127 Yard Sale: Day 2 – Kentucky – Frankfort to Russell Springs

Editor’s Note: This post is a part of our series on Delilah’s annual trip to the 127 Yard Sale. We’ll be back next week with DIY projects, recipes, inspiration and business tips. -Nicole S.

Finally Gustavo (the hubs) and I are on familiar ground! After another trip to Rick’s White Light Diner (we had to go once more since we’re only here once a year!) we headed off to Russell Springs. On previous trips we stopped in Danville for the evening and then headed to Crossville. This time, since we added the north-of-Frankfort route, we need to plow through to Russell Springs. That is honestly a lot of ground to cover and now that we know about the area north of Frankfort, we will be definitely changing things in 2015. This part of the route has a number of good stops. Some of them have that “swap meet element” but there are definitely some worth-it stops with great finds.

the-127-yard-sale-corridor-kentucky-frankfurt-Russell-Springs-vintage-cameraThe first stop is about five to 10 minutes south of Frankfort on the left side, it’s a collection of two homes and has about 20 booths. One of the vendors toward the back had a number of beautifully restored tools, a definite stop! One customer in that booth who was browsing, gave us a 10 minute talk on what to look for and what the tools were originally used for. It was really interesting! After the talk, I decided to purchase a hand drill/driver (see the photo of him using it) and a mini-level (there’s a good image of it on our Instagram). BOY they don’t make them like this today! The only bad thing about the stop is that is was beginning to rain so vendors were slow to open.

the-127-yard-sale-corridor-kentucky-frankfurt-Russell-Springs-tool-hand-crank the-127-yard-sale-corridor-kentucky-frankfurt-Russell-Springs-tool-hand-crankFive minutes down the road on the right is the Eagle Lake Convention Center. There are booths outside the building but there are also about 50-60 vendors indoors (a great thing for the stormy weekend). There are a number of good deals to be found there, however I think the storm took its toll since there were some empty spots in the back corner.

the-127-yard-sale-corridor-kentucky-frankfurt-Russell-Springs-wooden-bench-wheel-castersTen minutes after Eagle Lake is another spot off Roy Robinson Lane on the right side of the road. There is a big barn with 50+ vendors. Although it’s a little smaller than the some of the places we like to stop, we always tend to find a few good deals there. Two years ago we found a beautiful framed map of Kentucky that we have in our living room and we always get compliments on it.

the-127-yard-sale-corridor-kentucky-frankfurt-Russell-Springs-man-o-war-statue-horseAround 10 minutes further down the road on the right is a huge outdoor market that has grown by about 30 vendors since last year. Be prepared to spend one to one and a half hours there. I also ended up breaking my sandals from the mud. Lesson: for sure bring more than one pair of shoes!

the-127-yard-sale-corridor-kentucky-frankfurt-Russell-Springs-monster-truck-blue-big-wheelsSince we needed to cover a lot of distance in a short time, we only made one more major stop which is just south of Liberty at the Central Kentucky Agriculture-Exposition Center. It’s a covered area, so it is dry and cooler when the sun is out.

the-127-yard-sale-corridor-kentucky-frankfurt-Russell-Springs-vintage-purple-bottleOn a typical day on the 127 Yard Sale, we end around four o’clock pm, sometimes we end at five if we’re scoring lots of good stuff. Due to the distance we covered, we arrived in Russell Springs at six, so Gustavo decided to drop me at the local popular restaurant to wait in line while he checked in. I guess the person who took our reservation and subsequent confirmation call he made two weeks ago, double-booked our room, no room for us tonight! That may not seem like a problem, but these places are all very small and every hotel on the 127 Yard Sale sells out two to three months before. We book our rooms in April. After a few frantic phone calls to every surrounding city, we realized that we were going to have to travel a little bit further to find a place to sleep. We ended up getting one of the few last rooms available in Cave City which was an hour and a half away! Day two was definitely a long one!

RECOMMENDATIONS:

-There are NO major hotels in Russell Springs. Not that is a bad thing. I make it a priority to support small/independently run businesses. HOWEVER, you DO NOT want to be caught in a situation where you are stranded without a hotel room and can’t find one in a 50 mile radius when night is approaching (and you are exhausted). You can call ahead as we did two weeks before our arrival to confirm your room but even that did not secure our room. Maybe this was a fluke but this will never happen again and unfortunately we will only be staying at major hotels while on the 127 Yard Sale.

-Cave City is the base for exploring the Mammoth Cave National Park which is the worlds largest known cave system! We are planning to have this be a stop on a future trip here.

El Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant: in Cave City = FANTASTIC service and they were very nice (and busy!).

FINDS OF THE DAY:

-1950’s wooden gumball machine in perfect condition and with keys

-English wooden riding toy that we are going to use as a bench in our guest bedroom

-Stanley mini-level and a hand powered drill/driver

-Delilah Snell

2 Comments

    1. Hi!! So excited that you are doing the trip!! I have a number of suggestions for the trip, many are on the final day of the trip when I show photos from the sale. I’ll be finishing my worksheet for yard sales before the end of this year as well. It will have a shopping list, supply list and tips, so you can just print it out while you are on the road. Make sure you book your hotels by May! XO- D

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