Our 09 vacation, after we hit bottom!

[64dart170]

Hey guys!
Board & going through stuff organizing looking for aditional show pics for another thread when I stumbled on these and thought you guys might like them. If you're as board as me at the moment!
We had just left bankrupt court with nothing but our house and Darts.
We usually travel in nice camper, cummins Ram, both dogs, You know high on the hog. But after job loss and court, here's the vacation we had.
No camper, credit, Ram, Dogs, kids, worries, money.........

Had to be one of the best weeks we ever spent on vacation together!
ABodyBetty had fun too! Mostly just lounged & worked the creeks!
Here ya go for you viewing pleasure, the lowest budget vacation ever. Gone a week, spent less than $500.00 total!

Good Times! I came home with change and about 300 lbs of black sands I still have to pan at home!8)

While we were there a 4 epedition caravan showed up from Purdue & Indiana State, US geological Survey & others for a lecture on gold panning! (using me as example on how to pan but not how to dress! Could have been the floating cooler of beer tied to my lawn chair!)
I went up to see what was going on while they were unloading. Shot the shtuff and watched all of em start swatting themselves & whinning about the bugs. 6 of em round me. I ask them, "you know whats good round here for those bugs aeatin ya?"
They are all ears at this point and one of them says "No what"
I pull out a can of Off and ask, "Any of you professors want any from this Hi Scool Grad-U-Ate?
They all started bustin laughin' and passin round the can of Off (this boy scout had another can nin back of Baby!
They ended up let us sitting in and giving us all the paperwork/materials for the course with geological survey maps and everything!
What a Vacation!!:cheers:
We're going back! 2010!!!

 

[64dart170]

Couple more pics!8)
Hope ya'll enjoyed! man, Life in the Fast Lane!

 

[Tony Fields]

Looks like a great place to unwind.

Where is it located?

Thanks,
Tony

 

[64dart170]

Looks like a great place to unwind.

Where is it located?

Thanks,
Tony

Where's it located? Just like that? You want me to up & tell ya where the gold is don't ya??!!!!

What di ya think this is?.....Anyhow? LOL!!!

It's right in you're back yard!

Brown County, Lil Nashville Area!

Familar?

Main Drag comming in from Columbus. Know where the old KOA campground is on the right? Just past a road called Salt Creek Road???

Well turn right on Salt Creek. Go 8-12 miles?? to where it comes to a "T".
Intersection of Salt Creek & Gatesville roads.

Gatesville Country Store
812-988-0788
Gold Panning free if ya got yer own stuff!
Serves a great lunch there!!! Very nice people. Meeting place for the S.W. IN Gold Prospecters Assoc.

Old KOA to stay at is now called The Last Resort. (Oh brother!) You would think they could have chosen another name LOL!
Anyway realy nice couple own the camp ground.
Frank & Dottie
812-988-4675
2248 St Road 46 E
Nashville IN 47448

You can also Gold Pan for free at:
Morgan Monroe State Forest there.

Yellowwood/Morgan Monroe State Forest
2 offices 812-988-7945, 765-342-4026
Call and stop by for gold panning location maps
Need to write ahead for panning permits good for 1 year free to IN residents.

If you go here plan on taking TOMTOM or GPS. No signs and very hard to navigate the state park system there. I swear I heard banjo music.........

Great Times! Very Low Key!8)

 

[64dart170]

Looks like a great place to unwind.

Where is it located?

Thanks,
Tony

We had been camping there early spring and fall for years never knowing right around the corner was the gold creek!
Stumbled on it by accident shootin the shtuff with a park ranger & he told me about the Gatesville Store!
Love It!
If I lived where you do, I'd be there all the time!

 

[homecloned]

But did you find any gold?


Cool pic of the salamander, or whatever that is.

 

[inkjunkie]

looks very relaxing......

 

[memike]

We have the very same lizards here on the hill
It sure nice to see yall having a great time ccasion:
I have watched the gold panning guy on tv and I see you have the right tools
Baby sure looks nize :angel7:

 

[Tony Fields]

Thanks guys.....that is in my back yard!

I was thinking of stretching a fishing line or 2 and just relax.

Thanks again!

 

[64dart170]

But did you find any gold?


Cool pic of the salamander, or whatever that is.

Did I find anyGOLD?

HA HA HA AHHahhhAHAHAA ooHHH BOY!\\/

There's always a funny story with me, and I'm sure you're just the guy who wants to hear it! LMAO!!!!

Anyway, so it seems, one day (Pretty good start huh!)

A poor Jobless mopar freak and his lovely mate decided heck with it all we need to get out of here.......

Too far back.

When we had our last real vacation we camped at Cherokee NC for base. Then spread over western NC and northern GA. When in Ga I bought pay dirt from an established gold mine, to bring it home to pan. I wasn't going to pan there and waste time, I knew there was gold in that bag and put it away. We usually make strafing runs.....ABB driving pulls up to bridge with local "bottoms style" creek, I jumps out and runs down under bridge while ABB takes off and finds a place to turn around. While she's gone, I find closest gravel bar and hand spade shovels full from the base, sift, bag 1 Gal. Zip, drain, run back up to road to meet ABB with 4 gallon bags full of wet sands, and jumps ins!! Sometimes while moving! The bridges act as a legal right of way so no land owners can yell about me being on their property. We did this all over SW, NC on vacation 2 years ago. Back of pick up really heavy that year comming home......another story.......

Later after returning I panned bout half of that dirt in my drive way at home and found 4 "pickers" (small pea size nuggets) so far, before leaving for this vacation.
Fast foward to this vacation...1 year later....
We went to the aforementioned Gatesville Country Store for the second time on day 3. (The first time we were there was on day 1. Then on day 2 we prospected by ourselves in Monroe Morgan State Park).

A couple days ago when we were there for the first time we had panned all day and I had not seen anything. We went in the store for lunch and drinks and started talking with the young man behind the counter. Was wondering why I wasn't seeing any gold.
He the explained and showed me how small IN gold is. Largest nugget ever found in state of IN was the size of a grain of rice. (Don't spend it all in 1 place!) He showed me the standard small acrylic vile with black cap, filled with water, and I held it up to see a bunch of black sands (small Iron balls that always show up with gold dust being the 2 heaviest things in the pan) He explained as the last 3 ice ages drug across Canada, through the Great Lakes, and on down heah to Hoosier town, they deposited all the dust in gravel beds along where the glaciers were draining (Ohio River) only ran east west though!
Anyway all that grinding on the gold turned it to talc! Gold never changes, weighs the same, just different sizes and IN's is the smallest. I laughed when I saw it. He said they use dawn dish wash soap, somthin bout drag coheficiant/surface tension/ what the F ever!!! to "float it otta the pan! Jezz!

I just went ahead and worked gravel down to sands, bagged & tagged, brought it home. Haven't even panned it out yet. Still got dirt from GA! Oh back to story.....

I told the guy I would bring some pickers in that I got in GA the previous year, the next time we come in.

Day 3
We come back, people all over, even setting up camps! We go in and I ask the young guy whats goin on. GPAA meeting SW IN chapter (Gold Panners Club) I knew of them through their magazine puclications. Anyway he asked if I had the pickers, so I handed him my vile, his eyes popped outta his skull and we keep talking....
He proceeds to tell me the president of the chapter is over there in the chips isle. I ask the kid if he ever found anything big here. He laughs and says nothin as big as these around here while handing back my nuggets.
I says, "you think he mind if I talk with him for a bit and pick his brain? kid says no I'll call him over. I told him I'm going to pull a joke with the nuggets and play along.
He said Ok and called the guy over. Really nice guy and wasn't skeered to let ya know how much he knows......If ya know what I mean. He was better than me. Anyways..
He poceeds to spew forth knowledge of alpha and omega. I ask him bout the size "HE" has found round here (pulling off my best dumb-bumkin dialect with the Hossier drawl At ta end each sentance.....while wearing the tie die KOA cut off!
He shows me his vile and I hold it up. He ask me "how many days have you been here? Have you found anything?"
I look at the guy at the counter and wink so pres can't see and the kid up and puffs "Yeah he found gold and you should see it!!
"You did?!" May I see it?"
I held my dry (no water inside as usual for smaller dust) vile and shook it back and forth with the clatter noise of 4 marbles in a capped piece of PVC!
That guy grabbs the vile (while crapping down both leggs) and says let me see that and holds it up (like he needed to).
I grabbed the vile and says "Here let me show you" and undid the cap saying hold out your hand. I dump em in his hand. Let me tell ya, gold is so dense in weight, you can tell it's real as soon as it hits your hand. (His lower lip quivering now) says "Auh COME ON! YOU DID NOT FIND THIS HERE!"

Me the kid and ABB all start laughin our butts off! That was probibly the closest thing he had to sex in a while!! Funny stuff!

Some of the geological purdue guys had viles with black sands. I did see some gold there but it was so small I had been throwing it back in the creek all the first day! LMAO!!!!!

Good Times!!!!!ccasion:

 

[64dart170]

Thanks guys.....that is in my back yard!

I was thinking of stretching a fishing line or 2 and just relax.

Thanks again!

No fish there! Just Geodes of all sizes and colors, emeralds, rubys, saphires, diamonds, gold. (Sounds like a bowl o me lucky charms) LOL! Nuthin sombody lookin for fish would want to do!!!
Fishin too much work!!

Oh forgot to tell you BEWARE!! of leaches!!! Film at 11!:cry:

 

[64dart170]

These are a couple of pics of the tour truck for Diamond Reo & my Cummins Ram. They were playing at The Little Nashville Opry when were staying there the year before when we still had our camping gear.