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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 4, 2011 2:39:27 GMT -5
Hi Folks: Over the Memorial Day weekend, my eldest son and I went out to the Lavic and Hector sites. Andrew was dying to go. He had dressed, collected his stuff (DSi, books, etc for the drive) and was waiting for me in the car while I was still trying to finish breakfast. I got the cooler loaded with lunch, snacks and drinks, got our gear, loaded the car and we were off! As we drove north on 15 out of Los Angeles County, my engine started making this nice rattling and banging noise. It wasn't over-heating and the acceleration / cruise / idle seemed fine so we pressed on anyway, figuring to remain close to the freeway in case we needed assistance. No smoke? No problem! Our first stop was the Hector site. We only stayed here about 30 minutes or so. Enough time to pick up some lava and other odds and ends. I found a pair of nice 25 lb pieces that are now in my front garden. Then it was off to the Lavic site. Next stop - Lavic with Pisgah crater in the background. Andrew collecting: Some interesting jasper: This close to the freeway, it's pretty much fist-sized and smaller - tumbling stuff and easy for Andrew to find and pickup. Andrew found some nice agate & jasp-agate fragments: We picked up two five-gallon buckets of stuff and then left for home. Along the way, after some fiddling with the climate controls, I realized that there was no longer any cold air coming from the vents. Fortunately, it was pretty mild for the Mojave area - only around 80. I guess the AC decided to take a vacation as well, although the banging and rattling was a little disturbing. We got home about 5:00 PM and cleaned up the rocks. Nathaniel had elected to stay at home with Mommy and do crafts with her but he did help clean the rocks. Some close-ups of the pile: Since we didn't use the AC for pretty much the whole trip, I did get a bit more than 30 MPG from my Intrepid. Awesome considering it's a full size vehicle. I took my car into my Dodge dealer then next day to have a diagnostic done. Verdict - AC compressor shaft and bearings shattered. $930+tax. It can wait... However, we will be making another trip out there ... Thanks to Mel, Christopher, Larry, Lowell, and several others who helped with directions, advice, and ideas. Thanks all! And thanks for checking out our thread.
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garock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,168
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Post by garock on Jun 4, 2011 8:54:50 GMT -5
Wow !! Very nice jasper and a great load !!! Frankie
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Post by gr on Jun 4, 2011 9:29:29 GMT -5
Paul, your interesting jasper has that waxie chalsedony look to it. I find a lot of that around here and it takes a real nice shine in my rotory barrels. Quite a haul you boys picked up!
gr
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LarryS
freely admits to licking rocks
SoCal desert rats
Member since August 2010
Posts: 781
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Post by LarryS on Jun 4, 2011 9:43:27 GMT -5
Hi Paul,
Sorry we couldn't meet up with you out there. Looks like you found some nice material so close to the tracks. The further you head south, the pickens improve. You'll be surprised how nice that jasper tumbles. Even the lousy looking pieces with white stuff all over them. Lots of hidden surprises. Some of the best jasper & jasp-agate I've tumbled started out as an ugly rock and throught it would turn out as a dud. We never found anything in the Hector Hills but Lavic Siding is loaded with high quality jasper. On the other side of the freeway in the southern Cady Mountains, there are quite a few "jasper hill" locations where the whole mountain is jasper but most is decomposed and weathered. We will continue to return back to Lavic where you're guaranteed to get good rock. Lavic is mostly red & yellow jasper. But about a year ago I found a rare softball size chunk of dark gray & white jasper and cut it up into 2" pieces with my wet tile saw to tumble. MISTAKE! Sure wish I had my 10" saw back then and slab it up. My wife wants me to see if I can slice them up so she can make some cabs.
Larry
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Post by johnjsgems on Jun 4, 2011 10:01:08 GMT -5
Lavic was reported as pretty much picked over in the 70's books. I'm always amazed at the amount and quality of float found even in the big flat area where groups camp right off the highway.
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Post by Donnie's Rocky Treasures on Jun 4, 2011 10:12:16 GMT -5
That is some very colorful rocks you guys picked up. I'll bet you will get some awesome tumbles out of it!!
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LarryS
freely admits to licking rocks
SoCal desert rats
Member since August 2010
Posts: 781
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Post by LarryS on Jun 4, 2011 11:27:46 GMT -5
Last time we were there in March, we walked about 1/2 mile from the Jeep filling up a canvas grocery bag. I about died walking back! I weighed it when I got home and it was 48 pounds. Pretty tough for a old fart! During our first visit to Lavic about a year ago, we parked the Jeep near the south western edge of the collection area, about 100 yards from the posted Marine base boundary. We were buzzed by a security helicopter. I told the wife that we should spell out "Go Army" on the ground using all the jasper rocks and then run like hell! We only went to Hector Hills one time last summer. It was 100+ and me and our Rat Terrier dog Goober started exploring all the "bad lands" of Hector and all it's steep sided gullies. Goober climbed up with no problem. I fell down a few dozen times, knees all scraped up and sliding down the hills. I'll never forget Goober on top of the hills just looking down at me in wonder with his tail wagging. He was laughing at me thinking how inferior us humans are! Larry
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Post by jakesrocks on Jun 4, 2011 12:36:35 GMT -5
Hey Larry, your Goober has almost identical markings to my Jack Russel, Jake. Did the fly boys put on a show for you ? Last time I was to Lavic they were doing bombing runs on targets. Thought my wife was going to mess herself when the first couple of bombs went off. One trip out there, there were a pair of flat black twin engine turbo props with no markings making straffing runs with their 20 MM Vulcans blazing and rockets flying. Black opps practice I guess. Cool to watch. Brought back memories of Nam.
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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 4, 2011 19:11:14 GMT -5
Hi Frankie, Donnie and Gary: We've got a few in the tumbler and will post pics in a few weeks. My new belts arrived this week so we may try our hand at doing some polishing that way as well. Certainly have enough practice materials!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 4, 2011 19:18:49 GMT -5
Hi John - it is pretty amazing what shows up in the float. Even off of Field Road we still find stuff. We went to the Field road site in January after all the rains and there was a lot of stuff that the rains had uncovered. Seemed like the same story here. We found a lot of "gravel bars", for lack of a better term, and the jasper was plentiful.
Hi Jake - didn't see any Marines this trip although lots of BNSF trains - like every 20 minutes!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 4, 2011 19:23:48 GMT -5
Larry - I heard about your trip and lugging the bag around! That was awesome. Your directions were helpful although we didn't get far off 66 since the car was acting up and I wasn't sure what was going on at the time. We're definitely going to head back, though. That's a very "family-friendly" site to work. The Hector site is pretty thin although, interestingly, Andrew found half of a lava bomb that had quartz pockets in it. It was quite interesting.
I'll drop you a PM next time we head out. Would be great to get out together!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 4, 2011 19:28:11 GMT -5
... just an opinion but dealers usually charge the highest price !!! maybe check out a local shop ... Roller - Yeah, I completely agree about the dealer prices although I've been going to this Dodge dealer for 11 years and trust them to give me the right diagnostic. For this major($) a repair though, I'm probably going to get an estimate from the local Midas shop that a couple of friends from work have used and recommended. The parts (compressor, evaporator, seals, etc) are less than half the $930 the dealer quoted me so if Midas can come in at a more "reasonable" price I'll use them.
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Post by tntmom on Jun 4, 2011 19:33:30 GMT -5
Fantastic haul!!! I love the color in there! Can't wait to see it tumbled.... oh, and isn't it the greatest feeling on earth to be able to hang out and rock hound with your kid, that's just as interested in rocks as you? Priceless!
WTG Andrew and Paul!!!!
~Krystee
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 4, 2011 21:45:23 GMT -5
Hey Paul, it looks like you guys did very well. Glad you scored some nice jasper. I hit Hector Hills right before I moved too and we actually did pretty well. Took the pipeline road west a bit until we hit a bunch of very steep ashy badland formations going left from the road down towards the lava flows. Was really steep working the face of those formations and I tore out some stitches in my leg ( had just had a minor surgery a couple of days previous to the trip) but we found some large agate nodules with opal inclusions resembling plume, some black and white opalized palm root, some peach colored inclusions in clear agate, and some fine dendritic agate nodules. Some was very close to chapenite. It was good enough hunting that I actually had it on my list for another hunt. Found a few nice red moss agates and a couple of nice fortification agates too. The terrain did make it an unfriendly place to hunt compared to Lavic though. The walking and hunting at Lavic is, as you've said, very family friendly and easy to access.....Mel
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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 5, 2011 1:19:45 GMT -5
... oh, and isn't it the greatest feeling on earth to be able to hang out and rock hound with your kid, that's just as interested in rocks as you? Priceless! WTG Andrew and Paul!!!! ~Krystee Thanks, Krystee! Yes, I completely agree with you on that. The boyz have such a good time out there collecting. Nathaniel loves the trains and just being outdoors - I ended up taking a bunch of pics of the BNSF trains since he didn't want to go this trip. Andrew got into it, this trip. He actually commented that he was having a hard time figuring out what to take since there was so much stuff lying around. He finally made up his mind to take only the largest and best looking pieces- and make Daddy lug it back to the car when the backpack got full :-). Thanks for checking out the thread - Paul
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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 5, 2011 1:27:25 GMT -5
Hi Mel - thanks for the directions and ideas for this site, as well. We got to the pipeline road you mention at the Hector site (at least I think it was) and pulled over there but, since the car was acting up and I didn't know why at the time, we ended up staying relatively close to the "main" county road. Sounds like you hit a good place. One thing we did want to try was to get farther south down Lavic road, closer to the rail lines, as you (and Larry) had mentioned. The dirt road there was passable; not as good as the Hector road that leads to the mine, but passable, none-the-less. Thanks for checking out the thread.
Paul
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,077
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Post by elementary on Jun 5, 2011 17:34:15 GMT -5
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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 5, 2011 17:47:19 GMT -5
Hey, Lowell - Thanks again for the PM'ed directions and suggestions. Andrew and I are probably going to head back to both locations. There's so much to check out. Thanks for posting the photos too. Gives us a better idea of what to look for!
Thanks Paul
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Post by johnjsgems on Jun 5, 2011 20:25:15 GMT -5
Let me know when you go. I'm 21 miles from Hector, 31 to Lavic. If I'm home I would like an excuse to get out there.
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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 5, 2011 22:14:43 GMT -5
Hey, John - Yes, will do! It would be great to have more a experienced rock hounder out there with us. Will let you know!
Thanks Paul
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