Pickin’ at The World’s Longest Yard Sale was so much fun! Mr. Sweet Southern Oaks and I traveled through breathtaking country sides and mountains. We spent two days at The World’s Longest Yard Sale traveled into three states and made lots of stops.
Mr. Sweet Southern Oaks and I met some cool people, traveled to places we’d never been and ate some delicious food. An adventure of a lifetime. It’s not all about the yard sales, it’s about traveling to new places and supporting small communities with your purchases.
The World’s Longest Yard Sale Starting Point: Noccalula Falls in Gadsden, AL
I woke up bright and early and we were heading out to the starting point in Gadsden at 8 AM. The only thing that’ll make me get up early on a day off is The World’s Longest Yard Sale! 😉 With my iced coffee in hand we were off to start our adventure. It was drizzling, but I wasn’t going to let that get me down. Before we even got to the starting point, several houses had set up their own sales that we stopped at. One house had a gorgeous vintage armouir that I loved. Even though I loved the shape of it, I wasn’t ready to commit and give up precious space in the truck just yet! One picture to remember that piece and we were off to our next stop: Noccalula!
We found Noccalula Falls and we eagerly set out to find some awesome treasures. Alas, we were disappointed with the sales there. I did buy a milk glass candy dish and Mr. Sweet Southern Oaks bought a military flag. Then by the Methodist Church, several other houses had sales going on and we went to check those out! It was there that we met a cute little man and he told us about his sixtieth class reunion. He was precious, I should have gotten a picture of him! That’ll be me and Mr. Sweet Southern Oaks fifty years from now on the junkin’ trail.
I found some metal bar stools and we made a deal– $40 for the pair! Score! Later, I found the exact same bar stools going for $247.00 for a set of three. Yep, this was probably the best deal of our trip! Once you get that first great deal, the thrill of the hunt gets even more exciting. I found a typewriter, and I’m kicking myself for not getting it now because it would have been perfect on an industrial cart I’m going to use for a coffee table that I found later! Always get the typewriter, people! We walked around a few more places in Gadsden and then it was time to hit the road because there was a lot of ground to cover!
The World’s Longest Yard Sale: Fort Payne & Lookout Mountain
Up to Fort Payne, AL we went, and then lost the sales, so we stopped to eat lunch at the Chick-Fil-A and asked for directions. The manager, Becky, came over to tell us to find the downtown area (hello, cute district of historic houses!) and then pick up Hwy 89 to find the sales. One more reason why I love Chick-Fil-A, most places wouldn’t have done that for us. Thanks, Becky! It was drizzling when we started pickin’ in Fort Payne and we didn’t find anything there; so we took the scenic route onto Lookout Mountain. We saw lots of gorgeous country sides but we quickly started losing the sales. Lots of driving and no yard sales. Our hope was dwindling. Then, when all hope was lost, we saw it…a yard sale… somewhere between the middle of nowhere Alabama and before we hit Mentone, AL! Woohoo! Of course we had to stop because it had been awhile since we saw the last sale. I bought a cutie little cabinet for our kitchen! He wanted $30…and we got it for $20. It’ll need a good cleaning and some work, but it’ll be darling in our kitchen when it’s finished. Our hope was back and we drove for awhile before finally hitting Mentone, AL.
We stopped at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church…the cutest church with gorgeous arched windows! Bless the sweet older ladies of the church who donated their time to sell items at the church yard sale. There were a ton of people in there, but they were all so friendly! We walked across the street to a fudge shop to get some chocolate and fresh squeezed lemonade. Then we went into the general store, which was really just a cute little antique shop! No finds in Mentone, so we continued along the scenic route of Lookout Mountain and into Georgia we went. It was more driving and lots of country side and once again we lost the sales. Our hope was lost…and then we crossed into Tennessee and eventually found Hwy 127!
The World’s Longest Yard Sale: Signal Mountain, Tennessee
When we crossed into Tennessee we saw the cutest street aligned with historic houses. My hope was back and I pointed to all of the cute houses. Eventually, we got back onto the interstate and there we found Highway 127. Our GPS took us to a roundabout… big mistake. As we started driving up the mountain, it got windier and windier before getting to the intricate point of no return. We were driving up the side of the mountain and lots of people were having trouble getting up and down that section of the road. It was scary, but once we got past that section it was okay. A trailer definitely wouldn’t be able to make it up that route with the scary turn on the mountain. Don’t take the route with the roundabout. Keep going straight and then take the next turn on Signal Mountain to avoid the treacherous route we took!
We didn’t make it to the major stops of Signal Mountain that night. People were starting to close down for the day and we certainly didn’t want to drive down the mountain in the dark! However, we stopped at the house with the aqua VW. Ummm, I need that VW for my pickin’ adventures. Next, we bought t-shirts from the house with the VW to remember our trip. Then we went to a couple of the other houses before heading back to our hotel in Chattanooga for the night. Back down the windy road we went, but it wasn’t as bad coming down because nobody was trying to come up the mountain. Remember, this is before we found the other route that was a much better drive (which I’ll tell you a funny story about how we found the other route on the next blog post!).
After a long day of pickin’, we checked into our hotel, cleaned up a bit and then it was time for supper! Ordering a pizza was a thought, but we heard about a good BBQ restaurant that Mr. Sweet Southern Oaks wanted to check out. Sticky Fingers was delicious and worth the wait for our food. Definitely try the Onion Loaf for an appetizer (which is their delicious version of a Bloomin’ Onion), then we got a BBQ sandwich for me, ribs and wings with a dry rub for the hubs.
After day one, we had traveled into three states and had already visited so many places we’d never been before. We were excited to continue our adventure pickin’ on 127 and couldn’t wait to see what else we’d find. Next time, I’ll share Part 2 of Pickin’ at The World’s Longest Yard Sale, where we’ll continue up Signal Mountain and then I’ll take you back through Alabama for our final stop of the sale. Check out more information about The World’s Longest Yard Sale HERE.
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