Our Trip For June 2003
June 3rd We finished packing the van with the cooler full of cheese and sausage for the great cookout on June 21st. We left home at 8:00 AM to pay bills and get our money out for the trip. At 9:15 AM we where on our way south to Horicon for our first stop and to get more sausage and spent the night at one of our sisters home.
June 4th We left Horicon at 7:35 AM for Henderson, KY. This is the longest part of our trip. We arrived in Henderson, KY at 4:10 PM to one of our other sisters home for the night.
June 5th We left Henderson, KY at 6:55 AM for Burnsville, NC. We stopped at Shoney’s in Clarksville for breakfast at 8:00 AM. At 4:15 PM we arrived at Shoney’s in Ashville, NC to meet Mike Streeter but didn’t make a contact with Mike. I was tired and forgot I could of called his cell phone LOL or call his office. We arrived in Burnsville, NC at 6:00 PM.
June 6th I got up around 7:30 AM, at 9:00 AM I went down to the library to read my emails and read the Mcrocks board. I see that Wa9ne & Patty was at the Old Pressley Sapphire Mine, so I signed out and went to the van and there was my brother and brother-in-law. So we went to the Hill Top Restaurant for coffee ( not no where as good as Wa9nes LOL) After we got home I called Mike Streeter to see if we could meet at the Old Pressley Sapphire Mine but he couldn’t get away for the weekend so we decided to meet on Wednesday . So we went to meet up with Wa9ne and Patty at the mine.
Oh and yes Wa9ne & Patty does dig with out there gloves on LOL and yes he does smile for pictures to LOL. He didn’t even know I was there taking pictures LOL. We got there about 1:00 PM and my brother, sister and I did a pail each of Sapphire dirt for $45.00. I got 8 Sapphires. I talked to Wa9ne and Patty for a while. I tried to get the Pick from Wa9ne but he said I’d never get 10 feet with it LOL. Well I didn’t get it and could talk him in to making me one ether. Patty thanks for the cinnamon roll. We left there around 4:30 PM and went to the Farmers Market for some stuff like Apples, Grapes, Peppers, musk Mellon and cucumbers. We got home at 6:00PM. We are going to get some heavy rain tonight and tomorrow so I’m glade I went to the Old Pressley Sapphire Mine today in stead of Sat. LOL We played cards the rest of the night till 12:00 AM.
June 7th We went to Smokey’s for coffee at 9:00 AM and shot the bull with the locales we know. At 1:00 PM we took sis to Gem Mountain and I wanted to see Charles. But he was in the Hospital so I did a $35.00 bucket and got lots of Topaz. And of course we played cards that night till 1:00 AM LOL.
June 8th We went for coffee at 8:30 AM to Smokey’s to shot the bull. At 11:00 AM we went to Wally World to shop. Donna’s daughter is coming over for a cook out today with her family.
June 9th We went to Smokey’s for coffee and I went to the library to read my emails and the Mcrocks Board. Donna wanted to go to Gem Mountain again to do a bucket so I did a #9 and got 2 Sapphires & 9 Rubies that will Facet and the rest will cab in to stars. We where planning to go to the Sink Hole Mine today but plans got changed.
June 10th We went to the library to read my emails and the Mcrocks Board. Then we went to Smokey’s to have coffee. Now we are going to the Sink Hole Mine for the day. We got back from the Mine and we found Garnets, Feldspar and muscovite. But no Apatite or Kyanite & no snakes yea. LOL
June 11th We took Donna to the VA in Johnson City TN. On our way we stopped at Sam’s Gap at mile maker 4.7 in TN to collect some pieces of Unakite.
On the way home we stopped in Unicon for dinner. After we got home we played cards.
June 12th We went for coffee and then to the library to read the board and my emails. I stopped at the USFS office in Burnsville here and talked to Paul about the Ray Mine road closer. He said it was done that way to stop the silt from going in to the Burnsville water shed. He said it was that or build a new road for witch they don’t have the funds to do that. I told them that it’s not fair to stop the rock hounds from driving up there and stopping the disabled all so. I told him that a lot of rock hounds are upset and this will cause the area to lose money from the rock hounds that come here to collect. This didn’t change there mind at all. Next on the list for today is to meet with Mike Streeter at 1:00 PM at his home in Ashville. We meet mike and his two dogs. Watch out for the little one he’ll tear your leg off LOL. Mike showed Randy and I his collection and gave us some minerals that we didn’t have. Thank you Mike for the mineral specimens of Rutile, Sapphires, Apatite from the Sink Hole Mine, Beryl from the Ray Mine, Pyrite cubes, facet grade Kyanite etc. Mike has some of the best mineral specimens I’d ever seen. I gave Mike his jar of Maple syrup from WI.
June 13th We went to the library to read my emails and the Mcrock board after we got a jump because Randy left the lights on in the van last night. Today was wash day all so. At 4:30 PM we took dad out for his fathers day dinner at Joe’s Crab House down in Ashville, NC. (yum yum) I had the crab plate with different types of crabs on it. After we got home we played cards.
June 14th We went to Smokey’s for coffee then to the Flee Market to find a sledge hammer after we got home it started to rain. So we went to Gem Mountain with Donna. I did a Emerald bucket and found 12 facetable Emeralds. Kathy at Gem mountain told me about a place in Spruce Pine where they serve the best all you can eat BBQ Ribs around and they are the best I had ever had in a long time. They only serve them on Saturdays. The place is called Cedar Crest in down town Spruce Pine. I even got a piece of yummy home made Pecan Pie ( not as good as Patty’s) The ribs where supper tender.
June 15th We went to the coffee shop. We spent the rest of the day with the family.
June 16th We went to Smokey’s for coffee then I went to the library to read Mcrocks board and my emails. Donna wanted to go to Gem Mountain so we took her there. I did a opal bucket and some real nice Opal. We played cards the rest of the night after supper.
June 17th We went for coffee at Smokey’s then we went to the library to read my emails and the board. Today was wash day and shopping.
June 18th We went to the library to read the board and my email then we went to Smokey’s for coffee. We then went to the Sink Hole Mine in the rain and the humidity was at 99%. We stopped to take this picture of Wa9nes World
When we got there we had the find the owners of the truck so that he could move it up the hill a bit so we could park off the hwy. The owner showed us what he found so far and we talked about Mike Streeter’s book. There are lots of big rocks to brake up. We sweated as we busted up rocks to find the Apatite. We found Apatite, Garnets and Moonstones. The ticks are so thick that they can carry away the Pecan Pies. We went to Gem mountain next to see if we could get in to the Brushy Creek Aquamarine Mine on Friday. But we needed 6 people to get in there. After we got home I had to take pain killers LOL I must be getting old. After supper we played cards.
June 19th I went for coffee and met my brother-in-law there at Smokey’s. Then I went to the library to read my emails and the Mcrocks board. Sis ordered plain donuts for dad so we had to go and get them at Wally World. They screwed up the order so we went to the Blue Ridge Mine just to see what they had. I bought a piece of facetable Emerald for $1.00 a gram. We went out to eat at Western Sizzler we all had the sea food buffy.
June 20th We went to Smokey’s for coffee then I went to the library to read my emails and the board. It was wash day then we went to Ingles to get plain donuts for dad. We stayed at the house and rested up for the big day tomorrow.
June 21st. We got up at 7:00 AM and packed the Van for the big event today. We went to the Wood Mine to met with Dave and who ever else was there but no one was there at all it was 9:00 Am. So we decided to go to the KOA where they where camping. And low and behold there they all where yet. We all talked for about 2 hours and then we all decided to go to the Little Pine Garnet Mine and yes even Wa9ne LOL.
so far and bringing extra desserts. Lets make the fall one better yet. RD, Dave T, Jack, Carl with his Dad and brother Randy, and Wayne where the Miners of the day. The woman and children went to the flee market. Well we followed RD, Wa9ne and Dave T. to the mine through the back roads and we ended up turning around a few times because RD missed the turn LOL Wa9ne was the navigator. So I guess we can blame him LOL. After a hour we finally got to the place where we had to pay our digging fee. Then we where off to the mine yea haaaaa. We had to walk up the hill to the mine dump. Believe this or not we got Wa9ne digging something other then #9 LOL. We all dug for a while when Dave and Wayne decided to go to the mine shaft to dig. In one hour Ron dug a hole deep enough so when he bent down we couldn’t see him. Man the mud and all was just a flying LOL. After we all got past the old diggings of other people we all started to find Garnets. We dug for about 5 hours and came out with lots of Garnets. We met another rock hound up there digging and he told us all how to dig there at the mine for Garnets. RD used his wheelbarrow to take two pails and some bigger rocks back to his truck after about 23/4 hours of digging. When we stopped digging he used it again to take a lot of the stuff back down hill to the truck and van. We got back to camp about 6:00 PM. Every one showed their best finds of the day and RD had the biggest one and the most. ( he hit a honey hole) Patty was in side getting the food ready and I went in to set up the cheese and sausage plate. A few of the other gals then helped Patty finish up. RD warmed up the meat - Smoke Turkey and Chicken. After a bit we all sat down to a great dinner. We had enough food the feed the whole campground LOL. Ron you did a superb job on the meat but I didn’t see that 18# chicken you talked about with half a possum in it moth with a sweet potato in its mouth LOL. After we eat we shot the bull for a while then we set up for the rock swap. Every one had a great time and the fall get together is in the works. Thank you every one for coming and making this the greatest event to dateJune 22nd We went for coffee and then went back to the house to rest our sore boons and all from yesterday LOL
June 23rd We went to Smokey’s for coffee for the last time before we had to leave for KY. Then I went to the library to read my emails and the board one last time. Now it’s time to wash close and start packing the van. God I hate to go.
June 24th We left for KY at 7:30 AM on the way we stopped at the Farmers market in Ashville for the last time. We got in to Henderson, KY at 4:00 PM.
June 25th - June 28th We spent time with our sister there. No rock collecting there on this trip.
June 29th We left at 7:00 AM for home. We followed Sylvia up to Fond Du Lac WI where she had to
drop of her grand children. We got home at 6:00 PM THE END :O(Trip Pictures Minerals That I got from other people
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