[meteorite-list] Park Forest, Wonderland...Day 1

From: Rob Wesel <Nakhladog_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:10:05 2004
Message-ID: <02c001c2fdec$7d0d0670$4e9fe70c_at_GOLIATH>

Hello all, a few words from my trip:

Having heard of the PF fall and reading the posts from the dealers on the
scene, I found myself completely unable to stand idly by any longer. I had
made several calls from home to Chicago and must have sent 400 emails to
unknown Chicago residents in an attempt to do some business from home but to
no avail. Last minute travel is expensive and I was torn between the high
cost and the thrill of the hunt. After deliberation I decided to cowboy-up
and make the trip. I contacted my buddy Dave, a non-collector but
adventurous sort, and he was up for the trip so I bought him a ticket too
figuring it was a small price to pay for a second set of eyes that would not
want anything but the experience in return. We left Friday the 4th.

We arrived at Ohare around 1 pm and our Hotel in nearby Matteson, only 10
minutes from PF, by 3 pm. I placed a call to list member and local resident
Steve Witt who was tending to a jetlagged Rob Elliot. We agreed to meet up
later. After settling in and orienting ourselves we set out. I had spoken
with list member and local resident Jason Phillips about areas to search and
he pointed me in the direction of Osco Drug so that's where we went. Weather
was in full force, torrential rain, lightning thunder. After only a half
hour we had recovered 25.7 grams in five pieces, enough to almost cover the
trip. Adrenaline was at peak levels.

I need to speak for a moment, however, about the difficulty of searching an
urban site, in particular the asphalt. The asphalt in Chicago is different
from any I have ever seen in that it is mixed with a lighter, almost white
rock of some type. It is everywhere and what your eyes see is material that
looks remarkably like a chipped chondrite with the fusion crust fragmented
off to expose the lighter chondritic material. These sit in street gutters
and parking lots, thousands of them.

We went across the street to a vacant lot and worked a quick grid. I had
distanced myself a bit from Dave and looked back to see him speaking with a
man in a van for a time. Next I hear a whistle from Dave and see the van
heading down the road and toward my location, he approached and stopped. He
told us not to bother searching this lot because he had searched it
thoroughly himself. "Find any?" I asked.
"Not here, but yes"
He told me he was keen to sell the piece he had found one week ago, the day
after the fall, on the sidewalk. We went back to his place and he showed me
a piece the likes of which I had never seen. A fragment with fusion crust
that was scaled in nature, very sharp to the touch, if you ran it up your
forearm it would draw blood. The interior was jet black, dense, minimal
fresh metal visible, no chondrules to be seen, looking similar to secondary
crust. I spent much time on this and was reluctant to buy because it was so
different I questioned it's authenticity. We discussed price and he accepted
my first offer, which surprised the Hell out of me because it was well below
the reports I was hearing over the last week. He also agreed to a full
refund for 24 hours while I got a second opinion.

It was getting dark and PF is no place to be when the sun sets, though it is
surprising peaceful by day, so we went back to the hotel. I knew Roman
Jirasek was due in soon so I placed a call. About an hour and a half later
he arrived with his lovely wife Lori. When it comes to Roman, what you see
is what you get, a well natured straight shooter with all the bravado of a
true Canadian. Lori, a true companion on the road of life, following her
husband to the ends of the Earth to search for space rocks in the cold and
the wet, never a complaint, only joy in seeing her husband's ear to ear
grin.

We met up that evening with Steve Witt and his sister Maggie who lives
minutes away from PF, Sir Rob Elliot, and Gregory Wilson, list member and
long time friend to Rob Elliot. I will speak more of them later but now is
as good a time as any to bring up Steve Witt. Steve has more energy than
squirrel on speed, a man so filled with excitement and awe that he has not
surrendered to sleep for many days. What more could any meteorite enthusiast
ever want, a fall literally in their back yard. He was immediately on the
scene in PF and recovered a great deal of material, both found and
purchased. We know now of the near lynching and police involvement from his
earlier posts but Steve has a heart of gold and was holding up quite well
for someone stretched so thin this last week. He will prosper for many years
to come as a result of this fall. Imagine folks, how do you get your head
around something of this magnitude when everyone else goes home and the
strewnfield is yours to manage?

Over dinner I was able to pass around my new finds and the piece I
purchased. The finds were examined by all and confirming nods and
congratulations were given by all but Steve, a clairvoyance that will come
to light later on. The purchased piece was of immediate interest due to it's
unusual nature and I learned that there was only one other such piece found.
We ate and drank for several hours before turning in.

--
Rob Wesel
------------------
We are the music makers...and we are the dreamers of the dreams.
Willy Wonka, 1971

Received on Tue 08 Apr 2003 12:32:46 PM PDT