Highway 60: The Yard Sale! (Continued)

Okay, so here's the run down, in as condensed a form as I can put it.

Somehow, despite our best intentions, it was after well after 10 before we were on the road Saturday. Even though Highway 60 runs through Louisville, the sale didn't start until Meade County, which is to the south. So it was after 11 before we were in sale territory. We clearly had a lot of territory to cover and not a lot of time to do it in.

Since we knew we'd be coming back on Sunday, we decided to limit our stops to our side of the road. We planned on hitting whoever was still set up on the other side during the return trip. We also didn't plan on trying to make every stop, but we'd play that by ear. I had looked up info for the main stops in a couple of counties, but I stopped with Hancock, which was as far as I thought we'd get.

A couple of things to understand about these 100+ mile sales, for the uninitiated:

First, it's not 100+ miles of shoulder to shoulder yard sales. I think every person who lives in those seven counties would have to have a sale for that to be possible.

Second, this is mostly rural territory, which means it's not densely populated. It also means that large stretches of 60 are your typical country road with lots of hills and curves and narrow spots where it wouldn't be safe to set up a table full of junk to sell.

So what you get are lots of places where several folks have set up together, followed by several miles of no sales whatsoever. Then you have the towns, where there are lots of set ups all over the place. And you also have the more traditional front yard set up from time to time.

Still, even though it wasn't mile after mile of endless sales, it was still pretty slow going in spots. We were on the road for well over an hour before we even left the first county.

We ended up not hitting every single sale, which is a good thing, as we'd probably still be out there if we'd tried. But we hit so many that it all seems like a fantastic blur.

I do think we saw every kind of set up possible: in the service bays at gas stations, in front of abandoned stores, in fields, beside fields, under huge trees in the yards of farm houses, grocery store parking lots, and on and on. There were private sales. Group sales. Benefit sales. And every other kind of sale you can imagine.

And not every sale was on the highway either. There were countless signs directing bargain hunters off onto side roads. We passed those up for the most part, since you just can't do everything.

Probably the hardest part of the day was spotting sales far enough in advance to plan to stop. Traffic was heavy in some places and there wasn't always a place to run around or back up. Many of the houses are set back from the highway and it was easy to miss a sale set up near a house with a huge front. Still, we did make plenty of stops.

And the stuff! Old stuff. New stuff. Junk. Crap. Cool treasures. And the totally unexpected. (More on that next post.) And the prices were simply rock bottom. I only bought one or two things that cost more than a dollar and most were a quarter or less. There were quite a few folks who were obviously out for the bargain shopping and found it--trucks full of furniture and vans full of clothes and stuff.

We had tons of fun. We got yummy cider from Spencer's Orchard and kettle corn fresh from the popper. We actually heard a woman yell for Billy Bob to go get Butch because someone wanted to buy his lawn mower! (You can't make stuff like this up.)

There was a little bit of a worry towards the end of the day Saturday, since we weren't quite sure where we were going to stay the night. We were trying to get into a state park, but the one in Owensboro didn't have a campground, so we were pushing on to another park in Henderson, trying to get there before the park gates closed. This meant that toward the end of the day we passed up a few sales. But we did get to the campground in time, found a spot and even got set up before it got dark.

Sunday, on the way back, we spent more time in Owensboro and Henderson than the day before, and then repeated our pattern on the way back. All told, we hit five of the seven counties, which is pretty good for a spur of the moment thing. In fact, that was two more than I orignally thought we would get to.

I did hear from one of the vendors that further down the road in Union County there was so much yard sale action that traffic was backed up for hours, but we missed that fun. Still, there's always next year!

Next: The scores!

(EDIT: Your Eddie-tor went back in 10/8 and cleaned up some of the text to make things a little clearer and neater.)

Keith and Eddie's Excellent Yard Sale Adventues!

Narrator*: It all started last week, when Keith came home from camping.

Keith: Hey! They're having a yard sale on Highway 60 next weekend.

Eddie: Really? I didn't know they did that.

K: Yeah. I saw the signs on the way back.

N: So Eddie hopped on the internet a few days later to check it out.

E: Hmmmm....175 miles.....seven counties....sounds like fun to me!

N: And so, a few days later...

E: Honey, why don't we do the Highway 60 Sale this weekend? We can just go until we're tired and turn around and come home.

K: Okay.

E: Really?

K: Yep. I'm game.

N: The counter-proposal** came the day before they left.

K: Honey, what would you think abut making an over-night out of it?

E: What do you mean?

K: Go until we're tired, find a place to camp, and spend the night, then come home on Sunday and hit some more sales.

E: Do we have enough time to get everything ready?

K: It's already ready. I haven't put the camping stuff away yet.***

E: What about food?

K: We'll get some stuff tonight and take it with us.

E: Okay.

K: Really?

E: Sure. Sounds like fun.

N: And so the next day, the boys loaded up the car and set out west looking for bargains.

More to come!

*This works best if you imagine the narrator sounding like Waylon Jennings, a la Dukes of Hazzard. Waylon frequently makes guest appearances from beyond to narrate our trips.

**There's always a counter-proposal. And sometimes a counter-counter-propsal!

***Truth is, in the summer the camping stuff never gets put away!

Overslept....

I'm having a hard time getting it together today. I'm still half asleep. I have to scoop the cat boxes, feed everybody, get cleaned up and dressed, and then hit the road. There are a couple of "book lover's paradise" yard sales today and I wanted to get their early, but, man, is my ass dragging.

I need something to perk it up, like....I don't know...Green Day doing Ramones covers...



Got to Blitzkrieg Bop on! See you in a bit.

Dark Bailout

I've been working with families in foreclosure long enough now that our whole economic situation has too many names and faces for me. I am extremely skeptical of the plan put forth by Bush, which seems to act to safeguard the investments and assets of the people who created the mess in the first place.

New CD I Really Want

Love the guitars!



"Nunca Mais" by Zuco 103 from After the Carnival

Popmplamoose!

Enter the Haggis!

WE HAVE POWER!

And all of a sudden I feel a lot less like running up and down the streets with an axe chasing elderly nuns and sweet woodland creatures.

I'm starting to think that there may be something to that whole "amount of available light has an impact on your mood" thing.

I also afraid I may have to become a monk, if I really do want to hold up my end of that light-deprived bargain I made with the powers (get it?) that be.

Oh well, just call me Brother Edward the Commenter!

Good Morning from McD's!

Still in the dark. I have a dentist appt in an hour, so I'm taking advantage of the time and WiFi connection.

The worst part about being without power is not the boredom. It's the oppressive feeling. I've been in the most foul mood ever since this started. Sitting around in the dark every evening doesn't help. Waking up is really hard in the morning. I never realized how much turning on the light was a part of the starting the day ritual.

And don't get me started on the lack of coffee....

Kosh isn't dealing well with the darkness. He has his freaked out face on most of the time. Since we have a shotgun house, in a 'hood full of shotgun houses set very close together, there aren't any windows on the west side of the house, which means that the place is already getting dark in the middle of the afternoon.

At work, we're up to our armpits in emergency food distribution for folks who lost everything when the power went out. We've been eating out all week, which is making me feel sluggish and out of sorts, which is adding to my bad mood.

I told Keith the other night that they had more light than we have right now on Little House on the Prairie! Ma could always sew at night. I can't even read. I miss reading, much more than I do TV or the internets.

Almost 300,000 homes lost power when Ike blew through. (Keith said that he read that the winds were severe enough to say we had a class-1 hurricane come through. I don't know how accurate that really is, but it certainly feels right.) Nearly half of them still don't have power. Lots of businesses are still closed. There are trees down everywhere and roads that are still blocked. And many intersections without functioning traffic lights.

And I know that there are athousand ways this could be worse and hat there are a thousands of people worse off right now in other parts of the country. And, honestly, I'm sorry for all that, but I'm also damn sick and tired of sitting in the fucking dark.

Yes, I'm a lousy disaster victim.

Off the Grid

I'm posting this from a coffee shop, since we've been without power since the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through on Sunday. We're all okay and we didn't have any wind damage to the house but I'm getting tired of sitting around in the dark.

More at some point when the light returns....

This is for Keith

A few weeks ago, Keith was feeling a little blue, so he decided to check out my little blog for some cheerful thoughts. However, what he found was this post. So much for cheerful thoughts. I am glad I did all those disclaimers! (And despite all that, his comment to me was: "Honey do we need to talk?" The perils of blogging!)

Anyway, I've decided to do a semi-regular post just for him to make up for it. (But you can read it too.)

Most likely, it'll be a video, since that seems to be what I do best. Here's a new one from Keith's favorite singer-songwriter Todd Snider, who has a new CD out in a few weeks! (I don't think Keith knows about it, so it will be good news for him!)

Album of the Week: David Ford

This was an impulse buy after trying the CD out at a listening station in a store. I'm glad I didn't judge this one by the cover, because the cover definitely said "WARNING: Mopey Singer-Songwriter Guy!"

For my money MS-SG is the only thing worse than Mopey Singer-Songwriter Girl--cliche ridden, stuffed with tortured metaphors, anguished lyrics and melodies that all sound the same. It's enough to make me want to either put the singer out of his/her misery or put me out of mine! Honestly, it's the kind of stuff that gives acoustic music, singer-songwriters, and folk music a bad rap.

Thankfully, this wasn't the case with Ford. He takes all the MS-SG cliches and turns them on their collective head. He can be witty, acerbic, scathing, political, bitter, ironic, and even a little sentimental, but never sappy and certainly never sound-alike dull. This one was definitely the musical discovery of the year for me.

From Music for the Road:




"Go to Hell" the album opener.



"Requiem" wherein Ford channels Dylan without coming off as derivative.



"Song for the Road" where he gets tender and emotional without going overboard with the sentimental nonsense. Next time I make a CD for Keith, I'm including this one.

What the world needs now....

...is video of otters holding hands!



Glad to oblige and happy Wednesday!

And of course...

My favorite 80's pop song from Spain:



"Ay Que Pesado" by Mecano

Monday Morning Already?

I start leading a class for some of our clients tonight, so I'll be working over. I've never quite figured out how a couple extra hours work on Monday makes me so tired the rest of the week, but it does.

We had contractors in last week to look at the kitchen ceiling where it's falling in, but haven't gotten any estimates that we like yet.

Keith went camping over the weekend, but I stayed home. Kosh was a velcro kitty all weekend as a result. Could not get more than two steps away from him. He came to us from a home where he had been left behind and even now, nearly five years later, he still gets a little freaky when someone goes away.

Keith took the car, so I did yard sales by bike, which is always interesting. There weren't too many going on for some reason. I picked up some really cruddy looking issues of Groo at one. Mostly everything was pretty lame.

God, but my life is really boring when you type it out. Sigh!

And now....

My favorite cheesy Latin pop song:



"Tu" by Noelia

Well it is Sunday for a few more minutes...

Back Up Dancers Would Prefer to Remain Anonymous!

It's PHYSICS RAP!



(With special Spider-Man cameo!)

These two are for Keith

Well, and for me too.



John Prine and Emmylou Harris "Angel from Montgomery"



John Prine and Emmylou Harris "In Spite of Ourselves" (I cannot believe she sang the line about the big brass monkey!)

Album of the Week: Ditty Bops!

I missed this one when it came out last year, so I'm making up for lost time. This is one of those that I have to listen to at work, because the Ditties get on Keith's nerves. I love their mixture of vaudeville stage show and modern "take no shit" attitude. So enjoy "Angel with an Attitude" from the Moon Over the Freeway CD.



And here's my favorite song from their first CD: