After sleeping in a little, we left for the flea market at 10:00 AM on the shuttle provided by the RV park. The park is less than 1/2 mile away but the shuttle is a nice service that is convenient and runs every hour to several of the gates.
Thursday, the first day of the market is sort of a precursor to the weekend event. Some of the vendors are apparently not open, but it seemed to us there were plenty to go around. Without exaggeration, there are at least a 1000 vendors here. You name it, its' for sale. This is unquestionably, the "mother of all flea markets". They have everything for sale from antiques to Mexican lawn art and everything in between. We saw a buffalo head, a zebra skin, old tools, state fair stuff, plants, animals, clothing and a lot of things that most people would put out to the curb. We didn't see any scalps for sale at the western booths, but then we didn't ask either. An interesting observation: the Texas county where the event is located (Van Zandt) is a dry county. You cannot buy a beer anywhere in town, but you can buy a gun at the flea market and "open carry" most anywhere in Texas. We also saw a lot of weapons for sale that sorta looked like semi-automatic weapons. We didn't see any Obama or anti-Bush stuff for sale either. All the people we met were very friendly and most spoke with some sort of southern accent.
We had a nice lunch at the Baked Potatoe - a no-frills potato place on the grounds that loads-up baked potatoes with all kinds of toppings.
We got back to the RV about 5:30 PM and decided to do laundry before dinner. Judy did that and we had a late dinner (flank steak cooked outside on the grill). The weather is perfect - not a cloud in the sky and mid-70's. All the severe weather is to the NE and not anywhere close to where we are.
We are going back tomorrow and see what we missed. We are told Friday is the "official opening" and there will be more vendors (and crowds) than today. We are in driving range of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and a lot of "day trippers" come here to shop on a regular basis. The RV park is filling-up (they are sold out for the weekend) and it seems to be a meeting place for various groups. For example, there is a large contingent of LSU boosters from the region nearby who regularly get together and visit the flea market.
We are going to get an early start tomorrow as the gates open at 8:00 am - that's the plan anyway.
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