Our Highway 127 longest yard sale experience

We drove about 600 miles from Michigan to Crossville, TN. What a perfect vacation spot for us. We have family in the area and of course we planned our vacation around the 127 sale!

It is overwhelming how many tents, booths and vendors there are!  

The traffic on 127 in Crossville is pretty heavy. And they still managed to MOVE A HOUSE down the highway through all that traffic! 

moving a house down Highway 127

One of my favorite parts of this sale is the amount of old, unique things you can find. I never find stuff this old at garage sales back home.

cash register and Coca Cola cooler

double bicycle

a coffin? $695

unique collections...

jars

license plates

handmade signs

The area around the Cumberland Mtn General Store in Clarkrange, TN is a sight to see! So many booths here! 

We saw the filming of HGTV's Endless Yard Sale Challenge with Cari Cucksey and Kim Myles.

Which will air on HGTV on October 16, 2011.

Cari Cucksey & Kim Myles 

One of my favorite treats were the fried pies.
apple, cherry, blueberry, peach

Fried Pies Sold Here!

and the deep fried Oreos

My Treasures...

vintage toys

Laundry sign & Pepsi crate

photos & mini bowling pins

license plates, mermaid, giant skeleton key

canister set

We shopped the sale Wed, Thur and Fri. We drove as north as Clarkrange, TN and south almost to Pikeville, TN. 

Parking is insane. Cars park along the side of the road. Some parking lots will charge a couple dollars for parking. Sometimes we would see a sale we wanted to go to but there was NO WHERE to pull over.

I think almost every seller was willing to negotiate on prices. Maybe it is just expected. Expected that buyers are going to ask for a better price and expected that the seller wants to get rid of their JUNK.

Sometimes if you just TOUCH an item the seller would say - "I can do better on that price."

The whole experience is unique. You see it all. I was called "honey" and "ma'am" more times in those few days... There was a nice, polite, charming way about the people we met.

and of course we had a little vacation for the kids too...

cooled off in the pool

played mini golf

 spotted Elvis in Nashville (about 1.5 hrs from Crossville)

stopped by the Antique Archaeology store in Nashville - from the American Pickers show

Can't wait to do it again next year! 

Did you go? What did you find? Want to meet us there next year?

There is a group on Facebook to catch all the official details...

https://www.facebook.com/127Sale

Deep fried Oreos

One of my favorite treats at the 127 sale! 

They used "golden" or "yellow" Oreos. 

YUMMY! 

$3 for 5 deep fried Oreos!

Vintage toys from the 127 sale

These old toys are GREAT! I had these when I was a kid. I bought them because I loved playing with them. I have a small collection of vintage toys of my childhood. I cannot resist buying them. Memories!

The Playskool Cobblers Bench was $5 and the Fisher Price Movie Projector was $4. 

I had that exact movie too. "Lonesome Ghosts". My girls were with me when I bought them and they loved playing with them. It kept them busy while we were shopping along the 127 sale! 

More treasures from the 127 sale

Prices of license plates at the 127 sale run about $1-$15 each.
One Kentucky plate from 1921 was $135 ! 

I paid $1 each for these Tennessee license plates. There are some fun projects to make out of license plates that I saw on Pinterest.com. One idea is to cut out the letters and spell words to hang on the wall.

This cast iron mermaid was $2. She is going in my family room!

The large skeleton key was $3.

Last year at the 127 sale I regretted not buying some old photos. This year I knew I wanted to find some. I am not sure what I am going to do with them just yet. I realize that I picked out happy and loving poses. They were 10 cents each.
I just imagine what was really going on at those moments!!!

The bowling pins are so cute. They appear to be trophies honoring the bowler for High Score, etc.
$4 for 6 pins.
At another booth I saw similar pins going for $6 per pin.

127 sale treasures

Just a couple of my treasures from the 127 worlds longest yard sale.

I want to hang this sign in my Laundry Room. It was $2. The guy told me he bought his huge box of signs in the 1970s.

Love this Pepsi crate for $6 !

Now that is a license plate collection

Our new friend at the world's longest yard sale

My blog's 1st birthday & 1st giveaway

My blog is one year old!

I never knew blogging would be so fun. I have learned so much and met so many supportive, wonderful people. There are so many gorgeous blogs out there that I admire.

This year has changed my life!

our stairs redo

  

          I admire the blogging and decorating expertise of ThriftyDecorChick.com

She is MY FIRST BLOG LOVE. 

          I was hooked on her detailed DIY tutorials. 

         SHE inspired me to redo our STAIRS. 

          I am so amazed at how much

          she transforms in her home.

  

Girl In Air

Then there is Girl In Air who is very creative and ambitious! I fell in LOVE with her  Magnetic Chalkboard, Dry erase, with sliding ladder wall!

She has wonderful tutorials for home decor! I am so impressed by the AMOUNTS of projects she has accomplished! Wow! And she has an Etsy store. http://www.etsy.com/shop/girlinair
I really wish she could come to my house and create that fabulous Activity Wall !






And someone whom I have met in person... the very talented Sarah from ThreeBoys-home.blogspot.com. She has transformed some amazing pieces of furniture! I really could learn a million things from her!!

This is just to name a few of the many blogs that inspire me!
I really enjoy following all the amazing blogs out there! You motivate me!
There is so much talent out there and I am in love with all the creativity!


It has been a big year for Garage Sale Diaries...


I had the opportunity to meet the sweetheart Cari Cucksey from the HGTV show 'Cash and Cari'. I have managed to visit MANY of her estate sales this summer. One sale is where I found this amazing treasure for my dad's collection.



My family and I traveled to the world's longest yard sale along highway 127. The sale runs over 600 miles from Michigan to Alabama. It was an adventure to see what other people collect and sell in other parts of the country. Every year it runs the first week in August. We are going again this year!!

Also, this past year I saved our family a ton of money by purchasing the girls' Christmas gifts and Birthday gifts at garage sales. It is amazing all the BRAND NEW goodies you can find. And I shared my secret hiding spot for the presents. I just kept adding treasures to a very large suitcase throughout the year and at Christmas time I had more than enough to put under the tree! 

I won a Silhouette machine from Thrifty Decor Chick! This machine rocks! 

It cuts paper and fabric in any shape and font that is on your computer!

And I have continued to decorate our home with garage sale / estate sale treasures. 

Including 7 tables in one year! 

This next year I want to learn more about transforming furniture! Home Depot has had some fabulous colors of OOPS paint that I have been buying up for $5 for a gallon and $1 for a quart. 

In celebration of my blog's 1st birthday I would like to present a gift to my friends!

My very first GIVEAWAY!!

FLEA MARKET STYLE MAGAZINE 

(retail $9.95)

There are so many inspiring photos and articles in the 144 pages! 
I love this magazine and I want to share it! 

Ways to enter my giveaway:

1. Become a follower of my blog. Then leave me a comment letting me know you are a follower. If you are already a follower just leave a comment letting me know!

2. Follow me on Twitter. Then leave me a comment. http://twitter.com/#!/garagesalediary

3. Like my Facebook page. Please leave a comment letting me know.
 www.facebook.com/garagesalediaries

4. Post a comment about your favorite garage sale treasure, what you like to look for at garage sales or your favorite garage sale story! I love to hear about everyone's treasures!

I want to thank you all for reading along with me on my adventures!!

Yes, this is open to everyone, even my friends outside the U.S. (you there in Australia and China)
This giveaway will be open for 6 days, until next Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at midnight EST. I will announce the winner of a FLEA MARKET STYLE MAGAZINE and post my new treasures I find over the weekend on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 !! 

Saying goodbye to the world's longest yard sale

We ate fried pies. Saw lots of antiques. Survived temperatures in the 90s. And covered about 50 miles of 127 in Tennessee.

It was interesting to see the crowds of people.
We would find areas with over a dozen tents set up with treasures. Or there would be houses that would have one lonely table by the road piled with 'stuff' for sale. In some places the traffic was so heavy that it was faster to walk than to drive. Even though the official start was Thursday there were many tables set up a week early. Since today was the last day of the sale, some vendors announced everything was 'half off'. Just a couple treasures that I am bringing home from this trip. What an adventure!

Now I need a good cookbook.

I bought this stand for $5! It's so heavy and sturdy. Now I need the perfect cookbook for it.

Lanterns

Picked up these 3 lanterns along the 127 sale. $16 total.
To decorate our nautical family room.

5 foot rooster

At the 127 sale.
$190

We made it to TN!

We made it to Tennessee and the action has already started on 127. The big sale officially begins on August 5 but tables and tents are already setup. We spent a couple of hours looking around different places along 127. So far it seems to be antique store items with antique store prices. But it's early yet. I will wait for Thursday and travel to other areas along 127 to find treasures! I haven't bought anything yet.