pies and ice cream. Baby wipes are a must have.
I was happy just to have a nice vacation, go camping, be with family and see some great scenery. It was spectacular, looking off across the hills and into the valleys. We went down some very narrow roads in search of another yard sale or two. Some were very memorable, and funny. We made sure to buy at least one thing, if we were the only shoppers down that lonely road and at the yard sale. Sometimes it was difficult to find at least one thing that you would even load in your truck. Other times we needed a trolley to haul all the good stuff back to the truck.
Don was hoping to find Alles tractors, instead he found a farmer that told him there were no Alles dealers in the area.. so it would be rare to find one. Don did find one, imported by that same Tennessee farmer, from Minnesota. The farmer said he drove up to get it after making the deal for it on the internet.
I have a couple regrets of things I saw and did not buy, but I really did not go to buy a lot of things. My place is too full of things as it is, but boy!! that sure was a pretty tea set I didn't buy. And those Christmas dishes (service for 4) were just perfect for the barn. Had there been place setting for 8.... they probably would have come home with me.
Want to see what I did bring home? Well, here are a couple things..
This little wooden box is covered with leather. Not sure what kind, but the wood is very aged and looks a lot like the Belgian cabinet I bought from an antique shop about 15 years ago to use as a china hutch. Paid $900 for the cabinet (a new china hutch would have cost more then $1500) and later discovered it was valued at $3000. I love it and would never part with it. I gave $4.00 for this box.
I'll bet you would like to know what it is. So did I. I had no idea what it was or what it was used for. Rhonda told me it was a Samovar. I still did not know what it was. The instruction book is in Russian. Donya studied Russian when she attended OU. (Oklahoma University) and translated a few of the words in the booklet. The seller did not know what it was, so they were no help. But I thought it was very pretty, so bargained them down to $30.
It is a Russian Samovar, used in tea making. You make a very strong, usually sweet fruity tea, in the little teapot on the top. It sits on the 'chimney' and stays warm, with hot water in the bottom of the pot(that big round part at the bottom). You put a little of the strong tea from the little teapot in your cup, then run hot water out of the spigot in the bottom pot to dilute the tea. That way the tea in the top pot does not get bitter and strong by boiling too long.
This pot is electric, but the antique pots have a tube that goes down the middle that charcoal is put into and kept burning.. to keep the bottom water hot. I will need to get an adapter as the electric is for European outlets.
I'll show you some more 'stuff' on the next post. Lots of our stuff is still in the camper. Got to find somewhere to put our treasures before we can unload them. Hope we find the 'place' for them before we go next year, or the camper could get a bit crowded. heh heh
Just look at those lush trees. Anywhere there was a vacant place to put your stuff, someone would open their trunks or unload their stuff from their pickup and they were in business. Donya was thrilled to find a game she has been wanting for years. She was almost ready to order it from Amazon for $50. $2.50 at this yard sale. It was like new... Scrabble on a turntable.
The oddest thing we found for sale was a mounted pig. Not just the head, but half the pig.How would you like to have that hanging over your fireplace?!! We did not even check to see how much they wanted for it. Afraid they might think we were making an offer.
The antique fire engine made into an ice cream server was a hit with all of us. They made the ice cream right on that truck, put it into a bowl and slid it onto a conveyor belt that brought it through a trough to us. Yep, India had peacock blue hair in honor of the yard sales.
Donya was a good little shopper. She is collecting white firestone dishes and cookware. She found many to add to her collection. I think her favorite was the small tea cups and saucers that were at a booth where a nice man had an East African accent when he talked to us. We were not sure if it was New Zealand, but it not quite right for that.. we will always wonder.
Donya rode with Don and me, while Rhonda, India and Mike were in her van. (She had a pretty full van when she headed home.) This is the back seat where Donya had her nest. Fred had put a storage (or huge tool) box with a lid in the front of our pickup bed. It did not interfere with the 5th wheel hitch for the camper.. and we filled it. And we filled out camper... but not so full that we had to rent a motel on the way home. We heard there were shoppers that did that very thing. More in the next post.
