FlagStone The final day

Tuesday dawned kinda cold and windy, off we went to Flagstone claim. When we got there I was kinda unsure what course to take, whether to go back to the hotel and wait for warmer weather or try to get some of the claims we could drive up to. Originally I had volunteered Colt and Levi to do the dreaded long hike here while Dendra and I did the long ride around to 8,9,10 claims, both of them would be cold and even more uncomfortable with the wind blowing. It was decided that we would indeed drive to the easy ones and wait for the weather to moderate somewhat to do the ugly hike/ride. after reporting in with the Quarry manager all went really well and we got done in great time and off to the Hotel. As soon as we got there Dendra had a shower to return some of the dirt, well as we needed the restrooms etc. we found there was no water in the south tower where we were staying and would not have water for at least two days. They offered to move us over to the other tower, but after some consideration we decide if we were going to pack up we might as well go home. All this was at about 5:30 in the afternoon, so off we went home, all in all a good trip and way nice to be home. one stop in Mesquite for supper and home by 10:30, we were very blessed to have a good trip, accomplish the things we needed to do and more, all while having a good time with loved ones.

Monday morning... off to the Dentist, Dendra had an appointment with our Favorite Dentist to have a cap replaced that she lost while in Missouri visiting the kids there. after the short stop we were off on a whirlwind tour to Eldorado Canyon, Levi wanted to see the area and the claims we used to do there. We had a great day, we saw a helicopter UP CLOSE!! at the overlook at Nelsons landing, they landed about 200-300 ft. away to change pilots then off again, Tomy and Hazel thought it was pretty cool. also along the way we found 29 caches too, one of them had an extra bonus, a Rattlesnake was coiled up uncomfortably close to the cache... we still got the cache though (I might not if I had seen the snake before iI picked up the container.. Saddie says look there's a snake...altogether a great day!! Later we had supper at the Gold Strike Casino of course, this year the food was great.

Sunday afternoon we ( Colt, Dendra and I) went back out to Easter Sunday to try and replace a post that has been missing for some time. we had treied to locate this elusive post a couple of times in years past. After some Email with Peter he wished us to go and do the best we could with only our GPSr's, Colt extrapolated some coordinates where the post should be located. When we got there we took a different route following Colt's coordinates and there lying in a ravine, grey and out of the normal line of sight was the ORIGINAL post, Thank Heavens!! we literally stumbled over it but with the original post and it's rebar marker we had no doubt where to put the replacement post. Well we painted it ,put a top on it, new tag and boy it looks pretty and we are so happy to have this one found!! P.S. Colts coordinates were only 80 feet off, Amazing!

Mining Extravaganza Day Two

Okay the first day went very well, Levi and I tackled the infamous Round the mountain/ Windmill hike, Levi was very patient with the "Old Man" and the hike was accomplished with no incident. We did see a big old desert tortoise shading up in the shadow of a large cactus, we thought it must have been a girl because it had red lipstick on! actually it looked as if it had been eating the fresh cactus flowers and was very large and healthy looking. Of course at the same time Colt had done the Monster Discovery Hike and then moved on to the Long North hike by the time Levi and I got back, while Dendra, Saddie and the kids worked on assorted posts in the millsite area and others The wildflowers were out in force in a great array of colors. the only thing we really missed is the absence of the Quail and of course no donkeys either. We did however see a doe deer near Jaysons flat tire post. we were there for about 7 hours and did not get to meet with Peter after all. Travis and Alisa managed to come out and visit and have a picnic lunch and later joined us for dinner and swimming, we were able to meet our newest addition Kayla and grandma of course had to mush on her for as long as possible. The weather was absolutely wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed the day playing/working with the family members there, we certainly miss those who were unable to join us this year, but hope to have other chances to join together for other endeavors and I am ever so thankful for the past adventures we have shared and these times really bring those happy times to mind. we need to go back to Easter Sunday to put out a new post to replace one that has been missing. we will probably do this this afternoon to prepare to take monday off as well to do a little Geocaching and show Levi the Eldorado Canyon area we used to do claim work on too. Tuesday we will work on Flagstone claim and head home Wednesday, at least thats the plan for now!

Beautiful Downtown Jean Nevada!!

Well here we are in beautiful Jean Nevada, getting set for our annual mining claim extravaganza. Colt, Levi and Saddie have chosen to be the hikers this year along with Dendra and I. The drive down was pleasantly uneventful, with just the stretch through Las Vegas being the most tense. Colt said he had his "Kung Fu action grip in play on the steering wheel through there. We checked in and found we have room with a view (see attached photo) with a meal and a good nights rest we will attempt the Easter Sunday claim tomorrow. An added side benefit is that we will be meeting our long time friend/Boss there to check out the claims, we haven't seen him for many years and look forward to visiting with him again. We have always dealt with his long time personal secretary and friend Judy who always takes such good care of us! Stay tuned for future installments!