My Bio by Jay E. Bates
I was born in Afton Wyoming and grew up moving around Wyoming, Montana and
Colorado. I lived for five years through high school on a farm in
Colorado. During grade school I always had a small rock collection. I later
graduated from the University of Wyoming with a dgree in Civil Engineering.
After moving around various states I got married and moved to California where
I acquired a Rock Rascal and began making some cabochons. I made some
memorable trips to the Southern California and Nevada deserts in the pursuit
of agates during the seventies. After a hiatus and retirement, I again took up
rockhounding in 1997 making many trips to various rockhounding sites in
California, Nevada, and Oregon. I have also become interested in making
spheres. I have made several homemade sphering machines, a tumbler, and a slab
saw. Over the years I have also been interested in fishing, hunting, mountain
climbing, skiing, caving, abalone diving, and backpacking. I am also an avid
duplicate bridge player going to several tournaments a year. I am hopelessly
addicted to McRocks.