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

From: Gerald Flaherty <grf2_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Jan 30 20:20:18 2005
Message-ID: <01bb01c50732$fbbeec80$6401a8c0_at_Dell>

Robert,
Thanks for sharing yours and your partners marvelous experience in Ohman and
for highlighting your early years to provide the necessary perspective.
Indeed, as others have noted, you have the makings of a very readable
author.
Your intrigueing beginning, equally catchy middle and finality, leaves one
with an appetite for more. MORE!
Jerry Flaherty
----- 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 08:19:59 PM PST