pre-127 yard sale: how to outfit your car for a massive drive

(currently driving though The Rez)

No, i didn't abandon my blog! Everyday for the past few months i have been feeling horrible about not posting, but the past 3 months have been incredibly busy...a little too busy. Not only have i had my usual Road Less Traveled/jam sales/Patchwork Craft Fairs, but for the past 4 month i have been working on the first ever LA Eat Real Festival.  Remember last year i flew out to Oakland to talk about kimchi?? Well, I was hired as the Event Manager for LA, and there went any free time that I had- I wasn't even at the shop the last 8 weeks-it has been nuts/awesome/exhausing in so many words.  More on that next week though.

The real point of me starting up with the blog again, and in particular on this day is because:

it's 127 yard sale time again!!!

Yes, as i write this post we are making our way to Kentucky to shop at the largest yard sale in the country.  This time around we brought a flip camera to do videos, i am going to take more pictures of the wacky signs and i am going to blog about the trip there and coming back.

How are we able to do this, and work on the various other things that i am a little behind on?? We have outfitted our car (or rather Gustavo's parents SUV) into a mini snack bar/DJ booth and office! By stocking some quality snacks and multiple things to occupy us, we are able to pull 12-17 hour treks without going crazy or eating tons of gas station food.

(the carffice- front seat was electronics, back seat the galley)

THE LONG HAUL CAR TRIP (trips with small kids would probably not find this the best resource)

• inverter: we use this one and powered all electronic devices around the clock (it has been super worth it, we use it in the VW all the time)
• zip ties/ twisty-ties: something to organize all of the damn wires or you will go crazy, tape, scissors some basic office items (the tape is great for taping papers up on the dashboard to increase the sqft-age of your "desk"
• tethering: the whole reason I can work on the go was because we had an internet connection (sometimes slow-but SO MUCH BETTER than nothing!) via the smart phone.
• SIRUS: Howard Stern, non-stop 80's music, no commercials, tons of stations-what are you waiting for!
• laptop desk: helps for organization and keeping the hot laptop off your legs.
• baby/sanitation wipes & paper towels: clean your hands, feet or face before you eat or whenever you are getting that nasty travel grim going on.
• a few large paper grocery bags: just start a trash bag as soon as you turn on the engine
• The Complete Book of Questions: there is always a conversation that comes from this book.
• Food: lots of fruit, hummus/pita, cheeses, cured meats, breads and a good mustard.  Your can easily make a sandwich using the top of your cooler as your counter. I also made orzo salad prepackaged in plastic containers (with roasted tomatoes, feta and pepper flakes). of course drinks!
• food tools: bottle/wine opener (i always find myself buying these when we stop!), a small cutting board, spreader/cheese/sm bread knife, eating utensils, bring a large mason jar with a plastic lid for the coffee stops too.
• driving: leave as early as possible (we left @ 3am), you will make great time and avoid all the traffic...and cruise control makes life easier.

(first purchase: a turquoise necklace and some sweet leather hair ties!)

Tomorrow's post: the stops for the trip and the shopping list

uber-clean sink

People always ask me at the shop, "what do you clean with?"

(this is it: baking soda, lemon juice, scrubber/old toothbrush, Modern Mermaids, vinegar & dish soap)

i think i have written about this in the past but just recently I was reading the popular LA-based Urban Homestead/DIY living blog Root Simple about sink cleaning.  Normally I have had a stainless steel sink, where I have only used baking soda and water to make a homemade "soft scrub", with a few drops of tea tree for added smelly/antiseptic goodness.
Now that we are in our new apartment Homestead, the sink is a bit older and it is porcelain-you can for sure see a lot more stains! I was inspired by the Root Simple post on the "soft scrub" mix but with lemon-brills! Baking soda combo is great on its own, but with lemon juice-talk about hit of natural bleach power!

(sink before: cute but worn)

 (after: pearly white!)

(look at the stains being lifted by some small elbow grease on my part)

I decided to take this on our new-but-getting-a-beating stove...check-check.
Just wipe with a wet cloth and DONE, so cheap and so simple!

127 yard sale wrap-up: tips and signs from the sale

So as we head back home to California, fully-packed car and probably a few added pounds on the ole' waistline from all the fried foods, i have to say we had a pretty good trip (albeit short)!

Learned some new things on this trip and i wanted to shared in case you or someone you know whats to do the sale sometime:

• pack a hand sanitizer or better yet, baby wipes-the dirt and shopping and heat...you'll thank yourself later.
• one way people know you are from out of town: using too many syllables when saying the towns you have been to/going to.  take out a few or just limit everything to one (practice makes perfect!)
• Tennessee seems to be the best for shopping and deals, but Kentucky the best for food and adventure-gotta thank Ricks White Light Diner and bourbon for that!
• buy linens for packing and ask local businesses for boxes: saves you $ and you get to keep the packing material too!
• if you are driving, be prepared to find something big and having to move stuff around.  we had this great rack on top with a bag-thingie that collapsed where we put out bags and boxed items in...PS: dont pack to much for the trip-this isnt a fashion show-you can look good when you get home!
• Holiday Inn Express: such a good deal for what you get.  i am all for the small hotels (Jordan Motel in Jamestown is awesome), but if you want all the basic necessities for a decent price-AND need free, fast internet, this can't be beat.  they also have a pool, washing machines, and the rooms are super cold (oh and they have HBO in case you are a fan of True Blood and don't want to miss)....they are in MOST locations on 127-but not all.
• lastly: if you do visit any of the places on 127 sale or not, try to do a review on Yelp-most places have 1 review if any at all and it could really help other out of towners figuring things out.
• to see my other tips from last year, click HERE

One of the many things i like from the trip are the cute signs i see while we travel, some funky, some homemade, but all as unique and fun as this trip is to me, here are some of my favorites:

(this is actually a doormat, now at our house!)

Can't wait till next year!

127 yard sale day 4: Crossville-Nashville

Today was the final day of shopping on Route 127 and boy were the deals hoppin'!  Last year, my mother and i didn't shop the last day, we didnt have any room in the luggage and we had to spend the whole day driving to Birmingham to make our plane back home.

(next year we are doing the wish list on the car!)

We missed out last year, there are some serious deals!  At every fair that we stopped at there were at least 2 vendors that were pulling the 50% off sales for the last final hours-time to move fast!

The whole time i have been also looking for this one particular vendor that i bought an old book (now worth $300) and a gorgeous rolling pin from-best rolling pin that i have seen on this trip and the last.  We ended up finding them at one of our last stops and i had a long talk with Buck Creek Antiques. This time i got their card, where on the bottom  said, "When you love what you're doing~ it shows"- I love this booth because out of everyone else i have seen-this vendor has incredible merchandising and you can just tell that they really takes care of the items-no rust or dirt on a single thing! Of course we bought stuff!

There were also a few other things that even now, not even 24 hours later i wish i picked up: old canning tools including a few pot racks that i actually needed, 2 beautiful copper laddels and a PERFECT lime green kettle, with a filer and paper filters...some other things...

so long 127 for now...i will be posting tips and fave photos tomorrow!

127 yard sale day 3: Albany-Crossville, TN

Saturday morning marked the 1/2 way point for our shopping adventure and you can tell because the car was getting pretty packed! One thing that was helpful was that our hotel was next to a florist and the owner was really sweet and let me take boxes to pack our belongings, this definitely helps with stacking breakables and allowing us to have more room for more stuff!

(taking everything out to start organizing)

Another thing that was helpful was and a good note if you decide to do 127 is to buy a few of the several lovely linens, napkins or other embroidery goodies at the sales-they make great packing material and i took full advantage of them as you see below:

(one of the packed boxes)

Unfortunately, i dont have any grand reports of breakfast foods for Albany-there weren't too many choices and we needed the internet so we went to McYucks, i had only coffee and ate local peaches-but you have to go where the internet is sometimes (our hotel didnt have any)!
So off we went, out of Kentucky and into Tennessee. We stopped by a few sale points that my mom and i had went to the year before but really didn't see too much until we entered Tennessee where we stopped at a large sale that we had also visited last year where i bought a cute table, a large embroidered table cloth for my jam booth and this cute pink coat with faux fur among other things.

(green cast iron braces, have no idea what to use them for but LOVE them!)

This part of the trip had a great deal of traffic, lots of large sales on both sides of the road where people are crossing. We managed to spend part of it taking pictures of signs (a later post) and we picked up this AWESOME Mexican bar caddy-super cute!

The super hot weather has died down a little, which has been nice-still sweating as soon as we get out of the car, but not dropping dead.  Just one more day left of 127, and we head for home!

127 yard sale day 2: Danville-Albany

(loved this booth: salt box, metal cake container and an egg basket-score 1)

today was the first full day of shopping and i was super excited to find treasures and surprises in Kentucky.  we got a quick boost of energy to start our day at the popular chain (but not franchised as we found out later), Cracker Barrel where i had catfish, poached eggs and raspberry lemonade. Cracker Barrel is actually pretty good for a chain-service is always friendly and prompt, decent breakfast for a good price and they offer slightly so "non-fried" options and vegetarian-i can most certainly say that i am not used to this much fried food.

with a full belly, we headed out south on 127 to our next destination Albany, 80 miles away.  now normally, this would only take about 2 hours but this weekend, it could take up to 10-so one thing you need to be careful about is making sure you keep track of time so that you don't end up driving in the dark (really dangerous, so don't do it).
for this particular trip, i am trying to focus my shopping a little more than last year (easier said than done) to things for the kitchen, small furniture items and vintage canning items.
one thing you have to keep in mind about this trip is that you can't get too excited too early-of course i didn't listen to my own advice and found a number of cute things for fabulous prices.

(awesome little kid's desk with chalk board)

(i didn't buy this doll, but i loved it in the chair)

(sweet book with tin-types!)

one thing that i didn't notice but noticed a lot this time was the large Mennonite population in the Kentucky area.  a few of the larger markets had crafts from local Mennonite's and we were able to pick up a few beautiful objects like baskets, sun hats (you'll see them at the shop) and homemade noodles!

(gorgeous baskets and noodles)

(me with one of the beautiful hats that many of the men wore)

i was also on the look-out for vintage pie items for Evan, who gave me a little list of things to look for-girl, we have some great stuff for you!!-here's a peak.

lastly, we happened to come by a camping area that i remembered going to last year, where i saw an awesome cast iron bottling contraption....well guess what-the 2 guys with 5 teeth were still there are they still had it!  they even remembered me-we ended up buying it and an old-school coffee grinder from them.

it looks like we are going to need a trailer soon, we still have 2 days!!

127 yard sale day 1: Frankfort-Danville

after settling into Frankfort last night, we started our first day of our 127 yard sale adventure relaxing and taking advantage of the fact that there was only 50 miles between Frankfort and our next stop, Danville.
Kentucky is a the nation's biggest producer of bourbon and to celebrate, we decided to visit one of the several distilleries in the area-but not before breakfast.
using Yelp, we wanted to find a a place that showed us how great the region was-let me tell you, we found that place!
Rick's White Light Diner, may sound kind of "what the heck is that?" by name, but if you are in the Frankfort area this is a MUST DO-and be prepared to wait in line, this place was just aired on Guy Fiere's Dinners Dive-ins and Dives...we were lucky to make it right when this was about to break loose.

(rick off to the left, telling another story-totally funny!!)

(eggs bene-can't resist-also had Crawfish Pie)

(Guy was here!)

We stepped into the tiny diner, sitting about 20 and could feel the on-coming madness, eclectic with stickers, Madonna's Nude Photo book on the register, movie posters (Scarface and Taxi Driver anyone) and a number of odds and ends that so much reflected the owner/chef/cook/entertainment Rick who was cursing up a storm, telling stories and making fun of us Californians. Rick alone is a gem and a master at the grill making the diner's meals on a grill about 2 ft wide with tickets held by old clothes pins.  Best part of my meal besides everything-the beer with an orange slice in it-which i now call the Kentucky Mimosa-totally awesome & highly recommended by Rick-heck i am on vacation!

(the barrel run is a short track to wheel barrels to a huge house where it is to age for up to 9 years!)

Next was a trip to bourbon country-we decided to visit the Woodford Reserve Distillery, a little off 127, but totally worth it.  This premium bourbon is made at the oldest operating bourbon distillery in the nation and for $5 you can get an amazing tour with, you guessed it-samples. we bought some bourbon of course and some smoked bourbon salt (to some goodness later with). 

(fermenting the booze)

(copper chambers- these were amazing to see up close-it was super hot hot here!)

(barrels resting, there was a little cat hanging out there too!)

with only 15 miles left to go until we hit Danville, we stopped at a few sale areas. one of which i was able to pick up an old canning book and saw some old-school canning items.  Unfortunately, it was EXTREMELY hot. note: if you are not into sweating, humidity or being in hell-this was so extreme in heat...hopefully it will die down a little (we were told it will, just a little).  

(i got a couple of goodies from this booth, including a sweet bottle opener)

major shopping tomorrow!