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Post by vegasjames on Jun 29, 2023 4:41:30 GMT -5
A friend of mine lives in California, so I went down on a Friday to a few places off the I15 I already knew from exploring the area, and we decided to check out a new spot a ways in. I looked around at a spot I know with pink chalcedony waiting for him to get there. Found that as some other nice stuff. Then we started to head to the second spot. First stop was right along the frontage road. Found a spot covered with nice looking rocks, so we looked around some and grabbed some nice rocks. Next we stopped along the power lines, which had low vegetation making spotting rocks easy. And we were trying to determine what would be the best road up to the mountain as there were a lot, but some were barely roads and I wanted to avoid areas that may be washed out. There were some nice stones there, but not a abundant as down by the frontage road. We chose a road to go up to the mountain, focusing on the center as the side of the mountain looked pretty sandy. As we got closer to the mountain, there was purple jasper, some patterned with faint blue lines, all over the place. Also found to nice solid black pieces of gabbro, some type of green crystal, and various other things. Ended up in a beautiful canyon. On the way out I decided to go a different way to explore more area, but made the mistake of heading towards the sandy side. There were no exciting rocks and some of the roads suddenly ended in very deep sand areas, so it was a bit tricky getting back. We came upon one deep sand area so I gunned it thinking it was all soft sand. Nope!!! There was a hard spot right in the middle and we hit it hard sending everything flying. Think it screwed up my 4WD as well as I have been having problems since. We got back to the main road then headed to one of my favorite locations, which is covered with chalcedony, beautiful chert, wood jasper, palm root, and occasionally green chalcedony with orange moss agate. From there, we headed back in to the hills to another spot I had found on my previous trip that had a lot of really nice stuff including some purple botryoidal agate, and banded agate. We stopped half way at another hill, which had pretty much the same material, but I did find a very large, solid piece of wood jasper. Decided to leave it for the moment since I was still meeting with the club the next day, and did not know how much room I would have. So we headed up in the hills to the spot I found previously and dug around until it started to get dark. We headed back to my friend’s car and he headed back home. I drove down to the I40 then went over to the rest stop about 20 miles from Ludlow where the club was meeting the next day. Jax and I camped out at the rest stop, then caught up with the club the next morning. We met at Ludlow then headed out to Lavic. I was hoping we were going to the same spot we went to a few years earlier, which was super abundant with nice material. Unfortunately, that was not the case. We hit two spots in Lavic, then we were supposed to go to one other spot on the other side of the road, then to go look for thulite. Did not work out that way. On the way out, the leader had about an 8 inch bolt go through his tire flattening it, and he could not find a socket to take the lugs off for the spare. Long story short, we got the bolt out and the tire plugged sufficiently so he could get back to Ludlow. He asked me if I could take everyone up to the next location, but I could not remember exactly where it was, and last time I had been up that way about a month earlier, BLM had virtually every trail in the area closed off. I had been talking to one of the members about the other areas I had been to the other day and was showing him on the map where to go. I was planning on heading straight home, but a lot of the members wanted to still look around. Don’t blame them, it was a long drive for an hour of rick hounding. So, I decided to take everyone to some spots up off the I-15. We went to the mountain with all the chalcedony, chert, wood jasper and palm root first and showed them where to look and showed them some examples of what I get there. While they were looking around, I zipped up the road in to the hills to go get my big wood jasper, and grabbed a few other cool rocks while I was there. When I got back I led the group over to the mountain with the pink chalcedony, and occasionally I find opal there. Got stuck in the sand despite 4WD and had to dig out. Several of the people went home, except for 2. So I took them over to the other spot along the frontage road. This is where I spotted the green chalcedony with orange moss agate, which is the main thing I look for down there, but it very hard to find. Just the tip was sticking out so I started digging and it got bigger and bigger. Unfortunately, tit fractured trying to pry it out with the pick. Altogether, the piece was 70 pounds.
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Post by liveoak on Jun 29, 2023 6:20:12 GMT -5
Looks like Jax wore himself out. Being a model is hard work
Thanks for sharing the nice scenery, always nice to see other parts of the country.
I look forward to seeing your haul as well.
Patty
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Post by rockjunquie on Jun 29, 2023 7:06:04 GMT -5
Great report!
You said you camped at a rest area?? Do you mean like with a tent? You can do that in CA??
Love playing "Where's Jax?" Good to see her.
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Post by vegasjames on Jun 29, 2023 8:35:22 GMT -5
Looks like Jax wore himself out. Being a model is hard work
Thanks for sharing the nice scenery, always nice to see other parts of the country.
I look forward to seeing your haul as well.
Patty
Posted some earlier. Have more to post, which I will do soon.
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Post by vegasjames on Jun 29, 2023 8:38:36 GMT -5
Great report!
You said you camped at a rest area?? Do you mean like with a tent? You can do that in CA??
Love playing "Where's Jax?" Good to see her. Yes, I went over where the big trucks park in the dirt. And there was a big ditch there, so I parked the truck really close to the ditch knowing the big rigs would likely avoid parking that close to the ditch, then pitched the tent between my truck and the ditch. Only drawback is it was so noisy with the freeway right there and all the big rigs coming in and parking all night.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jun 29, 2023 8:41:34 GMT -5
Great report!
You said you camped at a rest area?? Do you mean like with a tent? You can do that in CA??
Love playing "Where's Jax?" Good to see her. Yes, I went over where the big trucks park in the dirt. And there was a big ditch there, so I parked the truck really close to the ditch knowing the big rigs would likely avoid parking that close to the ditch, then pitched the tent between my truck and the ditch. Only drawback is it was so noisy with the freeway right there and all the big rigs coming in and parking all night. I bet it was noisy, but probably pretty safe, I would imagine. I've slept in the car at rest stops, but never pitched a tent. My daughter is getting ready to make the long drive to upstate NY. I told her to pull into a Walmart if they get too tired. Better than being dead.
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Post by vegasjames on Jun 29, 2023 8:56:10 GMT -5
Yes, I went over where the big trucks park in the dirt. And there was a big ditch there, so I parked the truck really close to the ditch knowing the big rigs would likely avoid parking that close to the ditch, then pitched the tent between my truck and the ditch. Only drawback is it was so noisy with the freeway right there and all the big rigs coming in and parking all night. I bet it was noisy, but probably pretty safe, I would imagine. I've slept in the car at rest stops, but never pitched a tent. My daughter is getting ready to make the long drive to upstate NY. I told her to pull into a Walmart if they get too tired. Better than being dead. Normally when I am down there I pitch the tent up by the one mountain I like to go to. Wanted to be closer to Ludlow though so I would not be late meeting with the club. If I knew the area down that way better to where could have found some place in the desert in the dark then I would have just camped out in the desert. I am way more familiar though with the areas off the I-15 than I am the I-40.
For your daughter, there will be park campgrounds on the way. They are good for overnight camping. And at least you can stretch out and be comfortable while reducing the risk of blood clots. I am too tall to sleep inside my truck. Only had to do it once because I hit a major lightening storm. So I pulled in to the rest stop but decided to sleep in the truck due to the storm. I put everything I could in the bed of the truck and moved whatever else I could up front then tried to lay down in the back. The truck is only 4 feet wide and I am 6' 2" so I was already cramped up, and of course then Jax wanted to snuggle up next to me. Was not a pleasant sleep.
I do like the rest stops though as they have running water so I can refill my water jugs, and I feel safer letting Jax run around in the dark to potty since it is fenced in and the coyotes tend to stay away from the rest stops.
And again campgrounds are good. There are facilities on site. A campground host in case you run in to any problems, and the rangers patrol.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jun 29, 2023 9:10:27 GMT -5
She's sharing the driving with 2 other people, so they should be OK. It's a long haul, though. I know, without a doubt, they being young and dumb, that they would sooner stop at a rest area or a Walmart off the interstate before they would try find a park. Nowadays, Dh and I take our time, but we have certainly made crazy runs before.
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rocknewb101
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2022
Posts: 1,368
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Post by rocknewb101 on Jun 29, 2023 10:29:17 GMT -5
What amazing pictures! The landscape is fantastic and there are rocks EVERYWHERE!!! But I need to talk about Jax!! He looks almost identical, down to the stubby tail, to my sweet sweet Calamity Jane who passed away in 2011 at the young age of 11. She came to me while working at my veterinarian's office - someone found her on the side of the road at 9wks old and they thought she had a broken back. They brought her in to be euthanized. I fell in love just looking into her crate and asked if they minded if I took her on and had my vet look to see if she could be saved. Turns out she had two badly broken back legs, but her back was intact. She was my velcro dog until she passed at 11. AND her best friend was an Aussie mix named JAX!!! Seeing your Jax brought back all kinds of beautiful memories so I very much appreciate you sharing your sweet pup.
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Post by vegasjames on Jun 29, 2023 17:59:20 GMT -5
Beautiful. Jax is actually a girl. Her name originally was Trixie. She was in the women's prison for 4 months in the pups for Parole Program, which is where I picked her up. The prisoners renamed her Jax, I think after the female American Idol singer. I like the name Jax better, and she was already chipped under that name so I kept it. She was over 2 yeas old when she came in to my life. Only history I got, which I already figured out, was that she had been abused. I swatted a fly one day, and Jax went running to hide, so I knew she had been mistreated. We would go back an visit the adoption place once in a while, and one day they let it slip that Jax had been abused, but I never found out anything else such as why anyone have her up. I am so glad they did though. I decided to get a dog after my girlfriend and business partner of 18 yeas passed away. She loved dogs more than people, and was always talking about how she had the most beautiful dogs, which she did including Sheena, a coyote-sheltie mix and Sebastian a German shepard=akita mix. I was having a real hard time with Debra's passing and after a year I decided it was time to have another dog in the house. So, I started searching all the shelter sites looking for a short hair, adult, medium sized high energy trail dog. Never even heard of a heeler before. I spent 3 weeks looking and it was pit bull after pit bull after pit bull. Finally I found the pic of Jax and immediately knew she was the one. The day she was supposed to be up for adoption I got up really early an drove across town to make sure I was the very first in line, but Jax was not there. Even though the site said Jax was being putting up for adoption that day, she was still in prison for 3 more weeks. I asked out of curiosity what the adoption fee was thinking i would be around $50 like the regular shelters. Nope, $200, which I did not have. Our business shut down after Debra passed and her family that moved her to Mississippi emptied out our business account. Three weeks rolled around and they sent me an email asking if I still wanted Jax, and I told them I did, but I did not have $200. So Jax got put up for adoption. I went to a birthday party that night for our silent business partner's nieces birthday. He had found me online when he was on his deathbed with cancer, and I told him what to do. That was about 14 years ago, and he is still live and fine. Turned out, not only did he live here in Las Vegas, he was also a multi-millionaire. We got to talking about dogs because the vet has messed something up and killed their 1 year old bulldog just before this. I had Jax's adoption pic on my phone and said I really wanted to get her. He asked me why I did not, and I said "$200". He said, go get her, and pilled out his wallet and handed me $200, and said call then right now. So, I did. I called them that night and asked if Jax had been adopted. They said no. Two families had tried to adopt Jax, and they turned both families down because they had kids. Not sure if this had something to do with her being surrendered in the first place, but she does fine with kids. Anyway, I was so excited and said I would take her. They wanted me to come to the adoption place Saturday, but I wanted to make sure I was first in line, so I asked if I could come early. So they said I could pick her up at the women;s prison. She was so excited to get out of there. She ran right past me checking everything out, but finally came back to greet me. I was a little shocked as to how small she was. Jax is a mini, so she was only 24 pounds when I got her. I love her size though. Jax and I bonded immediately. They gave me hr favorite toy, her monkey, and we headed over to my mom's house first so my mom could meet her. Jax pooped on the floor and made herself at home. Then we headed home. I park out on the street, but when I let Jax out, she ran right up to the front door as if she had been there before and knew right where to go. With all the way this happened, I really believe Debra's spirit brought Jax in to my life to help me out, and Jax brought me back n to life again. I call her my little angel. Jax is a velco dog as well, but she also has her independent streak. When we go out to the desert, she likes to wander off and explore, but she always comes back after a short time to check on me. When she gets tired, she will come over to where am digging, dig a little herself as if she is helping, then lay down in the hole I am digging, or curl up next to me. She loves the desert so much that when we first started going out, when it was time to leave she would literally hide behind bushes or rocks to avoid having to go home. I would have to drag her back to truck. Now she knows we are coming back, so when she is done she puts her paws up on the truck step to let me know she wants back in her bed.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, We have been on so many adventures together including spending a month in a tent in Napa, California, exploring all through Nevada, getting stuck way in Afton Canyon and having to hike back out to get cell service, etc. She has been the best companion.
Jax's adoption picture.
Our first day together:
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Post by jasoninsd on Jun 30, 2023 22:37:41 GMT -5
vegasjames - I loved reading that write-up about Jax!!
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Post by perkins17 on Jun 30, 2023 23:17:48 GMT -5
Pretty cool area, looks like a lot of fun. Sorry to hear about the 4wd, I know how expensive car erm... "stuff" I these days, especially if you can't fix it yourself. What kind of truck do you have? The desert is definitely a special place to hound.
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Post by vegasjames on Jun 30, 2023 23:29:09 GMT -5
Pretty cool area, looks like a lot of fun. Sorry to hear about the 4wd, I know how expensive car erm... "stuff" I these days, especially if you can't fix it yourself. What kind of truck do you have? The desert is definitely a special place to hound. Think the 4WD may have fixed itself. It was stuck in 4WD low the other day, which is dangerous to drive in traffic with as it takes forever to build up speed. So I checked the fuses, and even replaced the 4WD fuse even though it looked fine. Then I disconnected the grounding wires and cleaned everything and put it all back together. Still did not work, so I started playing around with the 4WD and suddenly I heard a big thud, which is odd as normally I cannot even hear the 4WD shifting. It went back in to 2WD though, and has not kicked back in to 4WD low on its own since, and no more message popping up about servicing the 4WD. So, I think whatever was stuck got itself unstuck. At least I hope so as I have a big trip coming up.
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Post by perkins17 on Jun 30, 2023 23:50:05 GMT -5
Pretty cool area, looks like a lot of fun. Sorry to hear about the 4wd, I know how expensive car erm... "stuff" I these days, especially if you can't fix it yourself. What kind of truck do you have? The desert is definitely a special place to hound. Think the 4WD may have fixed itself. It was stuck in 4WD low the other day, which is dangerous to drive in traffic with as it takes forever to build up speed. So I checked the fuses, and even replaced the 4WD fuse even though it looked fine. Then I disconnected the grounding wires and cleaned everything and put it all back together. Still did not work, so I started playing around with the 4WD and suddenly I heard a big thud, which is odd as normally I cannot even hear the 4WD shifting. It went back in to 2WD though, and has not kicked back in to 4WD low on its own since, and no more message popping up about servicing the 4WD. So, I think whatever was stuck got itself unstuck. At least I hope so as I have a big trip coming up. Good to hear. I did a ton of searching for a sensible 4x4 over winter in the absolute hike of used car prices. I ended up rolling a '78 chevy truck with RWD only in the dead of winter with ice AND gas extremes. Daily driving a 350 will definitely change your perception of gas prices.
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