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Amazing road trip! Spectacular scenery and finds. Wow! You covered such a wide area. Some of those sites I hope to visit someday. Thanks for giving me a preview. Must of been a blast for the two of you. 

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Thanks for a wonderful description,  and photos of your trip!

For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun.
-Aldo Leopold
 

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On 7/11/2020 at 7:04 AM, Monica said:

I will say, however, that your stop to look for sapphires at Philipsburg looks particularly interesting - are you going to get the stones cut properly at some point?

Thank you for the kind words Monica. 

 

As far as the sapphires go I told my wife we could send out whatever she wants for heat treatment (to bring out the color, takes 2 weeks) and facetting (6-9 months) once we get through the remaining matrix. Then we can design a piece or two (or more?) for her to wear them on.  Hopefully there's a really big sapphire hiding in our remaining matrix.  We purchased 4 buckets. The pic shows what we found in the 2 we searched at the mine.

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On 7/11/2020 at 4:00 PM, jpc said:

I am a bit sad you did not stop by the Tate Museum in Casper.  You were only 40 minutes away at Hell's Half Acre.  I would have shown you around. 

 

I wish we had stopped too. To be honest once our plans blew up from COVID, I was scrambling to find and rearrange places to stay and things we could safely do. I would have loved the opportunity to get a guided tour.

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What a great trip!!! Your report is praise worthy :) I'll have to go back through and make some locale notes (if I ever get a chance to visit them)

 

On my list would be Oklahoma trilobites (my favorite fossil), the fish, and the site with the crystals for sure. Don't specialize in ammonites or such but with the crystals, wow (and will have to keep an eye on the auctions if you put up any)

 

And if I include the sapphire site maybe wife would let me go ;)

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Great trip report!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It looks like things improved after your first stop. LOL  I am IMPRESSED that you chose  to visit one of our famous local sites instead of Tate Museum. It shows the class that you and your wife have. Spam is almost as tasty as those greasy cheese curds that teased your taste buds. I am heading to Wyoming on Thursday and will be trying to DIG in the Blue Forest for a larger piece of wood. Wish me LUCK. If ever traversing our countryside again, let me know. 

 

    Mike

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12 hours ago, RandyB said:

I wish we had stopped too. To be honest once our plans blew up from COVID, I was scrambling to find and rearrange places to stay and things we could safely do. I would have loved the opportunity to get a guided tour.

No problem... sometimes (most times) you just can't do it all.  

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1 hour ago, minnbuckeye said:

I am heading to Wyoming on Thursday and will be trying to DIG in the Blue Forest for a larger piece of wood. Wish me LUCK. If ever traversing our countryside again, let me know. 

 

    Mike

 

Wishing you the best of luck Mike, I would have loved to have more time to search there but we only had 1 afternoon and the weather caught up with us. I am still hoping to get a nice display piece from there one of these years.

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@RandyBthis was an excellent report! Thank-you for sharing your experience with us. I am happy that you and your wife enjoyed such a fantastic trip! Great pics as well.:thumbsu:

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

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  • 2 months later...
23 hours ago, flyingpenut said:

Im sure it is almost impossible to say but if you had to choose what was your favorite spot? 

@flyingpenut That's a tough question as I liked different places for different reasons, so I will narrow it to 4;

     -     Fennimore Wisconsin was great because I found my first complete Ordovician trilo, but mostly because my wife and I got to meet up with a fellow forum member @minnbuckeye to spend a fun afternoon chatting and sharing knowledge while banging rocks.

     -     Glendive Montana was a pleasant surprise because I had no expectations going in as the dino trip we were supposed to go on got cancelled so we had to find something to do.  After reading what I could find it was still a matter of driving out somewhere I had never been, go for a hike off a gravel road in the middle of nowhere and get lucky enough to find lots of great ammonites and baculites which I had never had the opportunity to collect

     -     Kemmerer Wyoming was another "opportunity".  I did a multi day split fish dig a few years ago so this trip I really wanted to experience a night dig in the 18" layer.  I had booked a night dig well in advance and the company backed out the day we drove into Kemmerer.  Then we got several inches of snow overnight which closed the split fish quarry we were heading to as some of our hardier forum members experienced first hand camping out at a dig site.  Luckily I met up with a local while browsing the fossil shops in town who was very friendly and knowledgeable with access to a claim.  Most importantly he was willing to take me out for a night dig on his claim with a guarantee of 1 "large" fish from the 18" layer for my trouble. In reality I came home with many fish including multiple plates with multiple fish/species, plants and insects as well as my "large" diplo that is still sitting in my basement mocking me until I have time to prep it.

     -     And finally there was our day in Oklahoma hunting with Leon Theisen.  Leon is an incredibly knowledgeable fossil hunter/prepper who loves to share stories and information while you dig at a site that is completely loaded with amazing fossils.  What was supposed to be a half day at his quarry became a full day where we looked up and realized we had been hunting for 9 hours straight and would have willingly kept going.

 

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