Post by herchenx on Jun 23, 2015 11:49:46 GMT -5
Here's the slideshow for the trip:
plus.google.com/101841476198676228439/stories/30f9f4ee-80d4-3348-98d9-4ab7087a024c14e167547b3?authkey=CMCb8oGF37yfFg
Roland (rockroller) and I headed out Friday last about 6:30 PM and made for Fairburn, SD where the second annual Agate Show was in town. The show was "ok" - I felt like it was equal parts good folks and unsavory folks, and as much price gouging and questionable sales practices.
I did see a good friend and local rockhound Wayne Shortridge and his wife Beverly at the show, which was good. There were a lot of Fairburns but as I mentioned there was a lot of fishyness in the sales so I didn't end up buying anything.
We stayed the night in Hot Springs, SD on the way up. We called as we got close to town and started seeing a massive storm system and hearing warnings on the radio for the Fairburn area. We couldn't find any rooms, though, and had to settle for a recently flooded "smoking" room at one of the hotels. They hadn't rented it because it was in such bad shape, but did us a favor and let us have it. The room was full of bugs and stunk to high heaven, but we stayed dry. They should have given us a big discount on the room, which given the circumstances was my only real complaint.
We found the reason that the rooms were all taken was that the Ms. Teen, SD pagaent was in town that weekend. The town is very nice and the pageant gave off a bit of a "Waiting for Guffman" vibe.
The next morning we headed toward Fairburn and stopped nearby so I could say hi to my friend Andrew from church. He is a timber framer and is spending the summer camping on a property while he builds a 6000 SF timber frame house for some wealthy guy, overlooking Custer State Park. It looks like it will be awesome when it is done.
Andrew followed us into the hunting area and hunted near the Kern beds with us for a couple hours.
We met up with my buddy Nate, who is a pretty serious Fairburn collector and who had been camping in the French Creek campground since Wednesday. French Creek had been flooded all week from the storms, but the entire area was lush and green. It was the prettiest I've seen the badlands. On the way in we saw a massive herd of American Bison, which I always enjoy.
We stopped into Fairburn around lunch and were there for an hour or so, then headed back to the French Creek Campground. I decided to give my new (used) truck a go at the flooded creek and plunged it headlong into the creek. I wish I'd had photos of the creek and my crossing, because it was pretty fun. I'd wager the creek was around 4 feet deep, and the truck handled it deftly, along with the mile or so of really gnarly road into the Kern Beds.
We hunted a few hours, with no shortage of rocks to look at, but didn't find any Fairburns. I have yet to find a "real" Fairburn but the hunt is fun and there are abundant alternatives to collect, which both Roland and I did.
We crossed the creek again, and said farewell to Nate and Wayne in Fairburn, and then headed toward home. We had a pretty intense hankering for steak so we stopped at Wooly's in Hot Springs. I had the prime rib and it was fantastic. Roland was less happy with his ribeye, but we were full and ready to head for home when we got the bill. While we waited for dinner a monster storm came over and hailed pretty hard for about 15 minutes. I didn't get a close-up but some of the hail was ping-pong sized.
We pulled back into Fort Collins about 2 am. I was pretty exhausted but we did have a really great time. I don't take for granted how blessed I am to live where I do, and to have the resources and time to get out and do what I can. I also count myself blessed for the friends I am able to spend time with, and I am glad to count Roland among them.
plus.google.com/101841476198676228439/stories/30f9f4ee-80d4-3348-98d9-4ab7087a024c14e167547b3?authkey=CMCb8oGF37yfFg
Roland (rockroller) and I headed out Friday last about 6:30 PM and made for Fairburn, SD where the second annual Agate Show was in town. The show was "ok" - I felt like it was equal parts good folks and unsavory folks, and as much price gouging and questionable sales practices.
I did see a good friend and local rockhound Wayne Shortridge and his wife Beverly at the show, which was good. There were a lot of Fairburns but as I mentioned there was a lot of fishyness in the sales so I didn't end up buying anything.
We stayed the night in Hot Springs, SD on the way up. We called as we got close to town and started seeing a massive storm system and hearing warnings on the radio for the Fairburn area. We couldn't find any rooms, though, and had to settle for a recently flooded "smoking" room at one of the hotels. They hadn't rented it because it was in such bad shape, but did us a favor and let us have it. The room was full of bugs and stunk to high heaven, but we stayed dry. They should have given us a big discount on the room, which given the circumstances was my only real complaint.
We found the reason that the rooms were all taken was that the Ms. Teen, SD pagaent was in town that weekend. The town is very nice and the pageant gave off a bit of a "Waiting for Guffman" vibe.
The next morning we headed toward Fairburn and stopped nearby so I could say hi to my friend Andrew from church. He is a timber framer and is spending the summer camping on a property while he builds a 6000 SF timber frame house for some wealthy guy, overlooking Custer State Park. It looks like it will be awesome when it is done.
Andrew followed us into the hunting area and hunted near the Kern beds with us for a couple hours.
We met up with my buddy Nate, who is a pretty serious Fairburn collector and who had been camping in the French Creek campground since Wednesday. French Creek had been flooded all week from the storms, but the entire area was lush and green. It was the prettiest I've seen the badlands. On the way in we saw a massive herd of American Bison, which I always enjoy.
We stopped into Fairburn around lunch and were there for an hour or so, then headed back to the French Creek Campground. I decided to give my new (used) truck a go at the flooded creek and plunged it headlong into the creek. I wish I'd had photos of the creek and my crossing, because it was pretty fun. I'd wager the creek was around 4 feet deep, and the truck handled it deftly, along with the mile or so of really gnarly road into the Kern Beds.
We hunted a few hours, with no shortage of rocks to look at, but didn't find any Fairburns. I have yet to find a "real" Fairburn but the hunt is fun and there are abundant alternatives to collect, which both Roland and I did.
We crossed the creek again, and said farewell to Nate and Wayne in Fairburn, and then headed toward home. We had a pretty intense hankering for steak so we stopped at Wooly's in Hot Springs. I had the prime rib and it was fantastic. Roland was less happy with his ribeye, but we were full and ready to head for home when we got the bill. While we waited for dinner a monster storm came over and hailed pretty hard for about 15 minutes. I didn't get a close-up but some of the hail was ping-pong sized.
We pulled back into Fort Collins about 2 am. I was pretty exhausted but we did have a really great time. I don't take for granted how blessed I am to live where I do, and to have the resources and time to get out and do what I can. I also count myself blessed for the friends I am able to spend time with, and I am glad to count Roland among them.