Eastern Seaboard Roadtrip: Chicago to D.C (featuring Niagara) - October 2018

[digit]

2 minutes ago, jpc said:

I remember the glass flowers at Harvard from my youth. 

Oh, come on now--you're not that old.

 

They are truly remarkable.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Kane]

Thanks for the trip report, Ken (I had the opportunity to read the early release in pink  ). So glad that you and Tammy could come away with so many lovely photos, finds, and memories on quite an extensive, itinerary-laden journey.  

[minnbuckeye]

Great trip report!! Images of fossils, folk, and landscape are wonderful. If this is what retirement is about, BRING IT ON! I only have 29 more days of work left.

 

 Mike 

[digit]

2 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

If this is what retirement is about, BRING IT ON! I only have 29 more days of work left.

Let me be the first to pre-congratulate you. Tick tick tick....It'll be here before you know it.

 

To some people retirement means more time to wear ugly pants and whack a small white ball into a hole with a metal stick. I think you'll find more interesting things to do (with or without the ugly pants).

 

I "dropped out" of the white-collar office job some 21 years ago and took up with an itinerant band of Romani scientists doing coral reef research and have been productively unemployed ever since. My wife Tammy has recently come to her senses and turned in her ID badge for the last time. She's had a very flexible work schedule for the last several years which has facilitated our extensive travels. Now we've nothing stopping us but our imaginations. Our current house and yard require too much continuous maintenance and so we are looking for a simpler abode in the Gainesville area so that I can volunteer more with the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH). Searching for a new house and prepping one for sale is a lot of work but we're not letting that interfere with travels too much.

 

Retirement--it's nice work if you can get it.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Nimravis]

As always, a great trip report and finds.

[Monica]

On 11/4/2018 at 6:36 PM, digit said:

I'm assuming the flat object with the textured surface is likely a bryozoan colony of some sort.

   

 

Hey Ken and Tammy!

 

Great trip report, as always!  We had a wonderful time hosting you for dinner, and collecting with you at Penn Dixie - hopefully you can make it back during the summer one year so we can collect with you once again 

 

As for the specimen pictured above - I think it might be the tabulate coral Alveolites goldfussi.  Aren't the corals at HH amazing?!?!?! 

 

I hope that all is well!  Take care,

 

Monica

[digit]

Tammy and I really enjoyed our time with you and the family. When Viola is setting the world on fire as the next world famous paleontologist, we'll be able to say we knew here when.

 

I assumed that anything (pictured above) with such fine detailed structure would have been a bryozoan but a quick search online for the coral species you mentioned does seem to confirm that it is an interestingly fine polyp colonial coral. Quite different from all of the solitary rugose (horn) corals that dominated that area. It took me some time to even get around writing up the trip report and it will be more time before I get back to cleaning up and organizing the many fossils from this trip. I'm looking forward to cleaning up that small tabulate coral to look at it closer. Always glad to learn something new before lunchtime.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[ynot]

Eppic story (and trip)!

Sounds like You and Tammy had a wonderful visit with many TFF icons.

Oh yeah, lots of nice fossils too!

[deutscheben]

Excellent report as usual, thank you for sharing it with us!

[digit]

My pleasure. Seems we met-up with nearly half the TFF membership on this trip so I figured I'd share it with the rest. It was an epic, complicated, and lengthy trip with lots of moving pieces. We had great fun and accomplished many goals (fossil hunting locations as well as meeting folks I've communicated with through the forum). Next trip will likely be less grandiose (but you never can tell).

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[MarcoSr]

Ken

 

Wow, from your post it looks like you and Tammy had a great trip.  It was great meeting you and Tammy in person.  Mike and I look forward to your return trip to this area.  We will take you to some of our Virginia sites.  I look forward to your post on the micros from Liverpool Point that you found in the matrix.

 

Marco Sr.

[digit]

Tammy and I were amazed at the efforts TFF members put forth to meet us along our roadtrip and make our day with great fossil hunting adventures. Everybody we met, without exception, went beyond in their efforts to show us their favorite fossil hunting locations. This was exemplified by Marco and Mike meeting us early on a frosty morning to trudge through the forest to the shore of the Potomac to hunt for fossils in the Aquia Formation of the Paleocene. Though it seems like everybody is a fossil hunter/collector when reading this forum, I think we are still a very select minority of the general public. We also seem to be a close-knit group who recognizes the same fascination for fossils in others and with this common bond bend over backwards at times to show a fellow fossil enthusiast a good time.

 

Part of the reason for posting these (exceedingly long at times) trip reports is to try to motivate others to contact TFF members in areas where they may be traveling for other purposes or possibly traveling to areas they've always wanted to explore. TFF is an incredibly valuable resource for fossil information but the social aspect is not always played up. Many people think they have legions of friends on social media when in fact most of them wouldn't cross the street to help them. I'd trade a whole phalanx of Facebook friends (if I was on Facebook) for a single TFF "fossil friend" as they are infinitely more valuable. There is nothing comparable to being shown various fossil hunting sites by the folks who live in the area and who hunt the sites regularly. You couldn't pay for such guidance on a good day. I highly encourage anybody who has the means to travel to seek out TFF members and arrange a meet-up if possible. I can say from a couple year's experience of doing so that you will be well rewarded with good times and good friendships.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

P.S.: Already thinking ahead to a return trip to Virginia next year to experience some additional novel sites.

[jcbshark]

Wow Ken, awesome write up and pics  what an excellent trip to meet and hunt with some of the great folks who make TFF what it is! Thanks for sharing even tho it took two sit down reading sessions to finish lol. I think I may be cross eyed after all that on my phone 

[digit]

57 minutes ago, jcbshark said:

I think I may be cross eyed after all that on my phone 

Thanks. Let's hope that doesn't hinder your fossil hunting.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Mediospirifer]

Great write-up! Carl and I enjoyed meeting up with you (and everyone else) at Penn-Dixie and Deep Springs Road. That was a very good weekend!

 

We've finally finished ID-ing our DSR finds, and we started on the Penn-Dixie material last night. I plan to photograph most of our finds, so the more interesting pieces will get posted somewhere, one of these days...

 

Let me know if you ever plan to come back to New York. I'll certainly contact you if we ever manage to make a trip to Florida!

 

[Plantguy]

Hey Ken, looks like you all had a fantastic trip and got to collect with lots of great FF folks. Cool stuff! I really got a chuckle out of the hotel gravel drying pics! You do what you gotta do to bring that stuff home! Congrats on the finds!

 

Regards, Chris 

[Fossildude19]

Great report, Ken.   

Glad I could meet you and Tammy at the DSR get together. 

You guys did pretty well there. 

 

Oh, .. and thanks for the coelacanth picture!  

[masonboro37]

I absolutely enjoyed your epic report and pictures. 

[digit]

Glad you enjoyed your read (and probably a nap or two before getting to the end).

 

Tammy and I enjoy exploring new areas and fossil hunting for different things than we can find back home in Florida. Not only is TFF packed with informative members and a virtual library of their posts but these members actually do really exist in the real world beyond the confines of this forum. It's good to get out and share some time with them in the field. Nothing makes for a better fossil hunting experience than going with local knowledge (especially when they bring fresh baked cookies).

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Tidgy's Dad]

I'm a slow reader. 

This has taken me six weeks, 37 Coke's and 25 cartons of popcorn. 

But it was well worth it. 

I'm glad you gave all those lovely brachiopods the respect they deserve. 

Thanks for posting, a truly epic and wonderful report, love the fact you met so many forum folk and the pictures are great. 

[digit]

4 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

This has taken me six weeks, 37 Coke's and 25 cartons of popcorn. 

Yup. That's about right.

 

We met up with a bunch of folks I'd only typed at previously and it was a real highlight of this trip.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Jeffrey P]

Ken, sorry I forgot to comment previously. Great trip report and wonderful photos as well as excellent finds. It was a pleasure meeting you and Tammy. Getting to collect in such a variety of magnificent sites and meeting so many TFF stalwarts was truly epic. Thanks for sharing the journey with us. 

[Pagurus]

I read your entire travelogue today, Ken. It was an enjoyable and interesting read, just as it was enjoyable and interesting to meet you in person at DSR in New York. Tammy too. It was interesting to learn of Tammy's restaurant. My daughter-in-law grew up working at her parents' Chinese restaurant in Texas. Leila and I enjoyed collecting with both of you. I'm glad you enjoyed your time in Massachusetts too. Walden pond has always had special meaning to me, and that glass exhibit at the Harvard museum is amazing, isn't it. Even my 4-year-old grandson enjoyed it. You sure had quite a trip! Thanks for sharing it. 

[Malcolmt]

For some reason I also decided to reread this epic post today and I am reminded of some wonderful collecting days with you and Tammy. As we are about to enter into another collecting season I look forward to meeting up with more Fossil Forum members in the coming season. Send me a PM if you are going to be in the neighbourhood. 

[digit]

Anything worth doing is worth doing epically!

 

I encourage other TFF members to contact Malcolm by PM if they are thinking about traveling to his area. There is no better way to experience new fossil hunting opportunities than to have a local guide to show you the ropes (and the fossils).

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken