It took Dan (my brother) two years to convince me to go on the World’s Longest Yard Sale. I thought it would be like a huge garage sale or a bad flea market. Well, yes there are places like THAT but you just drive past those. 

Thinking back, it took getting great Christmas presents two years in a row from their WLYS  trip before I thought, “I need to go to that.”

It’s my fourth year! And not one year is ever the same. This year we planned on two full shopping days but just one night away.

This was good because Mom fell a few weeks back and broke her hip. She’s at home now healing and doing well . (yes that sentence was easy enough to write, but the last few weeks were anything BUT easy) Thank you all for your awesome prayers and well wishes for mom. So for that reason Deddy stayed home to keep check on mom at rehab.

Dan switched up his schedule and went with me. He and his wife Kami had gone up the week before so I truly appreciate him going again with me. After two very stressful weeks, I was really looking forward to tramping through fields searching for treasures.

Packed with a cooler of water and sandwich stuff and snacks and empty bags and lots of small bills, we headed to Hwy 127.

Dan and I have never been on a trip together just the two of us. I was REALLY excited. Dan is super busy running a restaurant and so it’s hard to find time together. I felt fortunate that he could go, but more than that I felt blessed to have a brother I would want to spend two days with. Dan is so funny! And he gets pumped about the same sort of stuff I do. I knew we would have fun. And we did.

We met all the usual characters. 

And saw the usual large quantity of interesting things. 

And found a few treasures at each stop that we quickly claimed. 

Creepy dolls to photograph and text to the boys.

And a few things we passed up with regrets. 

We listened to the sellers stories and the history behind our treasures and we added to their stories. And created more. 

We talked about the years past and what we bought, saw or wanted. We talked about mom and deddy, our kids and spouses and pets.  And lots of other things, never a lull.

Dan kept calling me Kami, momma and honey. He treated me so kind, looking out for me running across the roads and walking through slippery grass and mud, and watching out for a treasure I might have overlooked. And when I ran out of money, he had more. Such a sweet big brother.

We shopped through the worst of the weather, wringing wet and cold, we continued to shop, Miserable, diehard treasure hunters. 

We laughed a lot. Visiting favorite vendors and looking for new ones, we packed in 10 hours of shopping both days. It went by so fast.

We called it a day when the vendors started covering up their booths and we headed home. Dan dropped me off and all my treasures 7:30 pm Friday night and the next morning I awoke to the sweetest email from him.

Katey…aka honey, mama…etc…Words really cannot describe the amount of soul soaking enjoyment that I had with you on the yard sale. All the treasures and goodies that we found and even the humus, carrots and that delicious (firm) gluten-free tortilla pale in comparison to the fun and the life time memory making experiences that I had with my little sister. Your taste and knowledge were quite impressive….I have learned a lot…loved a lot and received a lot of love on this glorious trip. Thank you so much, what a great time….Love you all so much, Dan….ps…Kevin, thank you too for letting her do her thing without any fear of what you will say…that’s pretty cool of you…later BEEF

I was so touched by his words. So sweet. I knew it was a special time for us together but seeing my thoughts in his words was just something else.

I’m still enjoying piddling through my treasures on the kitchen table, not quite ready to dispense of them just yet. Looking forward again to next year…whatever it may be. 

Katey