Briesmobile Is Back

by Brigid McAlpin May 31, 2026

This past week was very productive! It was back to estate sale paperwork with three packages due this week and four sales going on. It has been weighing heavily on my mind about what to do about the "Briesmobile", my 2010 Ford Transit Connect cargo van. It has served me very well all of these years with no major problems. One quirk it has had in recent years is that if it is not regularly used, the battery will drain. I have had to have a number of batteries replaced but we had AAA so at least some of the batteries would have a warranty. Alan our pickup person used the van for a while to do pickups, which was especially helpful when there was more than one pickup to do in a trip. When we left town, Kuochun and I as part of our all-nighter before the house closing had to fill the van with items that there was no room for in the office. Non-folding tables filled up a lot of the space and there were lots of packing materials and other miscellaneous items as well. One of the last things we had to do was to load four extremely heavy rolls of packing paper up and into any remaining space in the van. For more than eight months, the van sat in the parking lot at the office out in the elements. I felt really bad about it but luckily there are lots of random vehicles in this parking lot. I think the owners rent parking space to various business owners who do not necessarily have an office there. There are all sorts of vehicles, even a party bus! The only thing they asked us to do was not to park it too close to those other vehicles because they were having trouble navigating around the van. I asked Mike to move it as far away from those vehicles as possible and we did not experience an issue since then.

Holidays are usually a good time for thinking about other things I should do outside of the daily grind and Memorial Day was no exception. Melinda had mentioned that Alan had to get a new vehicle and that it was going to be larger than his previous one. Then it dawned on me - I could really use my van here in Arizona! Things are about 85% set as far as where they are supposed to be but there is still more to do. Every trip to Prescott, I have loaded Kuochun's trunk and back seat like a puzzle with as many items I could fit in. He does not love it because he is worried about being able to see out of the rearview mirror. I always made the drive when his car was full because since the Briesmobile is a cargo van, there is no rearview mirror and I got used to not using one. I do have a backup beeper for those moments when I am backing up and cannot see. I have to make of habit of using the rearview mirrors in regular cars now.

I thought, if I have the van here I would no longer have to worry about it and I thought of more and more reasons that it would be helpful. I would really like to be able to get two cars in the garage in Scottsdale. These homes were built in 1964 so it is a true two-car garage with no extra space. My goal is to get as many items out of there as possible. With no basement, the garage ends up being a storage space. But I do have a pretty generous storage closet in the garage and there is a place for storage in the laundry room. Now with the van, it will be so easy to transport everything. Also, I have my rolling store storage shelves in in the garage in Prescott and I could store my jewelry cases there. I have not had a garage sale in Scottsdale for a year and a half but hope to have a jewelry, clothing and accessories sale in November when things cool off. I can always use the van to bring back whatever I need for the garage sale. The only items I could not transport with the van are the big beautiful clothing racks I bought from a store that was going out of business in Barrington's Ice House Mall. I decided to keep one at each house so that will work well. I have a lot of clothing to sell - there are boutique clothing items I purchased for resale as well as clothing from Mother and I that needs to be sold. I have been separating the clothing between unworn and gently worn. At first I thought Prescott will be a curated experience and I would sell the gently worn pieces in Scottsdale but with the van I would have the flexibility to send it all to Prescott (except for pieces I will list online) and see how it would all do there. Prescottonians (yes, that's what they're called!) must love thrift shopping because there are lots of thrift stores in the area. I could possibly fill a niche in the area between the trendy boutiques and the thrift stores.

Overall even though it was a ton of decisions, I did well with where to send what. I have decided to sell my adjustable bed frame and take the advice of my previous designer and put a full-size daybed in the guest room. There would be so much more space to walk around without a bed jutting out into the middle of the room. I just need to decide whether to keep my Stearns & Foster mattress or the Brooklyn Bedding one. I know Mother would say keep the Stearns & Foster! The Brooklyn Bedding mattress is in the garage in Prescott, I had to send a queen and a full size mattress there so Tina and I could decide which one would work better. In the end, we decided to use the queen and only one nightstand. The issue was two nightstands and the queen size bed do not fit on the wall. But anyway, I will not have to pay someone to do any more moving things around if I have the van.

This October I am going to check out the annual Antique Show & Vintage Market to see if I think it is worth participating in. I have not done an event like this in a very long time but it is indoors so there would be no worries about the weather. If I decide to participate in any events to get acclimated into the community having the van would be a game-changer.

So with all this in mind, I decided to list my vehicle transport job on uShip, and I also consulted with my go-to, the Scottsdale Living Facebook group. I filled out some forms based on the group's recommendations. Some folks were not interested in the job because the van was not running. I received quite a few quotes from uShip but prices were very high. I did receive a response right away from a Scottsdale Living recommendation called One Stop Transport. I did not expect a response in the evening and she was really nice and helpful so that impressed me. She gathered some additional information and said she would get to work on it. I was shocked when Tuesday afternoon she called and asked if someone could pick up the van within the hour! I said but it is not running and filled with stuff! I had to pay extra but Mike was working in the office that day and he could help me coordinate things so I said yes. They ended up arriving in about 30 minutes so all Mike had time to do was grab two of those big rolls of paper. Everything else in there will be for me to deal with. We even had the van transferred to their mechanic and body shop, One Stop Auto Repair in north Phoenix. The van arrived Thursday and was fixed on Friday. All was in good shape and they did not see any other issues which would cause the battery to drain more quickly. The mechanic said that with a van like mine with a small engine, it is really best to keep it in temperatures between 60 and 90 degrees. If I keep it in Prescott just about all of the time the mild four season climate should work well.

The process was really as painless as it could possibly be. The van was not ready until about 5:00 PM on Friday and we did not want to get stuck in traffic so we opted to pick it up Monday. We are going to meet Melinda for lunch and get the most fabulous onion rings in the universe at Dillon's KC BBQ. They have several locations around town and one of them just happens to be about 10 minutes away from the mechanic. It is also the halfway point between Melinda and us. I am really excited to get the Briesmobile back! It has made one driving trip here, which is the initial trip Mother, Vivi and I made Thanksgiving week, 2020. Things were so different then - Mother flew home and then Kuochun flew here, stayed a while and then we drove the van back to Mount Prospect in the spring.

Estate sale work always comes first so I did not have a lot of extra time to post new items but I did post a total of seven items for the week. One of them was the belt buckle that the eBay customer returned. The lady on Facebook Marketplace who said she wanted it did not come through, but I was not real optimistic because she did also say it was out of her budget. It is back up and promptly gained over 600 views on Facebook Marketplace.

I pulled a larger (and heavier) item out of my to-do box - this Navajo-made belt buckle and conchos set. I purchased this from one of my local sources a while back and he told me at the time that one artist created the pieces with turquoise and another artist created the butterfly pieces which go between the conchos. I asked him if he had any more information about this set and it turns out it was created by the two artists at the jewelry store in Old Town Scottsdale who work on all of my repairs. They do wonderful work and this set is so unique! I think the background texture on the turquoise pieces looks like bird feathers. Unfortunately there is a crack on the stone on the belt buckle near the tip on the left side but it is very secure in the setting.

I believe I mentioned that after I post all of the belt buckles, I was going to turn to watch tips. This one was hanging around so I decided to just post it. The watch is totally wearable as is, I gently wound it and it started running and keeping time! It is a Timex and fits their slogan - "it takes a licking and keeps on ticking!"

Another vintage piece I posted this week was this belt buckle which was converted into a pendant somewhere along the way. I am showing the display photo because the conversion was really well done, it looks so great as an enhancer to these Navajo-made sterling beads.

The final vintage pieces I posted this week were this interesting station necklace and coordinating earrings. The set is mostly sterling silver and has fetish bears and a blanket pattern in copper and silver. I think the artist was trying to be unique as the bears on the left side of the necklace are copper and the ones on the right are brass. The earrings each have a copper and brass bear. I just noticed by looking at this photo again that the copper bear does belong on the left and the brass bear on the right! I am glad I did that properly so I did not have to reshoot the photo.

I posted two new items this week as well - I think this butterfly pin/pendant by the wonderful Navajo artist Herman Smith is so adorable. I purchased it on our last trip to Tubac, which is a really cute town about 45 minutes south of Tucson and close to the Mexican border. This is the town where you have to drive through a border patrol checkpoint when heading back north again and most of the highway signs are in kilometers. As much as I love it, this piece has fallen into the category of it does not work for me due to the shepherd's hook on the back. I know it will find a new home.

The final piece posted this week is a real showstopper! This statement cuff bracelet by award-winning Navajo artist Sunshine Reeves is unlike anything that is currently online. It is an investment piece but I feel it will sell quickly.

I was very pleased with my sales this week! So what does the cover photo mean? I traded the cost of the van transport and repair for the jewelry sales I made this week. I sold this petite squash blossom necklace through Facebook Marketplace and it was exactly what the customer was looking for. It looked so great on her! I was very happy for her but also happy to have sold this piece the day I paid for the van to be transported. It help to soften the blow a bit.

Speaking of Sunshine Reeves, I sold two of his cuffs through Facebook Marketplace but through a purchase on my website. A while back I posted a group photo of statement cuff bracelets without stones to Facebook groups but had no takers at the time. I am sure glad I left my postings up! The top cuff was a more recent acquisition but I have had the thunderbird cuff for several years and had it in the to-do pile.

Two of Mother's pieces found new homes, both through eBay - her vintage Chimney Butte cross dot pendant with Royston turquoise and a pair of post earrings by Navajo artist Happy Piasso. Happy is famous for her beautiful jewelry featuring star shots. I have one of her star shot cuff bracelets posted as well.

I sold two items on Etsy as well, this Southwest Style pink conch shell floral pendant and this tiny Zuni sunface pin. The pendant was from my personal collection but I never got the chance to wear it. My final sale of the week was a petite cuff bracelet with a malachite cabochon on Poshmark. I posted it back in March 2023 so I no longer have a photo of it.

Finally, I received a request through Facebook Marketplace to purchase this beautiful Rosella Paxton rhodochrosite ring on layaway. This is easy to do through a PayPal invoice. I received the first payment so we are on our way! When I received the payment, I noticed the customer was from Prescott Valley which is right next door to Prescott. Small world!

I rounded out the week by polishing and pricing more silver jewelry. I started another box of jewelry to go back to Mount Prospect and because there has been such an interest in turquoise this spring, I am sending a quart size bag filled with beautiful turquoise rings. There is a good price range - I would say from $30 to $150 after the 50% discount. I normally save the Native American jewelry for Arizona but I have so much I am sharing the wealth. I was also able to get through several boxes of jewelry that I purchased online last year so they will be in circulation soon! It is actually fun to revisit the items I purchased and rewarding to get them prepared and on their way to new homes. Someday there will be a light at the end of the tunnel!

Unfortunately there was a setback in Prescott Wednesday - the Arizona room permit was not prominently displayed and the HVAC folks forgot to pull a permit for the mini split. The city inspector shut everyone down. I am not sure how long the delay will be, I am hoping it will not be more than a week or two. I would love for it to be finished but the silver lining is I have more time to save my pennies to pay the final bills. Although they forgot to pull the permit, I am glad that they were able to repurpose the mini split which was in the dining room and place it in the Arizona room so I do not need to purchase a new one. It also gets two substantial items out of the garage. There is a large ceiling fan in the garage as well which is going to be repurposed in the Arizona room.

I received two requests on Facebook Marketplace for my metal bed frame which we had to leave in the kitchen the last time we were there. With Tina's help, I was able to get the frame sold. She placed it in the Arizona room for me and the buyer was able to pick it up because the room does not have a door yet. I actually do have a second frame but it is located in the back of the garage and I did not have help over the weekend to get it out. The man who was interested in it did not want to wait. I marked the listing sold and will post the second frame when we are there and I will not need to impose on anyone. The art is going to be hung up next week which I am excited about. It will look a lot better around the house without art propped up against so many walls. Our turn has come up with the upholsterer so the dining room chair seats are going to be redone next week as well. The little details are coming together. There is a short punch list that I need to put together, I need to take care of any extra furniture items and then with a little staging and the window treatments which have not been ordered yet the interior of the house will be good to go. I also need to order new screens for the house. Kuochun's room has no screen at all, otherwise I would put it off. Once everything is complete Tina will have professional photos taken for her portfolio and will share them with me so I can post them here.

Next week I will get the van back and keep on doing what I am doing! We have been lucky enough not to get too much over 100 degrees for a high but that is going to change. In the past we have been out of here by June 10. Kuochun thinks that he wants to stay a little longer because work is still being done in Prescott. I had the past week and a half off from physical therapy due to needing my insurance company to approve more sessions but I do have sessions scheduled starting next week until early July. Maybe we can compromise and split the time.

See you again soon!