World of Treasures 7/70 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The club had a field trip scheduled for the Black Rock Desert in Nevada over Memorial Day weekend. There have been so many articles on the different types of wood, rock, minerals, etc, that can be found there that we were just bursting to go. We hauled our tent trailer along behind the truck and arrived at Gerlock about 9:30pm. Friday night. The rain was considerate and watied until we had set up the tent and taken a dip in the hot springs located there. It rained at least half the night and our field trip chairman said it was too wet to go into Black Rock Saturday, we'd have to wait until Sunday and see if it was dry enough to get through. We couldn't imagine the desert drying up that fast after all that rain.

On Saturday we caravaned to Tuledad Canyon and hunted for agate. Ray headed for the top of the hill and found some Iceland Spar Calcite. They were not the best, but we were thrilled to have found them. We rushed down to tell the others and they were soon up the moutain hunting for calcite also.

We met another rockhound, Gil Rice from Oroville area, who showed us a perfect calcite crystal he had found. He is a long time rockhound and told us which of the agate we had collected were "leaverites" and which would make good cabs. We heeded his advise and unloaded the fractured ones. He then told us the next place he was heading for was down the road about 5 miles for opalized wood and he invited us to come along. Having a "thing" about petrified wood, we didn't have to be asked twice. We let one of the club members know where we were going and away we went.

We drove to a beautiful sloping hill with a view of the surrounding area that could be seen for miles. The air was warm with a gentle breeze blowing. There were other rockhounds busy digging in holes. The petrified wood is in a vertical position so that wheat you get you earn, and the rock hogs can't take the whole log or tree. There was one tree that was eight feet in diameter and another down in a hole thirty feet with a make-shift ladder down to it. I tried looking down, but it was close to evening and too dark to see that deep.

Ray spent some time chipping, chiseling, wedging, prying and finally got some beautiful pieces of petrified wood in pink, brown, black and honey. I just can't wait to try making cabacons out of them.

Ray and Gil showed a couple of fellows from the Oroville club the nice pieces they had and they immediately jumped in the hole and started placing wedges and bars anywhere they could. Some one came up and asked what kind of wood it was. I looked at all the wedges and couldn't resist replying "Wedgewood"!

When dusk came we unfolded our tent and settled down for the night. The wind rose a little and it became quite cool. The stars were so low it seemed we could pick them out of the sky if we stretched a little. For a while we heard the cattle lowing in the darkness and then it was quiet. The silence was unbelievable after the hussle and bussle of the city. If a pin had dropped a mile away I'm sure we could have heard it.

With the first rays of dawn I was up, but Ray had gotten up even earlier and was on top of the hill just looking at the dawn coming up, and listening to the sounds of the birds. The land had a pinkish hue as the sun slipped up out of the mountains and started its sky journey.

As others in the group awoke, some went back to digging. Some got ready to head to the other rock hunting areas. I took one last walk looking for agate with unusual beauty. We folded our tent, bid our new friends, Dee and Gil, farewell, and headed for Virgin Valley and the opal mine we had heard so much about.

We arrived with great anticipation after having seen the beautiful Virgin Valley opals in rock shows. We were dumbfounded to find people were crawling on their hands and knees picking up pieces half the size of my pinky finger. One woman had been crawling around half a day and had about 1/2 inch of tiny pieces in the bottom of a baby food jar. The fee they paid was $5 each. I looked at Ray and he looked at me. We had purchased bigger and nicer pieces at rock shows. With both of us wearing bifocals, we couldn't picture ourselves picking through tailings, so we left.

On the way back we stopped and looked over some rocks across from the area on Hidden Valley. We found pieces of carnelian, but small ones. We drove back towards Cederville over Baxter Mountain. We saw three antelope and they were just as cuirous about us as we were of them. they just stood and stared at us, giving us a good chance to study their beauty. We also saw two coyotes race across the road. there were the size of German Shepards and didn't want to stay and look at us. We saw a ground squirrel stand in the road and watch us drive up. He made no attempt to move to the side of the road and I was worried for fear we would run over him. Then suddenly he did a jack-knife, shot his tail in the air and dived in his hole, which was right in the road!

The ride back to Cedarville was beautiful and as we got close to town we understood why we had seen no cars. The high country just stopped point blank and it was short switch back after switch back right to the bottom, with trees appearing as we dropped in altitude. There was a breathtaking view at each switch back.

We headed for likey and spent a couple hours un-dusting everything so we could eat and settle down for the night. The mosquitos were in sqaudron formation and would have won citations for bravery in attacking, but a breeze came up and kept them at bay. The next morning we started home bright and early. It was a glorious trip and all Ray has to say is "Let's go" and I'll be in the truck waiting. I always keep half the stuff packed just in case.

Vendors- Things are moving forward with the planning and advertising for the show. We have several confirmed vendors who have sent in their deposit thus far and are excited about being part of the show.

Country Store - We have only a few items so far for the country store. We are needing donations of household items to sell, these should all be CLEAN and in working condition. This year we are also planning on trying something new. That is having a small plant sale. For those of you with a green thumb, if you can divide some of your bulbs, succulents, or plants and pot them up in small plastic pots that would be great. Please do not bring anything larger than 1 gallon pot. The pots should NOT be dripping wet (we are on wood floors). I am thinking, bulbs - such as iris and glads can be sold bare root. If you can take a photo of your plant and print it out on paper that would help identify the colors and what it is for buyers who do not have a green thumb.

Food Donations- We REALLY need people to look over the food list and sign up for items they can donate. This is the first time that Kendra & her mom will be cooking and need to very soon what is being donated so that shopping can be done accordingly if things need to be purchased. The food list/sign up will be available at the BBQ as well as at the Educational Meeting

Security- Keith is head of the committee in charge of secuirty this year. For visual impact all security people will be in a "uniform" Tshirt that stands out to make both vendors, and community know that we are keeping our eyes open. We dont anticipate any problems, but will help keep honest people honest.

Show Flyers- Steve is printing thousands of flyers for members to hand out. These small flyers are also the $1 off coupon. If you know of a business that will allow us to post or leave a stack, please get a stack from Steve. The more exposure we get, the better the turnout.

Website Marketing- On the website is a link for people in the community to sign up to recieve an email notification / coupon for our show. This is something that will be on the site year round. We are hoping to build a large database of people WANTING information about our show that will be ZERO cost advertising in future years since they will get all the information via email. We are hoping to see a chunk of people sign up at/after this years show.

Raffle Prizes- We are looking for quality finished pieces for the larger raffle prizes. If you are skilled at wire wrapping, or have cabbed something that is dazzling in a finding, your donation is TAX Deductable!