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

From: Walter Branch <branchw_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Jan 30 17:07:20 2005
Message-ID: <00b301c50717$68125000$6101a8c0_at_launchmodem.com>

Hi Robert,

Thank for sharing your story. I love meteorite stories!
2000 meteorites. Man, that is great!

More later would be fine with me.

I hope all your hunters are taking notes on your trips. I for
one will be first in line when the book(s) is published.

-Walter Branch

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Woolard" <meteoritefinder_at_yahoo.com>
To: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2005 4:02 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Mike Farmer's Oman Team ,2005


> 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 05:02:35 PM PST