MY TRIP part 6
By Harry on Dec 31, 2009 in Cowboy Action Shooting, Rockhounding, Gold Prospecting, Hobbies, interests
Hello Folks
Sorry I’ve been gone so long I’ve been doing a lot of traveling and then spent a week on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. After spending a week in Murfreesboro, Arkansas waiting on my check, I went to the Diamond Crater. I spent only a few hours there because the weather was, at least seemed like it was, getting colder and looking more like rain by the minute. My frostbit fingers on my right hand were hurting so bad that I couldn’t stay any longer. Especially trying to wash the rocks in that cold water.
When I left there, I headed south to Texas. Went to Round Rock and sent an e-mail to Mr. Davison. He works on Saturdays so it was Sunday before I got a response from him. It seems the weather has been so bad there too and the Llano River was still so high that there was no way I could get to any place along the river to do any panning. He recommended that I go on down to El Paso because the GPAA has no claims in Texas because there is so little gold to be found there. I went by the only place on the Llano River that he said I could check out because every thing along the river is on private land and the few rocks I could go out on were barely sticking above the water and the places I needed to dig behind the rocks were so deep that I would be standing in water waist deep or higher to dig in the places I needed to dig. So, I went on down and west to El Paso.
On the way there I ran into some wind or, I should say, the wind ran into me. I found myself bucking headwinds up to 60 mph or higher. I stopped in Van Horn to set out the wind and dust storm and sent an e-mail to Pete at the El Paso GPA. He answered me in a little while and invited me to the meeting they were having that night. I replied that I didn’t know if I could make it or not because I heard the winds were supposed to get stronger between then and dawn the next day. As luck would have it, the winds died down and I was able to move on. I made it to El Paso about 7:30 that evening and found my way to the place where the meeting was being held. I was late but I was invited in anyway. They had a lot of good food set out on a table and told me to help myself. I had just eaten a little while earlier because I didn’t know that I was going to make it in time so I didn’t eat very much.
Pete drew me a map to the El Paso GPA site and the GPAA site that they go to all the time. And, guess what, it’s not in Texas. So I went all the way through Texas and didn’t even get my shovel dirty or my pan wet. REALLY DISAPPOINTED!!!
The place that Pete sent me to was a little place called Orogrande, N. M. It’s about half way between El Paso and Alamogordo, N. M. I spent a week on top of a hill north of the wide spot in the road mostly panning out the dirt that I had brought with me. I discovered one thing. I got a lot to learn. One thing I did learn was that I need to find some way to move a lot more dirt than I can with only a pan. I didn’t find much gold in the dirt I brought with me and what little dirt I dug there didn’t show anything that I could see. The temp. is starting to drop down into the 20s at night so I guess it’s about time to move on.
Before I go though, I want to think Pete and his wife Martha and all those who came by and visited me while I was there. I wish I could remember all their names, I would mention them here. There were some very notable characters I met there and I’m really sorry I can’t remember all their names.
I left there a couple of days ago and am now sitting in a motel room in Deming, N. M. I figured I owed it to myself to stay in at least one motel on this trip. I lucked out. It’s a good, safe, very inexpensive place. Probably the cheapest place in Deming to stay. It’s not often you find a motel worth staying in for less than $30.00 a day. Tonight’s my last night though. I can’t spend the rest of my life here. I’ll be headed toward Silver City. Somebody said there was a GPAA claim site in that area. If any of you know anything about it, I would appreciate the feedback. I guess that’s all for right now. Hopefully the next post will be good news of finding some good gold so I can tell everyone where I found it. Y’all take care now. GOD bless. Later.
Harry
Hey Folks;
A little P.S. to the post above. While I was on the hill in Orogrande, I found a little rock while panning. It was about the size between a marble and a pea. It was a bright shinny greenish-gold color. I walked a little ways up another, higher, hill to show a couple what I’d found and see if they knew what it was. They weren’t sure and suggested I take it to one of the gold shows and show it to a geologist. On the way back, following the same path I took up the hill, I came to the ledge I had to step down. When I did, my rear foot sliped and then my forward foot sliped and I went down on my intellegence and my elbow. Skint my elbow and am still picking small stickers out of my intellegence. The worst part is, I lost the rock. The only really bad part of the week I spent out there. Oh well, maybe I’ll find another one somewhere and by then I might know what it is. Y’all take care now. GOD bless. Later. Harry
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