I spent most of the past weekend traversing a small section of the 127 yard sale. Not familiar? It’s 675 miles of junkin’ fun. Known as the “world’s longest yard sale,” it runs from Gadsden, Ala., to Hudson, Mich. It’s fabulous!

My gal-pal Tara and I set out Friday night, spending a fun evening in Chattanooga, Tenn.. Then Saturday it was all business. Making our way North on Hwy 127, we managed to cover about 30 miles of the yard sale in about 10 hours. Yep, that’s right, 10 hours. Needless to say we took our time, carefully picking through piles of dishes, linens, old jars, and whatnot.

Yeah, there was a lot of junk. But there was plenty of treasure, too. And there were lots of deals to be had if you kept your eyes open and weren’t in a hurry.

Before

After

The whole day was a lesson in self-control. I think I mentioned in my previous post that I’m obsessed with dishes. Well, that obsession is not necessarily considered endearing to my husband, as one might think. He’s given me a moratorium on dishes. If I buy another set, I have to get rid of one. I walked away from several dish sets on Saturday. The hardest to walk away from were a beautiful set of green depression glass and another fun set from the ’70s with colorful poppies. But I was strong. And my husband is relieved.

I did manage to score a fun set of canisters (not technically dishes) for $12.

My favorite find

I’d walked away from these earlier in the day, but I just couldn’t get them out of my head. On our way home, we stopped to see if they were still there. I held my breath as I walked back to the table where I’d seen them before. I tried to contain my joy as I nonchalantly asked how much the vendor wanted for them.

Sometimes it pays to walk away. I wound up getting them for less than half what the owner had originally asked. And they look just as I imagined they would in my apple green kitchen.

I also found a $5 tablecloth with the same colors as the canisters. Score! My other favorite find was a 1960s tan handbag in “mint” condition. I carried it to work today. Just call me Doris Day.

All in all, it was a near-perfect day ( to be explained in a later post).

My friend and I are already making plans for next year’s sale. Kentucky, here we come!