Every journey begins with a single bowl of oatmeal

     I was happily digging away in the Peace River one weekend, my mind drifting from thought to thought when I pondered what a journey I was making every week to indulge my hobby.

(antler fragment, horse tooth, unknown tooth, megalodon tooth)

     I once heard a quote by the famous tarpon angler, Stu Apte, that every fish he caught, he caught the night before, meaning he had all his gear prepared when it was time to hit the water.  So I guess I could suggest that my fossil finds are assisted by a lot of prep work.  I have my kayak strapped down and locked onto my ladder rack; screens, shovels, probes, paddles lined out in the bed of my truck; milk crate with wet suit/waders, water bottle, dry bag, etc. in the front seat.  Before I go to bed I set out a bowl with a couple packets of instant oatmeal and grind some coffee beans so that I am ready to hit the road within 30 minutes of the alarm going off at 4:30 am.  The oatmeal is uninspired but mild on the stomach at the early hour and easy to eat during the 2-2.5 hour drive to my launch site.  By the time I get to the river I'm already about 3 hours into my journey.

     I put the kayak in the water, load it, and head off along the river.  The water part of the journey is challenging, even with a trolling motor.  During the dry season the level of the Peace River is so low that I constantly try to steer around sand banks, logs, rocks, etc. that beat up the propeller which is already set as high as possible while still maintaining some contact with the water.  I've perfected my method of leaning to the left to raise the prop even more when there is an obstacle, and leaning to the right to submerge it more when I have a stretch of open water.  What I didn't know when I started fossiling was I would also be dragging my fully loaded kayak, at times, across stretches of sand and river weed.  A distance of a couple miles can take me another hour to traverse and by then I'm feeling like a modern day Indian Jones, but without the poisonous snakes (for the most part) and golden idols.

(an interesting day's fossils, inc modern wild pig jaw, dolphin ear bone, antler fragments, crystalized sea urchin spines, and bullets)

     I don't mind fossiling alone but it can feel remote on days when no one else passes by on the river. 

I was told, from the beginning, to close up shop when the sun touches the tops of the palm trees.  I pushed it one afternoon, waiting until the sun had dropped lower, and wound up loading my kayak in the dark.  Did not like that!  So now, I reverse my journey in the early afternoon.  The paddle/drag/motor back to the truck is not aided as much as I would have hoped by heading downstream but I usually have some cool fossils in my bucket and a sense of contentment from spending the day outside doing something I truly enjoy.  If only there was a way to teleport home instead of repeating the 2 hour drive.

     So, every Friday during the dry season: 115-120 miles traveled over the road, across the water, through the muck and I can't wait for the season to start up again!