I accidentially posted this on the club board:

I decided to do the Highway 11 yard sale which runs from Virginia to Mississippi. I have done legs from Knoxville to Gadsten but never the rest. I was going to do Knoxville to Bristol but decided not to since I used to live in Knoxville and was never impressed with sales in the area. So it was Birmingham to MS . I got a room 25 miles west of Birmingham and was all set. The sale started Thursday morning so I got up at 3:30 AM and was on the road by 4 AM (it is a 3 hour drive to Birmingham).

After waiting almost 15 minutes for them to take the sausage biscuit from the done rack and put it in a bag I finally got ready for the yard sales. I drove through Birmingham and didn't find any sales but that is not unusual for a lot of larger towns. To make a long story a little shorter I drove 3/4 of the way to Mississippi without finding ONE sale at all. Really upset I finally decided to give up and try east of Birmingham. Only problem was my room 25 miles west of Birmingham had a 24 hour cancellation requirement. Penalty was one nights fee. So I figured I would see if they were flexible. I talked to a very nice lady and explained that I just wasn't going to be anywhere near Tuscaloosa and she offered to cancel my reservation with no penalty. So far so good. So I take the freeway east for an hour and a half to get back to Birmingham where a few miles before my exit there is an accident that has the freeway stopped. I decide to get off and find highway 11 (which follows the freeway) and after driving in circles for 15 minutes in downtown Birmingham I finally get on the way. About 5 miles outside of Birmingham and 8 1/2 hours after I started driving I hit my first yard sale. GEEEEZ!! Fortunately things got better for a little while as there were enough sales to keep me busy for a few hours until I hit Attalla AL. I had talked to a few locals and they recommended several hotels in the area. I stopped at a Best Western and managed to talk them down $20 from the rack rate. Very nice place BTW - it has a great breakfast bar with everything including scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits and waffles. Not horrible for $70 a night.

The next morning I get up and start hitting yard sales around 7AM. There are quite a few and I am still in town at 8:30. As I am going through the main intersection in town I go through the green light until I hit the old lady who was going in the opposite direction and decided to turn left right in front of me. I had just hit the start of the intersection so she was no more than 30 feet from me when I first see her starting to turn. I slammed on my brakes and thought that we would just miss each other. No such luck since instead of speeding up to get away from me she just puttered on at her same slow speed. The right front of my bumper caught the last 15 inches of her rear bumper. No one hurt and no major damage except a 18 inch diameter bruise with 2 inch hole in my bumper. GRRRRR!!! Now we are delayed another 45 minutes for the police report. They must have all been at the same donut shop since it took them 10 minutes to get there and then 3 squads arrived within 30 seconds. Then I have to go to the police station which is 1/2 block from the accident site and pay $5 to get a copy of the report for the insurance company. Of course they do not have change for a $10 bill and do not take credit cards. GRRRRRRR!!! So by 9:30 or so I am on my way and manage to hit the yard sales for a few hours before I just get too bored and tired to continue. (There were several others asking for jewelry at the same time and a lot had been sold the previous day). Overall I did OK but not great. I got a couple quarts of honey for half price, a few other household items, 3.3 grams of 14 K gold for $8 and 45 grams of silver for $13.50 including few coins. Plus a damaged bumper which I am hoping her insurance company will pay for although I probably will not get the car fixed.

Worst trip ever? Maybe not but it sure was stressful if nothing else.