[meteorite-list] Mike Farmer's Oman Team ,2005

From: Robert Woolard <meteoritefinder_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Jan 30 16:02:53 2005
Message-ID: <20050130210212.69892.qmail_at_web41524.mail.yahoo.com>

Hello List,

    I know I enjoy reading about other people's
trips/finds/adventures/etc., so I hope you guys might
like to hear a little about our trip to Oman. Please
forgive me in my still-rampant-excitement, but I
really wanted to share at least this bit with you all.
(Perhaps more later on ?????--- if I don't get too may
raspberries over this??? )

   I, along with my best friend Jerry, had the great
pleasure of being the other team members of Mike
Farmer's meteorite hunting expedition to Oman a couple
of weeks ago. Man what a trip!

   What I'm about to write is NOT meant to sound like
I'm bragging. I hasten to say right off the bat that I
feel like I've been truly blessed, and I've been
lucky. But I will say that I've spent the great
majority of my life, rather successfully I think I can
add, "hunting for things" and had developed at least a
modest degree of skill in doing that. Let me explain.

   When I was only 7 years old, I began hunting for
turtle nests on the Mississippi River levees in
Northeast Arkansas with my Mom and Dad. We literally
found thousands of eggs that we would rebury at home
to wait for the turtles to hatch. Then we would
uncover them and sell the turtles. This extra income
helped a lot, as my Dad worked as a garage mechanic in
a small town for $37.50 a week for most of my early
childhood.

  When I was 14, I started hunting the plowed fields
around home where I worked chopping cotton, for
arrowheads. Together with my parents, we found over
8,000. Then years ago, on the very first meteorite
hunting trip I ever went on, Jerry and I found almost
700 specimens. Over the course of 4 more trips, we
increased that number to over 2,000.

   (The reason I'm saying all the above is to make the
point that I can truthfully say I've had a lot of
experience in looking for things on the ground, and
hopefully developed a good eye for that.)

   But don't forget luck. I'll never forget the day I
found out about the PV fall. My wife LITERALLY urged
me to go to Portales saying : "Go! Definitely go! IF
anyone can find one, it will be you!" Two hours after
arriving, I walked upon the 34Kg main mass of PV.

  Finding the PV was a turning point in my life. I
can't even begin to list all the wonderful doors that
opened. One of the very best consequences was the
opportunity to meet a lot of you guys, either in
person, or thru the list.

   Mike was one of the people that I met because of
the PV. Through that first meeting and a few other
wild coincidences that life had in store for us (one
being that one of Mike's best friends and old army
buddy, Gary Loyd, only lives about 25 miles from me
and on top of that MAY actually be related to me on my
mother's side of the family) I eventually found myself
being invited by him to go on this latest expedition.
  
   Now, with my previous experience (and luck)
mentioned above, I felt like I would have a pretty
doggone good chance of showing that young pup Mike
what this old timer could do! And sure enough, the
first 3 meteorites we found were found by yours truly!
Hah! Just as I knew it would be! I'm pretty sure even
Mike thought he was about to get a whipping.

   W R O N G !!! He struck back with a vengeance,
finding about the next 8 or so in a row. And he never
let up. He kept finding the most every day, day in and
day out. Mind you, he did this while using one hand to
drive, another to hold his GPS and his walkie-talkie
and his map, while all I had to do was just drive and
search while keeping him in sight off to my right or
left. And he not only found the most number of
meteorites, but as I'm sure all of you have read on
the list, he hopefully will be proven to have found
the very BEST by far! Heck, he even found one in the
dark while driving thru the desert at probably 25mph
just by the headlights on his truck!! I'll have to say
the "young pup" showed me a thing or two!

  The whole trip was a fantastic experience, NO matter
what the final results of any lab tests are. All I can
say is--- once again---- I was lucky. Lucky to be able
to share in another meteorite hunting adventure along
with two great guys.

  OK, so for better or worse, there you have at least
a little bit of the tale. I hope this is "read in the
light" that I meant for it to be, and doesn't end up
sounding "dorky" or self-congratulating. I hope you
all will understand my excitement in wanting to share
these feelings, or will forgive me if you don't. And I
also wanted to thank Mike and Jerry for helping to
make the trip possible. I couldn't hardly think of two
better hunting partners!

  Sincerely,
  Robert Woolard

         























                
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Received on Sun 30 Jan 2005 04:02:12 PM PST