Once again we spent an enchanting day driving down US-12 for their annual Detroit to Chicago Garage Sale. This has actually become a routine for us as we have our favorite places to stop. This year our first stop was the farm and while we did not find much in the way of purchases, it still made for a good time and allowed us to visit the chicken coop and such. Later we stop at a Church that turns itself into a big flea market and found a couple of Halloween items there. By the time we got to Clinton MI (about the half way point in our trip), the cars trunk was getting pretty full and we had only spent about $20. By the time we got to Colon for the Magic Festival the trunk was pretty much full and fortunately we had spent very little. That’s the great think about these garage sales on US 12, everyone can afford it.

Continue reading “US 12 Garage Sale 2015” →

We have had much success the past few years picking up Halloween items at garage sales and such. Finally we made it to the ultimate garage sale, the Haunted Garage Sale held annually in Belleville Michigan on the County Fair Grounds. Mary found out about this through a friend on FaceBook and as it turns out this was the 13th annual time they had this event which really surprises me that no one in this family found out about it until this year.

Plenty of surprises and fun, the event was free to attend and I would suggest this to any Halloween enthusiast if for nothing else than to get some fresh ideas.

Continue reading “Haunted Garage Sale 2014” →

Imagine a garage sale that goes from Detroit to Chicago and you have the U.S. 12 annual garage sale.

This year everyone in the family did good as Mom found a birdhouse she liked, James found a box of National Geographic magazines, and Dad found two zombies for Halloween.

Our tour usually starts in Saline at the farmhouse where you can visit all sorts of booths and still see chickens on the farm. A true throwback and done in a very organized manner. Our garage saling takes us into Clinton, then to the Irish Hills, then to the Michigan Speedway, then to Jonesville (where dad found the zombies), then to Quincy (which is also the antique capital of Michigan), to Coldwater on U.S. 12 and 69, and finally to Colon where we visited garage sales as well as took advantage of all the wonderful things the magic capital has available for us.

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We decided to try our hands at another garage sale. Jame’s had outgrown a bunch of toys and mom and dad needed to make some room in the house. We did not have a garage sale for two years so we were due.

While the garage sale did ok, the gist of this post has to do with who visited the garage sale. The first day, Dynamo the Clown stopped by and bought a few things on the way to a show on Pelham street. We thought that took the cake, but the very next day a family showed up in a golf cart.

All in all, the garage sale was a success and we are thinking about possibly having another one in mid to late September to help us make room for Halloween, if needed. I can’t wait to see who will visit us then.

Once again we went on tour down US12 (known as Michigan Avenue around here) for the annual garage sale. Last year the weather was bad and we only made it to the Irish Hills, this year the weather was perfect and we made it all the way to Cold Water!

James picked up some toys for virtually nothing, and Mary did well finding some awesome quilts and other items that she hopes to resell on Ebay.

The Halloween crop this year was very limited, not much for Dad to get. I think we cleaned out the Halloween stuff over the past couple years at garage sales. James is trying to get a road map of every state in the U.S. and actually is more than half way there.

Continue reading “U.S. 12 Garage Sale 2013” →

We only made it to the Irish Hills because of the bad weather but we still had much fun on the US 12 garage sale, an annual event that we attend. Many times this event takes place the same week as the Magic Festival but this year it was the week later so we made two treks to the Western side of the state in back to back weekends.

James enjoys this event as well and gets a chance to spend time on real farms that allow people to sell their items on their farmland along US 12 (aka Michigan Avenue). He also does a little shopping and picks up many little trinkets on the trip.

We also continue our tradition of eating the best barbecue around at the Top of the Hill restaurant on US 12 in the Irish Hills.

Continue reading “U.S. 12 Garage Sale 2012” →