Bargains Galore on 64 - 2016

The Bean and I headed down over the mountain Thursday morning to go to Bargains Galore on 64. It's about fifty miles to get over and down the mountains to Alma, where the sales start - then they run for about 160 miles.  We only made it about 25 miles down the road before we came back to Alma to hit a bunch of sales there.  I like this sale because all the sales are set up right along the road - no detouring or side streets to find sales.  Just drive, pull over, see what they have, then load up and go on up the road until you find another sale then repeat, repeat, repeat.  It will be no surprise to you when I say.......IT WAS HOT.  Lord a mercy.  100 on the thermometer all damn day with a heat index of 115.  I looked like a drowned rat most of the day.  At one point I realized that I had salty sweat line on my shirt.  I have only ever seen those on construction workers and marathon runners.  Ick.  It is not a good look on me.  But, we had water and ice and an air conditioned car.  But, getting in and getting cool, then getting out again made it feel just all that worse.  We hit sales from 8:50 until 4:45 then we decided that was ENOUGH.  We hit Sonic up for a shake (not realizing it was half price cheeseburger day so the place was PACKED), then drove back up over the mountain.  

We ended up stopping at nearly every sale that we stopped at last year.  I guess if I lived along there, I would have a sale every year too.  I even remembered what I bought at each one last year, so that was our gauge whether we should stop again this year or not.  The Bean was on the hunt for knives, Nerf and Pokemon.  Knives for collecting, Nerf for collecting and reselling and Pokemon as in Pokemon Go.  (Dude, our data is running low from the Pokemon hunting.)

You didn't come here to hear me babble, so here is the LOOT.  And some random photos.

Big squeaker elephant.  A lady was walking up from one direction and I was walking up from the other direction and we both reached out for the him at the same time.  She laughed and said she only wanted to poke his stomach and that she didn't want to buy him.  So, she poked and I purchased.  :) She thought he was a hard bank so that's why she wanted to poke him. He will be Junk Ranch bound.

Oh how I wanted this HUGE pile of trophies.  But it was my very first stop of the day and they would have filled up my car.  They were at a church and they had religious themes - golden bibles, crosses, loving cups and all sorts of angels and I don't even know what else.  I love to dismantle trophies and sell the pieces.  People like to dig in them.  Now that I think about it - we drove past there on the way back.  I should have stopped and asked about them.  Darn.  

This little hutch is about three feet tall.  It's really heavy and made well.  I like the colors on it, but I think the paintings on the doors might date it a bit, but not sure.  I "might" do something about the doors, but most likely lazy me will sell it as is.  Someone said it would be a good cactus display.  It will go to the booth.

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Random roadside shot.  I stop at some of the swap meet looking places so The Bean can shop.  He likes new knives and new Nerf.  LOSER.  :)  

There was a truck load of watermelons for sale and they had one cracked open on the table.  "Would you like a piece of watermelon?" they asked.   Me, all hot and sweaty and dying of thirst -"Oh, that would be delicious!  Thank you!"  The guy pulls out his knife and cuts off a 1" x 1/2" piece and hands it to me.  Uh, thanks?  

We drove by one house that we remembered from last year.  It was one of those sales that looked SO GOOD.  Lots of merchandise, tables upon tables of STUFF and a side yard full of old furniture and farmhouse stuff.  But, it was really high priced - not yard sale prices, but more like Vintage Market Day prices.  Anyway, I vowed not to waste time going there, but the lure of all that stuff sucked me in, so I pulled over to the shoulder and reversed all the way back up to the sale.  They had a lot of good stuff, but it was pretty pricey as I suspected.

As we were leaving, I spotted a box of very old dolls in a box.  They were in disrepair, yet still cute considering how very old they are.  They Kewpie doll really was the one that struck me as needing a new loving home.  I decided to ask the price, just for chuckles.  Based on the rest of the items, I was thinking anywhere from $25-$45 each.  When the lady told me that the whole box was $10 - I bit because that sounded like a great deal.  That's only $3.33 each (plus a penny) and that's not a bad deal for such old dolls.  Eddie might disagree, but I like them.  I'll research and list or sell somewhere.  I'll probably foster Miss Kewpie for a bit though.  She needs some lovin'.

I thought the old red plaid suitcase would be good in the Christmas booth.  That's a cape there on the right - handmade by Edith.  A handmade cape just seemed too great to leave behind - especially for a quarter.  The other thing is (or should I say was...) a dried flower arrangement under a glass domed frame.  I had grand ideas of a framed horse ribbon wit embellishments inside it.  I wrapped it in a coat that I bought so it would be safe and - you guessed it  - I unfurled that coat and flung it into the table, shattering the glass.  How can something survive for forty years and then I can break it five minutes after I buy it?

I should have rotated this photo, sorry.  It is huge and old and gilded and sort of amazing and completely not my style.  But it was only $1.00 and I liked it.  I'll take it to the booth.

How's THIS for tacky yet fabulous?  Believe it or not, it isn't homemade but an actual store bought manufactured item!  I think it is completely fabulous.  It will go on ebay or to the Junk Ranch.

I found one really great sale late in the day.  It was across the street from the sale where I bought the dolls, but we were only doing sales on one side of the highway as we went.  I do wonder what I missed at that sale, but I am happy with what I did get.  They had a ton more that I wish I could have bought - old board games in mint condition for $5.00, a 3 ft. Aluminum Tree for $30.00 and much more.  I asked where they got so much and they said it was a storage unit they had purchased.  If I would have purchased that unit, I would have dropped dead at the first box I opened.  They had looked up a lot of items and you could tell.  There would be a piece of pottery and the tag would say, "Rumrill Pottery - $28.00"  then right beside it would be something just as wonderful and it would have a sticker on it for $1.00.  I bet you can guess which things I bought.  :D  

This sweet little Mr. Kitty biscuit jar was a good find.  To ebay he will go.  

Here is a trunk shot ala Eddie.  Most of what you see came from the one great sale.  A few things were found up and down the highway at different sales along the way.

The cutest baby planter ever, a trick pack of gum I remember from my childhood, restaurant creamer, owl S & P shakers, four very chippy Santa mugs, a plastic bank, recipe box, q couple flocked Santa's, two mini pieces of pottery, a tiny pink West German clock, glass flower frog (they asked me if I knew what it was and I replied yes.  A few seconds passed and they said, "Can you tell us what it is?"  They had tried to research it but didn't get far.), two ornament hanger boxes, pink pottery piece, Scottie Pottery, Lefton Pixie planter, old cookbook. Reddy Kilowatt Ashtray and a fruit cake drum.  That little hutch makes a great display for all my smalls.  

More pottery.  I tried NOT to buy pottery this trip, but it was painfully cheap so I HAD to rescue it. The purple heart tray bears researching, a couple religious booklets with the DEVIL on them, lots of old cookie cutters and a Humpty Dumpty spoon holder. 

One lone box of Shiny Brites, a Spinach bank (purchased in the spinach capitol of the world...), MORE POTTERY (*cough*) and a cherry Jello Mold.  

These were my favorite finds from that sale and really from the whole trip.  I paid a little more for them than I think I would usually, but when you are on a trip solely to BUY things - well, you BUY THINGS.  There are ten in all, each one cuter than the next.  Some are Rosbro, some are Knickerbocker.  There are four rattles, a couple lollipop holders and just some fun figures too.  I have never found these out in the wild, so it was a happy find to keep finding one another on the toy table. I will list them all on ebay tomorrow.  (Except that happy chick in red, he needs to stay with me ahile to make me chuckle.

We had a much needed day away from everything around here, celebrated my birthday a little early, found some cool junk, met some fun people, saw some pretty sights and ate ChickfilA TWICE in one day.  It was a good day.