9 Day Road Trip Across America + Thrift Store Shopping Every Day = Heaven

When I decided to make my big move back to Los Angeles from Philadelphia, I knew I wanted to make the trip special.  As a pack-rat style collector of all things vintage and fun, I only had one option for the trip:  to drive cross country with a car load full of my treasures.  

And why stop there? How about making this trip about the one thing I love most in life--thrift store shopping.  It makes me giddy just thinking about how many amazing second hand stores there are in this country, all waiting to be discovered and rummaged through!  (I guess I heard my calling when I worked in a Salvation Army Thrift Store when I was 15...)  I'll be taking you along for the ride via pictures and insights into these random shops, anywhere and everywhere I find them.

I also occasionally sell my vintage wares on Etsy.com, a fantastic artsy little website where many others like myself buy and sell great vintage clothing, housewares and anything else that's 25+ years old.  About 3 weeks ago, I had an idea to contact a bunch of these sellers, who live all across the country, and ask them if they would meet with me as I passed through their fair cities.  Amazingly, many of them said yes! Not only will I be detouring off the highway and shopping for myself, but I'll be interviewing and taking photos of cool collections from other treasure hunters, from Pennsylvania to California.

There were a few potential travel partners in this excursion, but nothing worked out. So I'm doing this trip solo! I'm pretty sure this is a blessing in disguise, since it would be tough to find someone with the kind of patience I have for the intense sport of junk hunting. I do have one companion, the very charming Mr. Pink Plastic Poodle (found in a NYC neighborhood flea market in 2007.)  Don't worry, he's buckled in.