The Rockhound Roundup

We have had a busy week so far. On Wednesday we went to Rockhound state park to visit with Jeff and Sheryl Bright. They sent us a comment on the blog that they had been following us for a while on the blog and were in the area. On Tuesday they stopped by our rv to say hello and visit for while. After relating past rv experiences, they invited us to their rig to play a few games of Mexican Train and a lot chatting and laughing. We found that they were friends with our rv friends Paul and Marsha Weaver and they follow the blog of Froggi Donna and Stu, another rv couple that we are friends with.....small world out here on the road. We have met a lot of great people since we hit the road and hope to meet a lot more before we we have to give up this lifestyle. We send a big thank you to the Brights for a really great evening. We are looking forward to meeting up with them again down the road.

Jeff and Sheryl Bright

On Thursday it was off to the Roundhound Roundup. The Roundup is a yearly event held here in Deming by the Deming Gem and Mineral Club. They have over 120 vendors selling all things rock related. Lots and lots of rocks. They have field trips to local mines. The first trip was to the Baker geode mine. We acted as tail gunners for that trip. A tail gunner is last vehicle in the line of cars going to mine. Our job was to make sure that everybody got there and no one got lost. We all made it. The Baker mine is famous for their geodes. Geodes are round rocks that have agates or crystals in them. We have found that about half of the geodes we find have really nice usable centers, the rest are throwaways. When they are good, they are really good.

Tailing piles at the dig

big kids playing in the dirt

On Friday we were tail gunners again for the trip to the Big Diggins. This mine is owned by the Deming club. It is famous for it's agates. I found some really nice red agates today. We left the Diggins and headed to the fairgrounds to walk around and check out all the vendors that are there. As I said before, lots of rocks. I took Louise back to the rv, then returned to the show to help out with the silent auction. We set up 20 tables and put 20 items on every table. Every item had a sign up sheet for bidding. After about 10 minutes time to let the bidders do their thing, the bids closed and the winners picked up the item. They did 2 tables at a time. I only bid on one thing and won it.

Serious diggers

The Big Diggins

Tomorrow starts the process of getting ready to move out of here. The rv tends to throw up when we set for a while. The work shop has to have all the tools put back in their place for traveling. Tires checked, oil to be checked, all the other things that have to happen before we hit the the road after 3 months of sitting in one place. I will get the shop all ready to go and take care of several other things, then go back to the Round Up to help out for a while. Louise and I work Sunday, Louise works Monday, we leave on Tuesday. Monday while Louise works, I will finish getting things ready so we can leave early. Congress, where we are heading, is about 400 miles away. We will drive about 200 to 250 the first day, the rest on day 2. We are stopping in Surprise, AZ to have the roof on the rv looked at. The wood carving show starts on Saturday.
Till next time

Duane and Louise