Let's Waltz Across Texas

[mikecable]

I don't leave until 3 am Saturday morning and I'm chomping on the bit. So what the heck--I'll start the field trip report before I've even put the car into drive. The Crockett Formation--Stone City and Cook Mountain. Can we say the Brazos River and Whiskey Bridge. The Little Brazos. The Big Brazos--she still runs muddy. She runs muddy up here in Hawley, so I'm sure she hasn't cleared much that far south.

Then on to the Waco Research Pit and Spillway. Meet up with Erose again, and JohnJ for the first time. Then on to my old stomping grounds--Austin. See some old friends and hunt some fossils with new friends.

Terry Allen

Amarillo Highway

I’m a high straight in Plainview
A side bet in Idalou
An’ a fresh deck in New Deal
Yeah, Some call me high hand
And some call me low hand
But I’m holdin’ what I am…The Wheel

(chorus)
I’m panhandlin’, man handlin’
Post holin’, high rollin’, dust bowlin’…daddy
An’ I ain’t got no blood in my veins
I just got them four lanes
Of hard…Amarillo Highway

I don’t wear no Stetson
But I’m willin’ to bet son
That I’m as big a Texan as you are

There’s a girl in her bare feet
Asleep on the back seat
And that trunk is full of Pearl beer and Lone Star

(chorus)
I’m panhandlin’, man handlin’
Post holin’, high rollin’, dust bowlin’…daddy
An’ I ain’t got no blood in my veins
I just got them four lanes
Of hard…Amarillo Highway

Gonna hop outta bed, Pop a pill in my head
Bust the Hub for the Golden Spread
Under blue skies, gonna stuff my hide
Behind some power glide
An get some southern fried…back in my eyes

(chorus)
I’m panhandlin’, man handlin’
Post holin’, high rollin’, dust bowlin’…daddy
An’ I ain’t got no blood in my veins
I just got them four lanes
Of hard…Amarillo Highway

An’ close I’ll ever get to heaven
Is makin’ speed up ol’ 87
Of that hard Amarillo Highway

Lord have mercy, I love me some Texas.

[erose]

And it;s gonna be HOT too. Second day this year I've seen it over 100 here at my house.

[mikecable]

And it;s gonna be HOT too. Second day this year I've seen it over 100 here at my house.

110 is hot. 100 is just summer time. This ain't Ohio. Bring some water and bring it on.

[mikecable]

I can't sleep. Snuck in a couple of hours between 8 and 10 pm. Glad I slept in this morning. I love driving Texas, especially at night, but it's going to be a long lonely haul to Bryan. While Gary and I will be caravaning, we have to take separate cars since I'm spending next week in Austin. First stop--Comanche. The town was named for the native American tribe, but the Comanchean period was named after the town. I hope there's someplace open for a cup of joe, but I have my doubts. Then if my back is holding up we'll try to run straight to Temple. Being on I35 we should be able to get a cup of coffee at least. Then a short hop to Bryan and the Brazos. The sun will be have been up for an hour by then--but the temperature is supposed to drop into the mid 60s tonight, with a high tomorrow of 91 degrees--should be pleasant. No rain in the forecast, and the river is at 7.25 feet, which is about as low as it gets. If Texas were a country unto itself, it would be the 40th largest in the world, just behind Chile. We'll drive half the night and only cross a small part of it.

Joe Ely--The West Texas Waltz

When you're ready or steady,
To go dancin', romancin',
Grab your sweetheart and jump in your car.
Drive right on down,
To the bright side of town
You'll be glad you don't have to drive far.
You'll be happy you don't have to go far.

Park your pick-ups and Cadillacs, Fords and Renaults.
Get out and dance like the dickens to the West Texas Waltz.

My pickup needs a tune-up,
I better get up and make up,
My mind to get on it today.
The tractor's been actin' up,
And the sewer lines are backin' up,
But I'll be dancin' tonight anyway.
I'll go dancin' tonight anyway.

'Cause I count my blessings, I don't count my faults.
I like to dance like the dickens to the West Texas Waltz.

Well I found a young cow-dog,
An' I told him: "Now, now dog,
"You're a borderline Collie, I'm a borderline fool."
But he had some bad habits,
He was scared of jack rabbits.
I sent him off to canine school.
I think they call it obedience school.

When he came back, he couldn't tell a cow from a horse,
But he could dance like the dickens to the West Texas Waltz.

Grandmammy, grandpappy,
If you wanna stay happy,
Better lace up your best dancin' shoes.
Come see us, don't write us.
You can stop your arthritis,
Just by dancin' away your blues.
Now just by dancin' away your blues.

So bind up your bunnions with band-aids and gauze,
And come dance like the dickens to the West Texas Waltz.
Oh yeah.

I met a fine lady banker,
And I'd sure like to thank her,
For the credit she gave me made me shout.
She changed my whole attitude,
And to show her a little gratitude,
I decided I'd just ask her out.
Yeah, I thought I just might ask her out.

I said close up your windows, and lock up your vaults,
And lets go dance like the dickens to the West Texas Waltz.

We spent the next to last dollar,
At the old ice cream parlor,
On a milkshake and a malt and a pop.
And then we heard us some sounds,
Was a ###### tonk lounge,
Next door to the ice cream shop.
Next door to the ice cream shop.

Now only two things are better than milkshakes and malts,
And one is dancin' like the dickens to the West Texas Waltz.

And the other is somethin',
But really it's nothin',
To speak of, it's somethin' to do.
If you've done it before,
You'll be doin' it some more,
Just as soon as the dancin' is through.
Right after the dancin' is through.

And if anybody asks you why, just tell 'em because,
You been dancin' like the dickens to the West Texas Waltz.

[JohnJ]

Ummm....Mike...you don't need a cup of coffee.

Good hunting tomorrow. I would focus on the shell hash lenses and wander downstream along the water line.

[mikecable]

Ummm....Mike...you don't need a cup of coffee.

Good hunting tomorrow. I would focus on the shell hash lenses and wander downstream along the water line.

Glad I'm not the only one with insomnia. Looking forward to meeting you at the Pit on Sunday.

[JohnJ]

Likewise. Y'all take care in the Eocene tomorrow.

[Nandomas]

Let us know about your finds

Nando

[erose]

OK I'm awake now as well... And Mike, you're right this ain't Ohio and hot is a relative term. But the pit gets warm in a big bowl-kinda-soupy-way. Have fun today on the Brazos. See you tomorrow.

[claire01]

Lol, sounds like fun. Looking forward to hearing more about this adventure: )

[Plantguy]

Mike, This entertaining beginning of a thread already has me wanting to see more of Texas and get out there with you all! Congrats in advance! Regards, Chris

[mikecable]

Home again. I love being on the road, but I love getting home as well. In a Taoist kind of way I think this might just mean I'm getting my act together. I finally got to take fossils out of the trunk of the car and actually look at them, clean them up a bit, and photograph them.

A quick recap--Gary and I left last Saturday for Bryan-Whiskey Bridge on the Brazos. We hunted there, talked to both old and new friends, and prayed for Brent and Derek. Then we hightailed it to Waco, and spent a few hours hunting the Waco Pit with a new friend Tess. We slept like dead men, and the next morning we headed back to the pit to hunt the spillway gorge and the pit. We were waiting for JohnJ and Erose when the deluge started. We all got happily muddy (and found a few fossils).

Gary had to head back to Abilene, to make his way to New Mexico. I made it to Austin for a five day teacher workshop on Engineering by Design. On Wednesday I managed to meet with Erich again, and we hit the Walnut near his home.

The Walnut is growing near and dear to my heart, largely because it's near. Erich had a mission of finding a certain foram described by Dr. Ann Molineux as being an index fossil for the Walnut. He found a slumped block of matrix covered with them. Here are a few pics.

The small cone-shaped foraminiferas are Dictyoconus walnutenisis. They are about 1-2 mm. They serve as an index fossil to differentiate the Walnut from the Glen Rose. I'm not sure if they separate the Walnut from the Comanche.

Edited June 16, 2013 by mikecable

[Uncle Siphuncle]

sounds like yall had some splendid times afield. i took some time to collect and reflect on life this week as well. when my mind gets lost in fossils, every time i snap back to the reality of my buddy brent being gone, its like a fresh punch in the face. but life will get better, i'll accept what i can't change, and i'll laugh about brent's legendary and outragious escapades with friends as soon as i can.

the austin chalk and glen rose formation were forthcoming with quality echinoids this week. my wife and i got an invite from a construction supervisor to visit a fenced pit in the eagle ford/atco contact zone, and had a blast doing that this morning. we got a few eagle ford ammonites, a few ptychodus mortoni teeth, and our new friend found a nice mecaster batnensis echinoid. i gave him a nice mortoniceras and eopachydiscus ammonite for his magnanimous offer, and taught him what i know about the geology, faunal diversity, paleobathymetry, and collecting tips for his site.

on the way home we were back in the glen rose fm at a site that has rec'd good rain since last visit. i gave the wifey the hottest zone, and she stole the show with the biggest and best preserved leptosalenia texana anyone could ever hope for.

fossil hunting is great therapy. but its a bit weird when your therapy and source of pain are intertwined.

[JohnJ]

Nice photos, Mike. I'm not familiar with that foram. I'll have to quiz Erich more about it.

[Coco]

fossil hunting is great therapy. but its a bit weird when your therapy and source of pain are intertwined.

I agree with you, Dan.

I began to sort out the sediment which I brought back of our last search with Greg, the sediment is on my table, next to me, I look at it, but at the moment I have difficulty sorting out fossils, simply because I know that Greg also sorted out this sediment every evening, after his job.

But we must to live with that ! And surmount the test, even if it is very hard and even if that will ask a lot of time.

Mikecabe : nice foraminiferas.

Coco

[mikecable]

My favorite fossils from this particular stop on my journey are the D. walnutenisis. I love micros, especially when I can nail down an ID and they prove to be index fossils. But I found a few other nice bits that were new to me and my explorations in the Walnut Clay.

Nerinea quadrlineata is a very delicate, small gastropod. It is extremely thin relative to its length, so it is difficult to find anything other than fragments, at least in my experience. I was very happy with this small plate, which has at least five examples of the species, with four of them being relatively complete.

Here is a Loriolia sp? in matrix. I've yet to find a Loriolia in our local Walnut Clay in Taylor and Callahan counties. So this was a new genus for me in this formation. Erich is convinced there may be more than one species of Loriolia present in the Walnut.

This time it's a two for one special. I didn't even notice the second, slightly out of focus Loriolia until I was editing the photos. I want to prep these two out some, but leave them in the matrix.

[Auspex]

...nerinia1.JPG

Nerinea quadrlineata is a very delicate, small gastropod. It is extremely thin relative to its length, so it is difficult to find anything other than fragments, at least in my experience. I was very happy with this small plate, which has at least five examples of the species, with four of them being relatively complete...

Nice bouquet of the elegant little snails.

[mikecable]

A final few beasties from the Walnut.

A quintet of echinoids--probably Loriola sp?

This small trace fossil reminds me of a tribal tattoo.

This one pleased me. I'd found P. globularis in the Glen Rose, but had yet to find one myself in the Walnut. I knew they were supposed to be there. I'd even witnessed one being pulled out of the Walnut. I led a small educator field trip to the Walnut very close to this site, and Dr. Carolyn Hahn Schroeder of Texas A & M found one. But this is the first one out of the Walnut for me.

Next stop--the Waco Pit.

[mikecable]

Nice photos, Mike. I'm not familiar with that foram. I'll have to quiz Erich more about it.

Had a great time--mud and all. I'm processing the mud from your knee pads as I write this. Three pounds worth. I'm sure it will relinquish a few wee beasties.

[mikecable]

Time to get back to the waltz. I live as close to the Panhandle as I do to the Hill Country. I love it all, but this song is more about the part of Texas I come from.

Levelland--James McMurtry

Flatter than a tabletop
Makes you wonder why they stopped here
Wagon must have lost a wheel or they lacked ambition one
On the great migration west
Separated from the rest
Though they might have tried their best
They never caught the sun
So they sunk some roots down in the dirt
To keep from blowin' off the earth
Built a town around here
And when the dust had all but cleared
They called it Levelland, the pride of man
In Levelland

Granddad grew the dryland wheat
Stood on his own two feet
His mind got incomplete and they put in the home
Daddy's cotton grows so high
Sucks the water table dry
Rolling sprinklers circle round
Bleedin' it to the bone
And I won't be here when it comes a day
It all dries up and blows away
I'd hang around just to see
But they never had much use for me in Levelland
They don't understand me out in Levelland

And I watch those jet trails carving up that big blue sky
Coast to coasters watch 'em go
And I never would blame 'em one snarge bit
If they never looked down on this
Not much here they'd wanna know
Just Levelland
Far as you can point your hand
Nothin' but Levelland

Mama used to roll her hair
Back before the central air
We'd sit outside and watch the stars at night
She'd tell me to make a wish
I'd wish we both could fly
Don't think she's seen the sky
Since we got the satellite dish and
I can hear the marching band
Doin' the best they can
They're playing "Smoke on the Water", "Joy to the World"
I've paid off all my debts
Got some change left over yet and I'm
Gettin' on a whisper jet
I'm gonna fly as far as I can get from
Levelland, doin' the best I can
Out in Levelland - imagine that

[erose]

Great photos. So now I have to look hard at the Loriolia species that may be present. I will get back to you on this. And FYI Serpula, or these various "serpulids" are actually body fossils. They are technically not trace fossils. But this gets twisty as someone of the academic sort recently pointed out that our common Texas stein kerns are considered trace fossils since there is no shell.

[mikecable]

Great photos. So now I have to look hard at the Loriolia species that may be present. I will get back to you on this. And FYI Serpula, or these various "serpulids" are actually body fossils. They are technically not trace fossils. But this gets twisty as someone of the academic sort recently pointed out that our common Texas stein kerns are considered trace fossils since there is no shell.

Well gawdang me. You just keep making things complicated. What's your best guess on the Loriolia? And the wormy, squirmy bits fascinate me. This is definitely different from what I find up here in Callahan county.

Thanks for the props on the photos. That's one of the skills I'm working on. All with a FujiFilm FinePix on Supermacro setting, using a copy stand and delayed shutter.

[mikecable]

Great photos. So now I have to look hard at the Loriolia species that may be present. I will get back to you on this. And FYI Serpula, or these various "serpulids" are actually body fossils. They are technically not trace fossils. But this gets twisty as someone of the academic sort recently pointed out that our common Texas stein kerns are considered trace fossils since there is no shell.

Some of those who wear academic hats have the screws too tight. You and I, on the other hand, look good in Optivisors.

[erose]

Ok, here is what I have on Loriolia.

Akers & Akers, 1987 list L. rosana Cooke as a Glen Rose species, L. texana (Clark) in the Walnut and Comanche Peak and L. whitneyi (Ikins) as occurring in the Walnut.

Finsley, 1996, list L. texana (Clark) as a Trinity and Fredericksburg Group species and L. rosana Cooke as an "especially Glen Rose" species.

Smith and Rader, 2009, in their paper on GR echinoids only discuss L. rosana occurring in the GR and the Comanche Peak. They put L. texana in synonymy with L. rosana.

I have L. rosanas from the Glen Rose that look exactly like the Loriolias I find in the Bee Cave Member of the Walnut here in Austin. But I also have many smaller specimens without the apical elongation that match L. whitneyi best. But L. rosana can have a lot of variation and the apical scar can be closer to round.

So in a nutshell I think the Loriolias from the Bee Cave Member are L. rosana Cooke (= L. texana) and/or L. whitneyi.

Once again all of us Texas echinoid enthusiasts are in dire need of a new and comprehensive ID reference that sorts out what is currently known and has good diagnostic descriptions and plates. sigh...

Edited June 17, 2013 by erose

[mikecable]

Ok, here is what I have on Loriolia.

Akers & Akers, 1987 list L. rosana Cooke as a Glen Rose species, L. texana (Clark) in the Walnut and Comanche Peak and L. whitneyi (Ikins) as occurring in the Walnut.

Finsley, 1996, list L. texana (Clark) as a Trinity and Fredericksburg Group species and L. rosana Cooke as an "especially Glen Rose" species.

Smith and Rader, 2009, in their paper on GR echinoids only discuss L. rosana occurring in the GR and the Comanche Peak. They put L. texana in synonymy with L. rosana.

I have L. rosanas from the Glen Rose that look exactly like the Loriolias I find in the Bee Cave Member of the Walnut here in Austin. But I also have many smaller specimens without the apical elongation that match L. whitneyi best. But L. rosana can have a lot of variation and the apical scar can be closer to round.

So in a nutshell I think the Loriolias from the Bee Cave Member are L. rosana Cooke (= L. texana) and/or L. whitneyi.

Once again all of us Texas echinoid enthusiasts are in dire need of a new and comprehensive ID reference that sorts out what is currently known and has good diagnostic descriptions and plates. sigh...

That's a lot of help. It might be up to you and Dan (and perhaps Gary and I) to sort this mess out. I'll gladly lay the job on your doorstep. LOL.