Into the wild

   

     A kayaking friend in JAX, Stephanie, called to say she had arranged for us to camp on her friend's property on the Peace River in Arcadia.

Whaaat?!!!

     I had my truck loaded before she stopped talking.

     We arranged to meet him at his house so he could show us the area that was best for primitive camping.  He drove us in his Jeep through orange groves and woods and fields, on paths that ranged from slippery sand to slippery mud to slippery weeds.  I finally had to swallow my pride and mention that my back tires were...well...bald.

     "Oh, you'll have no problem getting down and I can pull you back up when it's time to go."

     Good enough for me!  I retraced the path in my Ford Ranger from the highway to the banks of the Peace River and I didn't get stuck until I got to the "campsite".  No problem!  I had 2 days  until I had to worry about that.

     The primitive camping I've done has always been on a broad sandy river bank or long sandy beach or open rocky areas in the desert.  This was my first time confronting knee high weeds on soggy muddy ground but once we trampled some of the weeds flat, it created a nice little area to colonize.

     Food and fire always helps.  The first night I grilled steaks over hardwood charcoal and served with fried potatoes and various other sides.

     It didn't take Stephanie's dad, Gordon, long to start hauling in the bass so the second night, Stephanie cooked the fish and served it with fresh asparagus and blue cheese crumbles.

We might be primitive but we don't mess around.

     It was a fossiling dream come true to be able to walk from my tent right into the river and start digging in gravel.  There wasn't a lot of big rock there but plenty of little shark teeth and Pam found a tooth from a type of llama that roamed Florida during the Pleistocene epoch.

     After a few hours of digging, we stepped right back into our campsite and settled in for dinner.

Sweet!

     Friday I dug all day.  I dug until Jack had to leave in the early afternoon and I dug until Pam had to leave in the late afternoon and I was still digging when Stephanie brought me life sustaining chardonnay that got me through until dusk.

     Note the severely pruned hands as I display my usual "Heartbreak Half."

     Stephanie may not be a convert due to time and distance constraints but she acknowledged the addictive quality of the hobby and now has a good start to a fossil collection.

     I convinced her to sit back and be towed to the campsite and she said, "I guess I should troll since you're towing me with a trolling motor." No sooner did her lure hit the water than she had a bass on.

     By the second morning, the honeymoon has worn off.  Everything is gritty and grimey but we enjoyed a last breakfast of eggs from my hens, the leftover potatoes, and venison sausage from the landowner.

     Time to tow the Ranger back to the highway but we have an open invitation to camp there so I'll be investing in some new tires STAT!

     As usual, I was fairly clueless about where to dig so after some exploration, I returned to the area where I had my very first Peace River visit and success almost exactly one year ago and found lots of little tidbits.  I'm still waiting for my season to kick into gear but it's a good start.

     Turtle scutes, horse tooth, 3-toed horse tooth, giant armadillo scute, gator teeth, stingray dermal scutes, bull shark, hemi, lemon, and mako teeth, etc.  The bottom tiger shark tooth is one of the nicest I've found.

"Crazy"...it's in the eyes

That title is just an excuse to post a photo of my old lady dachshund, Schotzie.

     My 2 dachshunds are used to riding in the car and see it as another opportunity to do what they are best at: sleeping.  That's a good thing because every so often, I have to drive them an hour or 2 down the interstate to hand them off to Mike so that I can follow my fossil passion with abandon.  Thank you, Mike!

    

     This was my second Thanksgiving weekend in the Peace River and that's also a good thing.  Just when stuffing my face with delicious food and watching football starts to get boring, I change it up for something COMPLETELY different: standing in a river digging through gravel with a shovel for hours.  Rock on!

     I'm calling the above photo "When in Rome".  Fossil Steve likes to do things a certain way and since we were digging in a spot he started, I had to do it his way.  He builds a stand out of PVC pipe that can be broken down to facilitate moving it in his canoe.  Then he builds a large screen using 1/4" hardware mesh that sits on top of the stand.  This set-up is placed on the edge of the river in an area that doesn't have any diggable gravel, thus becoming the dump zone.  He takes 5 gallon buckets that he has laboriously drilled full of holes (I know it's laborious coz I made one for myself...never again!), fills them with gravel, then pours them out on his screen in the dump zone to sort for fossils.

     I'm easily frustrated (hence our arguments over 1/4" screen vs 1/2" screen) and I hate wasting time putting the stands together so I went out to my shed the day before Thanksgiving and using scraps, built a short stand with 12" legs and a lean profile: it fits inside the large screen Steve gave me last season.  It doesn't need putting together or taking apart and I don't mind sitting in the water to sort the gravel.  Initially it feels a little wobbly in the muck near the banks but a few buckets of discarded gravel quickly create a more solid base.

     Every time I pour a bucket of gravel onto my screen, I expect to see a gold nugget right on top.

Not gonna happen!

     That's ok, I'll take a perfect meg or bison tooth or any number of others possibilities.

     

     It wasn't a stellar day but there were items of interest.  Clockwise from upper left: giant armadillo scute, shell casts, vertebra, turtle scutes, foot pads, and spurs, mammoth/mastodon scraps, deer antler, etc. and in the middle, 3 worn glytodon scutes, camel TOOTH, and a broken bison tooth.

I found 2  chunks of crystalized oyster shell that I am determined to learn how to cut and polish.  Someday.

     The best find of the day for me was a very big hemi tooth.  There is some root damage but the serrations on the blade are pristine and look at the size!  Almost 2"!  

     Fine...almost 1 and 3/4 inches but I'm telling the story MY way.

     And just in case you're wondering about the towing capacity of a 30lb thrust trolling motor from WalMart, I added Steve and his canoe to the lineup.   Steering was more involved and I could never have done this going upstream but it sure made a nice return trip for everyone after digging all day.

     Fingers crossed!  I hope to find the 55lb thrust trolling motor from WalMart under my Christmas tree  in the same spot where I found the 30lb thrust trolling motor last year!

The dark side of fossiling: Etiquette

Whoo, lawdy!

 Did I ever get caught in the middle of a Peace River blow out!!!

     Let me see if I can explain without going into too much needless detail...

     Fossiler #1 found a good digging location and for a week, the fossiling friends (minus me) dug together there in perfect harmony.

     Finally, it's Friday and fossiler #2 tells me to just meet them there for the day since it's been a good spot.

     Keep in mind that I have fossiled several times with fossiler #1 and was looking forward to digging with him for the first time this season.  I arrived at the location with fossiler #2 and when fossiler #1 arrived by kayak, I immediately ascertained that he wasn't waving and calling out a greeting; he was gesticulating angrily and cursing...at me and about me!!!

     The gist of the situation was that #2 hadn't called #1 to ask if I could dig there and the tempers FLARED.  I was confounded by the cursing (and I admit to throwing out an F-bomb of my own although no one remembered that, after the fact) and started to get in my kayak and leave but fossiling is supposed to be fun so I turned back into the war zone and attempted to smooth ruffled feathers.  I'm not a diplomat, I'm notorious for putting my foot in my mouth but I did my best.

    Once everyone calmed down, #1 assured me that it wasn't about me; of course I was always welcome, but it was a breech of river etiquette for someone else to bring me to a location without an invitation.

     There were also a few other issues simmering under the surface so perhaps it was some much needed venting among old friends who spend 2-5 days in the river every week during the season but #1 pointed out to me that I had also broken the unwritten rules by not inviting him personally to my honey hole (no double entendres, please! lol).  I profusely apologized for my oversight.  

     Lots of lessons learned that day.

     With all the commotion going on around me, the main thought in my head was, "I've only got today.  I want to find something!!!"

     I found a few large megalodon fragments which I always keep because I love imagining them in the mouth of a 2 million year old monster.  It's hard to find big megs in the Peace River anymore because it's been dug for so long.  For people who can scuba dive, there apparently are still plenty of big beautiful megs off Venice Beach, Florida.  Here's a photo of a recent find:

     I don't scuba but when I see photos like this, I consider it...for a minute.

     But back to me!

     I don't keep as much fossilized turtle material as I used to but if I find a scute in good condition or a nicely textured piece of shell, I'll throw it in my bucket.  I also found a very nice giant armadillo scute (right side of the photo).

   

     I collected a couple of nice, fat, tiger shark teeth, one of which I immediately turned into a necklace for my Etsy store.  Beauty!

    Projects in progress

     Meanwhile, Jack and I continue the quest for the tiniest megalodon tooth.

     Here's Jack's entry:

     Here's my entry:

     Hmmm...width vs length?

     AGAIN!

No double entendres, please!  ;-)

Back in the saddle

'Tis the season...

     The water level in the Peace River has dropped so I pointed the old Ranger south and started driving.  Even though my truck was made in 1995, gadgets are still being produced that allow people like me to enjoy all the modern conveniences without the convenience of a modern car.

     These cassette deck adapters are easy to find and enable me to listen to iTunes, Pandora, audio books, etc. through my car speakers.  Makes those hours driving back and forth to the river fly by.

And since I planned to start my season with 2 full days of frenzied digging, I invested in this sweet little number...

     I can plug it in to a power converter that is, in turn, plugged in to the cigarette lighter.  I've had hamstring issues (whatever that means) for years and the heating pad minimized the stabbing pains I get after fossiling all day.  Now if I can find a way to plug this thing in to my kayak.

     My weekend began with a visit to the Fossil Club of Lee County which was great because one of the members fed us loads of Italian food and regaled us with amazing stories of sneaking into the phosphate mines pre-9/11.  Security is a bit tighter these days.

     When I drive to Ft. Myers for a fossil club meeting, I get a cheap hotel room for the night and set out  before dawn the next morning towards the Peace River.  Unfortunately, I spilled my instant oatmeal this time and it made a horrendous mess that closely resembled vomit except that it smelled deliciously of cinnamon and brown sugar.  

     Karma is a bitch, right? So I tried to set things straight by cleaning what I could and leaving a tip for the housekeeper who had to deal with the rest.

     I met up with Pam and towed her to the honey hole from last season.  The returns had diminished sharply in proportion to the difficulty in getting to the spot.

     I took this picture just as we started out but an hour later, dealing with an underpowered trolling motor battery, my smile turned upside down.  Shoulda listened to the guy at Batteries Plus.  I'll be visiting him sometime this week.

     After an uneventful day, we headed over to Highland Hammocks State Park for the night.  I love this campground!  I've never been to any other campground where my campfires are so routinely praised.  This time it was a 6 year old girl on a pink scooter ("Great fire!!!") and later, an older woman walking her little dog.  

     I considered this campfire adulation and surmised that since this campground caters mostly to RV's, the campers don't usually have fires and when they do, don't spend much time gazing at them before they hightail it back inside to watch satellite TV.

     Pam and I both clocked 10 solid hours of sleep then headed to Arcadia to do it again.  On the way, we stopped at a diner for a "town meal."

     Yes, I ordered the peanut butter pie for breakfast but I'm not a fan.  Maybe it's a southern thing?  The bacon and eggs were yummy, though!  I didn't realize this product still existed...

     The location we went to for our fossiling on Saturday is always referred to as a "walk-in" site.  After wading for a mile through black water, feeling around in front of me with my shovel, I think the only reason it's called that is because there's no boat ramp.  If I go back, I will lower my 8' kayak down on a rope and haul it back up with my truck when I'm done.

     Wow.  Could this get any more unattractive, lol?  At least Pam, on the right, keeps its sporty with the slacks.  I routinely covered my hair in that buff all last season but for some reason, on this day, my hair was one big frightful dreadlock when I took the buff off at the end of the day.  

     Slim pickin's for 2 full days of digging.  My standards are a lot higher than when I started out last year.  I also found several fragments of things that aren't in the photo.  The best fossils I found this weekend are a very nice tooth from a 3-toed horse and a perfect little mako.

     Friday can't get here soon enough!  I want to try again!

As Kanye says...

...Please, no photos.

     The reality is, I don't want to post anymore photos from last season. 

 I want to post photos from THIS season,

 and this season starts this weekend!

     I am amused but also a bit nervous that I can't seem to get it together in regards to packing my gear.  Oh, I remembered the pint of gin for the campground, but I almost forgot to throw a shovel in the truck!

     I repositioned my trolling motor battery box to the front of the kayak in the hopes that shifting 25 lbs from the stern to the bow will give me a little more clearance when the water really gets shallow but now I'm trying to remember what else goes on the kayak. 

      I learned that when water levels are higher (as in the start of the season), it's a good idea to pack an anchor since tying off on the shore can leave you with a tough slog to wherever you're actually digging.

     It's probably still warm enough for a wet suit instead of the waders, but do I want the farmer john or the step-in jacket?  Decisions...decisions...

One thing I remember from my first visit to the Peace River around this time last year: numb feet.  That's when I was still wearing tennis shoes and wet wool socks.  Now I have heavy dive boots but even those aren't foolproof.  So I throw a couple of chemical hand warmers in my dry bag in case I need to recover feeling in my toes.

     Preparing for the start of my second season on the Peace River, I am once again gung ho in regards to meals and snacks, buying organic apples and prepping containers of chicken and rice, but I know I will quickly revert to a bag of chips from one of the many Citgos on the route, and a dinner afterwards, from McDonald's value menu. 

     Rereading that last sentence makes me want to declare my New Year's resolution right now: 

Maintain your health for better fossiling!

     I think I'm going to add that one to my bumper sticker line.  ;-)

    



A third lung is one lung too many

     Fossil Steve taunted me last season with visions of the amazing things he was finding in a place he fondly referred to as "The Meg Hole", a deep section of the river where, with the right gear, you could potentially recover dozens of megalodon teeth in a day.  All I had to do to access these treasures was use a third lung diving system: the air supply stays above the water (in our case, on a table) and we breath through regulators on long hoses in order to stay submerged.

Easy!

 

If you're not me.

 

     But, of course, I'm me, so, much as I wanted to jump at the opportunity, I dragged my feet. 

     At first, the water was still too cold from the winter but as April crept into May and water temps rose steadily, I had knew I was going to have to give it a go.

     On the appointed day, I launched my kayak and started trolling to The Meg Hole, only to find that one of the nearby phosphate mines had drained a retention pond into the river and the water was completely opaque.

     I met up with Steve and tried to put on a brave face while he tied my regulator to me with string and latched a heavy weight belt around my waist but inside, my anxiety was ruling the day. 

I don't like water I can't see through!

     Steve is older and has seen a lot in his days and he is fairly patient.  He watched me while I dipped my face in the water about 10 times and then waited while I tried to dive to the bottom but for me, it was a total cluster.  You're probably thinking we were diving in 20 feet of water.  It was more like 7 feet of water.  I don't scuba dive and the feeling of the weight belt dragging me down made me want to panic.  I couldn't seem to get my head down and since I couldn't see a thing through my mask, all the meg teeth in the world wouldn't have convinced me to keep feeling around blindly on a river bottom. I managed to get my head above water and gasped, "Steve, help me!" and Steve took my hands and said, "Put your feet down, girl."  I was still in the 5 foot deep section of the river.

     After my initial attempt, I assured Steve that I would try again in a minute and that he should go on about his business of fossil hunting.  He went under water and though I couldn't see  him, I could hear him shoveling gravel into 5 gallon buckets that he would then drag up to a sifting screen on the shore.  Every so often I would dip my face into the water but that was as far as I got and when he emerged about 15 minutes later, his look of surprise was comical.

     "What are you doing?"  he asked me.

     "Hanging out," I replied.  "I think I'm going to skip the 3rd lung for now and head for shallow water."

     The season ended before the water cleared up so I never tried again.  I'm not against another attempt but the planets will have to align before I purposely sink myself to the bottom of the river with a bucket and a shovel.



It's almost time!!!

     In less than 2 weeks I will be back in the Peace River!   I've been emailing Jack, trying to decide where to start and it's a little like being a kid in a candy store, albeit a candy store where the candy is really difficult to find and you don't get to choose what kind of candy you get or even if you get any candy at all, but you know what I mean.

     Time to pull the kayak off the rack and do the general prep work.  I'm still not certain if the new, longer cord for the trolling motor will reach to the front where I want to remove the rod mount and replace it with the battery box.  The shallow water of the Peace River in the winter requires the fossiler to get in and out of the kayak to navigate obstacles and having a battery cable roping off one side of the yak would make that task infinitely more difficult.

     Luckily, I already had the rudder line replaced this summer and had them replace some of the gear bungies while they were at it.

     I'm also feeling a chill in the morning air so I need to remember which wet suit or waders or fleece or...I'll just bring everything the first time.

     I sorted through two boxes of less than perfect fossils and most of them are going to the club meeting to be used in sand box digs for the kids at different fossil functions but I still have a cabinet full of interesting things and the question is, "Where will I put everything I will find this season?"

     My quest for the perfect, affordable curio cabinet continues.  It will be devoted to fossils and minerals and is destined to bore the pants off of my friends but provide hours of enjoyment for ME!

          This mammoth toe bone is one of the biggest fossils I've found so far but this season...who knows?  Get me to the candy store!