Three Women in a Volvo Take Hwy 80

So...remember last year when the girls and I went on that trip up Hwy 80 for our "little" garage sale adventure?

Well, it's Hwy 80 Sale time again!

Yes...you read that right - From Texas all the way to Mississippi - so Tasha, Becky and I hit the road again this year to see what we could scrounge up! (We missed Lise - but she was off in Rhinebeck - so we don't think she missed us too much.)

We met up at 6 am (on a Saturday, if you can believe!) - armed with Starbucks and an empty Volvo*

We set out putting it out to the Garage Sale Universe - 'cause that's what Tasha's MIL says to do - that we wanted certain things - purse handles, button jars, tea cups, etc... I think Tasha put a little too much emphasis on Button Jars - 'cause I think she ended up with a few. (One of those jars is in the picture of us with the Hwy 80 sign.)

(Tasha, Me, Becky)

We tried a different approach this year - driving past a bunch of it along I-20 due to the early hour - but after a stop at the Chevron in Canton to get rid of some of those Starbucks cups (yeah, that's the ticket), we decided to just cut on over to Hwy 80 around Mineola and head east, since it was almost 8 am by that time.

Along the way we saw tables in parking lots,

Sales on the back of flatbed trailers,

and in front of local shops/garages.

Sales in front of, behind (and inside of) homes -

Both the whimsical ones that seem like they are part of a post card...

And the ones that we were blinded by the thought of a sale inside - but after looking at them once we were back in the car, made us wonder if we didn't need to be a little more picky...

We fell in love with autumn in East Texas - and found a place tucked away off the highway that we decided should be promptly bought from the owners and turned into a Knitter's Retreat.

We had to go back to the Parades Family Restaurant for their Buffet with some of the Best Fried Chicken in the State...

And we laughed at the get go that we'd never find another pirate ship like I did last year...

But, there in one of the shops we went into - was this "beauty"...

No...it didn't come home with us - even though the gentleman who ran the shop offered us an additional 10% off if we could guess his age within five years...

It was obvious early on that the girls also had a side bet as to how many purses that I would be getting during the day. I think the final count was 6 - if you count the wallet on a strap I bought. It had a long strap, so I think it would count as a purse. But the two of them will have to duke it out as to who won.

Tasha, however, had the "Finds of the Day" this year - in two ways...
First, she found this cool Owl necklace -



But then, she found the perfect pink purse - vintage - and in beautiful condition! I, the purse ho, was (am still) green with envy!


and she paid for this little piece of perfection?



UGH! ;)

Critters - We saw Lots and Lots of Critters...

We saw Shop cats -

Llamas (pre-yarn stage) ;)

(I kept encouraging that one to spit on Tasha - just for the picture's sake.)

and a doggie along for the ride.

We saw LOTS of Ravelry mascot Bob's cousins - even one little baby cousin who had just gone to her new forever home...(No pic of "Shemo" - I was too busy getting Boston Terrier kisses from her to remember the camera...)

We even went into a Chevron where they were selling their silly little cars. Of course, with it being October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, they were selling Pink Cars - which we naturally gravitated towards -

Even THAT car had a critter passenger...

(it was a death mobile...)

Now, Bathroom breaks take on a life of their own with three women in the car and Starbucks, waters and Sonic Cherry Limeades downed along the way. There were times where buying this might have been the "Find of the Day."



Although, admittedly, last year's breaks brought more giggles, we had fun going back to the same bathrooms along the way to see if they were still using strings to pull the handle ('cause people kept breaking it - so why keep fixin' it?) (They had fixed it this year) and whether the signage was still as funny.

It was.

We also had to find the place with the Candy Cigs - 'cause it's not a Garage Sale Day without the Candy Cigs...

It took us all day - but we found it -

and they had them - and the Ketchup Chips.

(How appropriate that the place is now pink...)

Next year, I'm sure we'll go back to the same places - to see if there are strings and candy cigs again.

After the Pink Candy Cig place (or, Bill & Mary's BBQ - whatever you want to call it), we turned towards home and just had to make one more stop...

Do you blame us???

We ended up back in Plano where we started about 7 pm - Volvo loaded down...


Tired - and happy - and giggled out.

I got home, checked e-mail, took off my shoe and boot, laid down on the bed about 8 pm - and woke up at 8 am Sunday morning.**

We're going again next year, right??



* In an effort to keep us honest, this pic was taken when we got home after the Volvo was unloaded (see the price tag stuck on the floor?) - the pic when we left would have been MUCH darker...

** Another bit o' honesty - I did wake up about 2:30 am - checked email and then went back to bed.