Road Trip: Destination Reached!

Since I couldn't work on my blog last night, I ended up getting some much needed sleep.  Both of us woke up early and we got on the road right away. Today was a big day - only about an hours drive to our destination, Divernon, Illinois to pick up our harvester tracks!

We drove through St. Louis Missouri and saw the St. Louis Arch in the distance . .

right before crossing over the Mississippi River!

As we continued north, we drove past some beautiful farms

and lots of fields of corn!

The Dowson family farms 50,000 acres of corn and just built a new dryer to dry it.  Mike said I would know we were there when I spotted the big dryers, as we had bought the tracks from the Dowsons. Corn harvest has already started back here so truck after truck rolled in to unload while we were there. These dryers are the biggest I have ever seen and they still can't hold their entire crop!

As we drove into the dryer yard, I saw our tracks sitting off to the side next to a pickup.

We parked our rig and walked over the check them out again while we waited for Chris Dowson to come with a front loader so we could load the tracks onto the trailer.

Mike dug the chains he brought out of the lock box . . .

and measured out and marked placement of the tracks on the trailer, while we waited.

Chris arrived shortly thereafter, along with "Big Mike" - a 6'8" young man who was driving the front loader.  The guys proceeded to chain up the tracks to the front loader as I snapped these pictures!

The first track was carefully lifted and placed onto the bed of the trailer.

Then the second track was placed next to it.

Chains were run through the tracks

and then hooked onto the bed of the trailer, then tightened with binders.

For extra safety, we added strong straps through the top of the tracks to keep them from tipping during transport.

Finally, Mike toenailed in four boards around the base of all sides of the tracks.  The load was secure but Mike wanted to find out what his load weighed so we drove up the road one exit.  Mike dropped me off at an antique mall while he went to the scales to weigh the load.

The antique mall was out in the middle of nowhere and it didn't look like much but when I walked in, there must have been 200 booths - a whole mall of antiques to treasure hunt in!  I have a whole list of things I am looking for - both for friends, and for clients!

 One client collects these glass chicken/nest dishes and she needs a purple one - I found this one, sent her a picture from my phone, and got a message right back from her that the one she needs has a beaded edge instead of this edge!  So if anyone out there knows where I can find one - let me know!  Until then - I'll keep searching!

I went around the corner to another booth and I was met with this whole case of Candlewick glass!  My friend Margaret inherited some Candlewick from her aunt and she is always looking for unique pieces.

Margaret once told me she was looking for a special cookbook for her mother.  I found a booth full of vintage cookbooks and sent her a text!  She confirmed I had found the one she was looking for - her mother had received a copy of the cookbook for a wedding present and five years later, she and her husband lost everything, including the cookbook, in a devastating flood.  Margaret wanted to replace the cookbook she had received for a wedding present!  But shush if you know Margaret or her mother - it will be a surprise gift!!

Another client is looking for vintage hats with veil netting and I was able to find three for her here and great prices!  I found some miniature bottles for another client, some vintage wooden spools, a vintage birdcage, some piano player rolls,  a dainty rosary, a vintage wedding dress, an off white demi-lune table, and a Catalina Pottery Vase - all for a grand total of $126.00!!  THAT was a great day! 

As I walked out the door with my hands full, Mike told me I had to go into the next building.  The sing on the building said "Crafter's Mall" but he said he went it and found a booth with some vintage stuff he thought was pretty cheap.  He led to one booth filled with antique oak furniture and other home accessories so I started checking price tags - he was right - really good prices - then I saw the find of the day!  A vintage double laundry tub - perfect for filling with ice and beer bottles, or other beverages for a party and the price tag - $22!!  In California, this tub would have cost $150!  We also bought a vintage gateleg table, in excellent condition for $65!!

We loaded up everything without taking pictures because it was about 98 degrees with 75% humidity and we had to get on the road because we had been treasure hunting for about 3 hours and we had to start heading back home.  Look for my posting "Opening the Treasure Box" when I get home to see all these treasures!  We left Illinois, passed back over the Mississippi back into Missouri, and turned west.

Once the air conditioning in the truck had cooled us off, we realized we had not eaten anything since breakfast at our hotel!  So again, I got online, checked Trip Advisor for restaurants in a town called Hannibal - the number one listed was a place called Fiddlesticks.  GPS told us we were just about there so we pulled in.  The service was unbelievable! Our drink glasses were never empty, our salads came within 3 minutes of us placing our order and the main course was not much further behind.  We were in and out of there in about 30 minutes! Pretty good for a sit down dinner and the food was pretty good!

It had been a full day.  Back on the road, it wasn't long until the sun started setting. Now we were heading into the sun towards home, and we still have room in 'the treasure box' so who knows what we'll find on the way home?! Now our cry will be - Westward Ho!!