New Free Tags and a Very Big Yard Sale

The Dog and I live in Tennessee, about a mile off of Highway 127.  Anyone who watches TV or reads magazines is probably aware by now that every August, a phenomenon occurs along that Highway known as “The World’s Longest Yard Sale”.  The sale extends from Hudson, Michigan to Gadsden, Alabama, 675 miles, which is a mind boggling amount of junk.  We usually make a one day outing,  and travel 80 to 100 miles along the Highway, and that’s what we did this year.  We’ve learned that going south from home seems to be the best pickin’s for us, but I know everyone has their own opinion.

 

Old, rusty farm implements are a big favorite.  None of these will fit on a John Deere, so now they’re Decorator items.  These first two photos are from an area about 10 miles north of Pikeville, Tennessee.  As you can see, groups of sellers set up together in many areas, and lots of them are dealers who have come from a long way away.  Lots of antiques and primitives, but here are also lots of folks with all their unwanted baby stuff, tires, clothing, auto parts, etc. set up in front of their homes.  And the typical swap meet folk with t shirts, socks, sunglasses, STP are out as well.  It’s a real mixture, something for everyone, I guess.

It’s impossible for me to show the magnitude of the sale.  Imagine driving for 80 miles with a yard sale every block or so.  I think you might have to see it to grasp it, it’s really overwhelming.

This table of treasures was just a bit north of Dunlap, Tennessee.

This is where we made our big score of the day.  See the barn door on this trailer?

It’s one of a pair, and they now live at my house!  You might also notice that the trailer is wet.  We had rain showers, thunderstorms, high winds, and blazing sun, all in one day.  Not unusual for summer in Tennessee, but it made it very hard on the sellers.

 

Here’s Mr. Big Brown Dog and the former owner of the barn doors, carrying one to our vehicle.  This man was from Kentucky, and sells “junk” year round at the Nashville Fairgrounds swap meet.

See those two brown lumps in the background?  Those are cattle grazing next to the Lookout Mountain Volunteer Fire Department yard, where about 100 sellers were set up.  A very large part of the Highway in Tennessee is very rural, and farm animals abound.  This was our last stop.  A huge rainstorm, with lightning and high winds came up, and we decided to head back north, driving through the storm for about 40 minute.  We saw lots of tents blown around, tipped over and destroyed, unfortunately.  It was a tough day to be a seller.  We had a fun day, in spite of the weather.

New Free Tags!

It’s time for some new free tags, from DigitalAntiques this time something more toward Fall – Squirrels.   Click on the tab in the sidebar to the right to download your copy, ready to print and use.  The Dog and I hope you enjoy them.