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For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by the world of prehistory. One of my first books was called 'I can name 100 Dinosaurs', a cardboard picture book with outdated art and simple wording; from the moment I understood what I was looking at, I was obsessed. T-shirts, toys, movies, the reptiles of the Mesozoic were my childhood, as I'm sure many here can identify with. While I was enamored by the animals and the world they came from, I didn't have an interest in fossils until my early teen years due to lack of real exposure to them. I grew up in coastal California, far from the well-known fossil sites of the state. Fossils existed as more of a concept in my mind than a tangible reality, much like the dinosaurs themselves. This changed when I was visiting my Grandparents in Florida, and on a whim the family decided to stop by the famed 'Shark Tooth Beach' along the gulf coast. The experience was absolutely magical, The sifting sand to reveal shark and ray teeth from animals that had died so long ago I could barely comprehend it felt amazing, and I soon held a new appreciation for both how uniquely fascinating fossils are and that anyone had the ability to collect and enjoy them, not just the paleontologists and museum researchers. Fast forward to my high school graduation: I'd been collecting small fossils over the years (mostly aquatic specimens like shark teeth, ammonites, crinoid stems, bryozoans, orthoceras, etc.), but the initial drive to collect had waned, even if my appreciation for the fossils themselves hadn't. After my graduation I went on a celebratory trip my parents had arranged, which included a tour of the Hell Creek formation in North Dakota. I was able to work on an active Triceratops dig site and unearthed Trike rib fragments with my bare hands. Being quite possibly the first living thing to come into contact with this animal since its remains were buried was a spiritual experience, never had I felt more connected to nature and it instilled yet another layer of admiration and respect for what I had once written off as an irrelevant curiosity. While at the base camp of the dig team, I was able to purchase a Nanotyrannus tooth (or juvenile Tyrannosaurus, I'm waiting till the question of Nano's validity to be fully decided before I put a label on it, so at the moment it's Shrödinger's Genus) and it has become easily my most prized possession: feeling the preserved serrations along the tooth's edge never ceases to bring back that feeling of connectedness to the earth and its inhabitants, past and present. Cut to late 2021: Still collecting small fossils occasionally but losing the drive to do so. Then I learn that my grandparents' health is declining, and my parents and I decide we need to move closer to them to help take a more active role in their life and care. January 2022 rolls around. My dad flies from Cali to Florida a month early to begin his new job while my mom and our geriatric dog wrap up affairs in my home state and take the car across the country in a road trip that would last over two weeks in total. The first leg of the journey found us in Arizona, and I wanted to visit the Petrified Forest National Park while we were there. Thankfully it was on our way, so we made plans to detour there. Along the way we saw signs for a rock shop selling petrified wood specimens and we stopped to look. What I wasn't prepared for was the sheer size of the place and the array of not only petrified wood and crystals in more colors or shapes than I can count, but the entire section of the place dedicated to fossils of all shapes and sizes! I was over the moon, not all of the items on offer were museum quality specimens of course, but it was enough to re-ignite the fascination with the prehistoric that had cooled since my childhood. I walked out of that shop with a lovely trilobite (Gerastos Granulosus) specimen and a determination: I wouldn't let the passion die out this time. I was moving to a place I knew from my own experiences had fossils, and I was going to use that to the full. Then I began looking into the Florida fossil scene and found out I was moving within 90 minutes' driving distance to Peace River, a fossil hunting hotspot known for its plentiful ice age specimens! Cut to present: the road trip ended the day of writing this and I'm sitting up thinking of possibilities in my near future. I'm mainly joining this forum out of curiosity and because I like discussion of shared interests but I'd also love to hear any and all fossil hunting advice y'all would be willing to share. I look forward to getting to know the members of the forum, thank you for reading!

My son got a spot on the local news feed with our tooth find.

Halloween is coming up soon so lets share our fossil related horror stories! They can range from Preparation accidents, missed opportunities, breaking specimens, close encounters with a dangerous animal hunting, near death experiences, or even receiving a fossil from an old haunted collection, pretty much anything a hunter and collector would find horrifying. One of my personal fossil horror stories involves a a terrifying bump in the night! I had recent found and started a to use a new plastic shelf I found to store my finds from a recent new spot. I started to notice a few days in the shelf was already nearly filled to capacity, so I decided I would add no more after today's load. Sometime after mid-night I heard a sudden loud bang and woke up to the plastic shelf tipping over forward, one of the support wheels had poped out! Luckily the shock awakened my superhuman reflexes of seeing my fossils in danger so I leapt up and was able to save the shelf from crashing down. I was shaken but since then stabilized the shelf, it was truly horrifying to see that moment when my fossils could've been severely damaged or destroyed

Prehistoric Planet, a land lost in time. Multi-millionaire Dennis Cooper has been researching the Bermuda triangle for years, then he finally realizes where the different ships and planes have disappeared to; they have been sent back in time. After years of work, he finally accomplishes his dream, a time portal that leads to the age of Dinosaurs. Cooper has set up base on an island, he calls it, “Prehistoric Planet” but only known to the Public as “Project X”. After years of research, and all the latest technology, something has gone terribly wrong. Someone inside Prehistoric Planet is pulling some dangerous strings, and it’s only a matter of time before the time portal closes, forever... (Excerpt from Prehistoric Planet) Jonathan has noticed that the climate is slightly warmer, and more humid than before the flash occurred, but maybe it was side effects from whatever had just happened. The boat finally comes to a complete stop beside the dock, and they begin to unload. As they get off the boat, Dennis points out a gas powered jeep, “We will be riding in those” He said Jonathan looks in the direction Dennis is pointing, the jeeps are light brown in color with designs of leaves and trees around the edges. Inside, the seats are covered in water proof leather, six seats in all. Jonathan glances around the car, it has state of the art technology, and bumper to bumper it is covered in many electronic devices that he has never seen before. He sees the Jeep has an automatic shift, with a touch screen between the drivers and passenger seat, and in some of the pockets he can see multiple field guides. He takes a closer look at the books, and notices they are field guides to dinosaurs, prehistoric animals and plants, and prehistoric environments. He flips through one of the books, they are full of notes jotted down, it looks like they are correcting the books in some way. But why would they need to correct these books, it was all rather odd to Jonathan. Jonathan continues to inspect the car, and his eyes are drawn to the large off-road tires, “Wow” he said in shock, he’s never seen such off-road tires before, they look like they could be used for virtually every kind of environment the Earth would have to offer. Jonathan especially impressed with how strong the metal was on the outside of the car, it felt like titanium, and yet, the two inches of titanium had dents in it. Jonathan looks at the dents, trying to figure out what could have caused them. Lex and Dennis are already in the car, beckoning him to join them. Jonathan hops into the car and takes a seat beside Lex in the back of the jeep; a pair of binoculars hangs from the seat in front of him. He looks at Lex, who is looking behind her; a sleek metal case sits comfortably in the trunk, it is covered in several warning labels. She looks at the driver in confusion, whose face is covered in freckles, and his red hair can be seen sticking out of the edges of his Atlanta Braves baseball cap. She taps him on the shoulder, and he looks at her through a pair of dark sunglasses, “What’s this?” asked Lex, gesturing to the box “That”, said the driver over his shoulder “is a tranquilizer gun” “What’s it for?” “Protection” he said with a smile Jonathan looks back at the case with the tranquilizer inside, he notices one of the labels says that it contains wildnil, a fluid used to sedate animals as large as elephants, but the dosage listed on the label is almost twice as much. Jonathan continues looking at the label in confusion, what kind of animal needs that much wildnil? The cars continue to drive along the dirt road that leads into the jungle. Lex looks around; this jungle is much different from jungles she has seen in the past. Her grandfather had taken her too many jungles around the world, yet she didn’t recognize many of these plants. The Island had a tropical environment, with lots of exotic plants. The jungle was alive with sound, hoots and squeals from different animals, she has even noticed in some places steam is simply raising from the ground. “Why is there steam coming out of the ground in some places?” asked Lex “Ahh yes, the Island is Volcanic” Said Dennis, “This part of the island has some steam vents, but other parts have more steam, and a few geysers” “Volcanic?” Said Jonathan in worry “Don’t worry”, Said Dennis calmly, “The volcano hasn’t been active in a couple hundred years, there’s nothing to worry about” The cars continued along the dirt path that seemed to cut right into the jungle, Jonathan can see that the road has been cut as level as possible, and covered nicely with a layer of gravel, the ride is still quite bumpy. Now I know why they needed those tires, thought Jonathan with a smile. “Take us to the prairie” Dennis said to the driver, “There should still be some there” what should be there? “So where exactly are we?” asks Jonathan “You’ll see soon enough” Dennis replies with a smile. The jeep continued along a path, and then took a right turn. The climate has begun to change a little since they first arrived, a majority of the island was tropical, but now it was changing to a more savanna like ecology. The trees were becoming more spread apart, and they could see the open grassland just beyond the trees. As they drove through the last of the trees and into the grassland, the car slowed to a stop. Jonathan looks around, the grassland stretches for miles, and in the distance he can see mountains, covered in a heavy fog. To the east, rising above the palm trees, Jonathan noticed a single trunk with no leaves, just an enormous, twisted trunk. Then the stump began to move, and then it twisted around to face the new arrivals. They realized they were looking at the long, curving neck of an enormous animal, rising fifty feet into the air. They were looking at a Dinosaur. - - - - - “Wow” Lex said softly the first thought that occurred to her was how beautiful and extraordinary the creature was. Dinosaurs were normally portrayed as dumpy, frightening animals, but this long-necked animal had gracefulness in all its movements. The sauropod peered alertly at them and made a low moaning sound, rather like a whale. As if in reply, more heads appeared above the treetops, a third, and then a fourth! The animals were huge! Big as a house! The Dinosaurs continued to graze amongst the tree tops, and with their long, moaning cries. Jonathan began to laugh “What is it?” asked Dennis in worry, “Is something wrong?” Jonathan just shook his head; he was astonished by the fact that he was actually seeing a dinosaur. He was still laughing when a fifth and a sixth head rose above the trees. The Sauropods watched the people arrive; they reminded Jonathan of oversized cows. They had the same pleasant, rather clueless gaze, and stood there, grazing in the trees. From the distance, they heard their long, graceful calls again, echoing through the air. “There beautiful” whispered Lex One of the juvenile Sauropods approaches them cautiously, gazing at them through its large brown eyes. Jonathan is amazed at the size, even though it is still an infant, it towers above them, and Jonathan estimates the height to be about twelve feet tall. It makes a short trumpeting cry as it continues to inspect the humans. One of the adult dinosaurs replies, beckoning it back to the herd. The young sauropod glances at them one more time, then slowly, but gracefully, lumbered back towards the herd. Lex watched as the adults gently welcomed the juvenile back with nudges and sniffs. Johnson quickly made his way towards Lex and Jonathan, “Guys, we should probably proceed to the compound” “Yes, it’s about time” The group climbs back into the Jeep as it begins to drive back into the jungle. Lex and Jonathan continue to watch the dinosaurs, until they can see them no more. Jonathan looks up as the jeep passes under a large, steel archway with bold letters that read, “Prehistoric Planet”

Has anyone told their spouse to expect bones in the mail before? Has anyone's spouse found that disturbing at first? I could hear the apprehension in my wife's voice. You think she'd expect that by now. This was regarding my purchase of a fellow's lifetime collection of ice age mammal bones from the Kansas river on ebay. I don't think my wife is as excited to receive it as I am. Anywise, I was just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience. Www.treasurehuntingtrucker.WordPress.com