Well I survived another year of the worlds longest yard sale. I again did the run from I-40 in Crossville TN to Cincinatti. Was it hot? You bet your a$$ it was hot! The sale officially starts on Thursday but I started on Wednesday and some of the dealers had already been there for several days. But a lot of others were just setting up. In fact, it had rained a lot so many of the dealers were late in setting up. But that didn't stop the sun from shining on Wednesday. It got to at least 95 and was really hot and very humid. At least it did not get to 101 like forcast here in Nashville. I think that is because Crossville is at a higher elevation so a little cooler. First I sprayed on a double dose of sunscreen to keep from turning into a crispy critter. I was more than a little warm so to cool off I drank 14 (yes that is not a typo!)bottles of various fluids duing my 9 hour run. OK I cheated on one item - it was the worlds largest ice cream cone for $2. I was screaming north at an incredible pace - I managed to go 15 miles in the 9 hours. Now keep in mind that you can walk about 2-3 miles an hour and you can see that the going was a little slow. Guess I should have walked! In fact when the day was done I had to drive 100 miles north to my hotel in Danville KY but I kept my eyes open and I did not miss a lot during that mileage. I did notice a nice large group of sales only 3 miles south of the hotel so I went back there the next morning. The area between Crossville and 23 miles north in Jamestown, TN has some of the best sales with lots of antique dealers. Once you get well into KY you get a lot of hillbillies cleaning out the house and they don't have much to offer. At least the weather cooperated and it was in the mid 80's and there was a nice breeze most of the second day. I didn't get much farther so I had almost a 2 hours drive to Grand Victoria casino in Indiana. But that was OK since I could work my way back on my way home and pick up most of what I missed. And again the better places to stop are those just south of Cincinatti (actually I started the day in Florence). I played video BJ all nite and ended up losing $10 plus the cost of the drinks. Not bad for a nights entertainment. I went the next morning to the new Hollywood casino in Lawrenceburg, IN and was very disappointed to see that they are still using the Argosy chips except for the new roulettes. If you have never been to this "riverboat" you gotta go see it. It is HUGE! I don't know how they did it but this boat makes the old Caesars boat look small. In fact it makes a lot of land based casinos look small and it is decorated very luxuriously. Since I was already running late I just had time to run thru it before heading back to the yard sales. So on the third day I worked my way back to I-71 which probably isn't more than 30 miles and by then it was 5 PM and I still had a 4 hour drive to get home. The weather on the third day was about average - upper 80's but an occasional breeze to keep it reasonable. Considering the forecast the weather overall turned out to be no worse than normal.

So was it all worth it all? Well it was a lot of fun and this year I took it slow just to make sure I didn't miss a lot of good stuff. Prices were generally a lot lower than in years past so I picked up a lot of things i would normally pass on. I don't want to pay $5 for a poker chip or common casino chip if there is a chance I may already have it. But I don't mind paying a buck and taking a chance. I also buy things other than casino items. If I need it anyway why not pick it up for next to nothing? So here are some of the treasures:
OK not a lot of casino items there but Cindy uses yarn to make hats and mittens for poor kids and donates them to the local schools. She also does beading and I ran into a guy who bought 7 tackle boxes of beads to get the tackle boxes. So he sold me a couple hundred dollars worth of beads for $20. I eat honey on my toast in the moirning and like to buy local product so I picked up 2 bottles from different vendors. And who can turn down a scroll saw for $4? The bottle of wine was in a wine holder for $4.95. I asked the lady if it went with the holder and she said sure. OK so how much for just the wine? $2 takes it The punchboard is one I have never seen before. Here are some more things I got:
The blue piece is Rookwood and for $30 it should pay for most of my trip since it should be worth over $100. The fancy piece sure looks like Roseville but it is not marked and the lady said it was "a hand made reproduction". I have seen lots of repro Roseville and it is pretty easy to tell from the real thing. This looks like the real thing to me and for $12 it is nice enough just to look at even if not real. Cut glass for $10 each? I will take that every day. And a few ashtrays that even if I have them they are better ones. Here are some casino items: I got these nice matchbooks all at one place. Here is what I really went after:
The Paradise Island NCV is the best chip but the Palms I have never seen before. I you see an duplicate item I will consider any offers.

JB may be right about the coffee can of Stardust Faro Bank chips but I didn't find it. I also did not find any Floridian chips despite looking in hundreds of cigar boxes. Maybe next year!