4th of July on the Rio Grande

If you ever get a chance to collect at Lake Falcon please do it.

One day I timed myself on about 50 feet along one of the many staircased rocky high water shorelines.
I gave myself 15 minutes to pick the best I could find.
The top row is agates, the 2nd row is woods, the third row is jaspers and agates and unknowns.
Most of them are pretty nice material.

In 15 minutes and this was along public shoreline and not unpicked private property. About 35 pounds...:

To be honest I sent the best batch out first and either shared or tumbled them, these are the 2nds jasoninsd .
A fellow can work his way up to Laredo and really score on some pretty cobbles. Not many venture up that way where the river is narrow and covered with brush with trafficking. As you work you way upriver the cobbles get bigger and bigger but that area is all in giant ranches and govt' lands.

Planning to go back out perhaps with a boat. Should have better skills at picking better ones this go.

I bet you had a blast with those 2 fellows. You folks out west have it made with those killer rocks y'all have.
I did make contact with the ranch owner this weekend. He gave me the thumbs up to collect on their properties again. Am pumped...
Unfortunately he did not mention bringing others with me. I hate to impose, most of the lands are his cousin's and uncle's for which he can not speak for.

Land owners are often happy to have rock collectors hunt their property jasoninsd . The last thing they care about is their excess rocks. They are often curious as to what the heck you are finding that brought you there in the first place. This often intrigues them enough to converse with you.

I am a master suck-up lol. The local watering hole is a great place to meet land owners. so is the local landscape/gravel yard. If there is a bunch of work trucks in the parking lot with farm tools/fencing materials you are probably going to find farm owners. I bring a jar of tumbles from adjacent lands to show/give them. I ask if I can check their gates and report any dumping or trespassing activity. Check condition of fenced animals. Figure out some type of service you can offer. Tell them you will send tumbles of some of your findings. Do they have grandkids/kids that like polished rocks ? In south Texas you find lots of red and green rocks, the Latino folks with Mexican heritage like these colors because of the Mexican flag. Just be creative. You have a great personality and should perform well at sucking up ! Small towns often have family, word gets around and your name may get passed to other land owners. I had a kayak strapped to the top of the car. No one kayaks along the Rio so you stick out like a sore thumb to DEA and law enforcement and the whole town. Everyone knows you are visiting from another planet and often curious. I always invite any landowner that gave permission a steak meal or two in the evenings. This can really get your presence out there. The owner I first met in Zapata invited me to the water hole on their family night(like 20 people) and I had a several members inviting me. One of them tried to hook me up with his daughter omg.

It sounds like you are already well connected and have permissions handed on a platter. No need for all this creative hustling.

Having partners does make the trip much more pleasurable. I can get by being lonely if the rocks are nice though. I would love to have a dozen RTH members meet me out there. I thought about making a lease deal but Texas is just too far to drive to make it efficient. I believe a $1000/year would be enough to collect on a 1000 acres if you stayed away during deer season.