Kathyl, Have a safe trip. If you and your mother are up to it, document some of the things that you come across. You may be surprised at some of the stories behind something.
When my mother passed, I was given her old sewing machine and also had asked for her sewing box. I didn't know she had changed her sewing box to something else. Growing up I remembered a dark wood hinged box with a little tray. I did get all her sewing thread/notions/old buttons, in a Rubbermaid step stool with storage compartment. It turns out the wooden box was something my father made in high school to hold his writing papers. [He has kept a diary since high school.] My older sister has that box now.
My father turns 91 in 3 weeks. He is cleaning out again, which he does every year. My fear is he will burn the diaries he has kept. I have asked for them, and offered to seal them away until after he passes, but he won't agree, so far.
Ginger in CA