[meteorite-list] West, Texas meteorite update

From: Michael Farmer <meteoriteguy_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:09:13 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <31207.70288.qm_at_web110602.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

Back in the hotel in Waco tonight after a long day. I was in Fort Worth last night, taking Moritz Karl back to the airport for his long overdue flight back to Germany and to have breakfast and visit with Dr. Arthur Ehlmann at TCU. I presented Art a 13 gram complete West meteorite today, for the Monnig Collection. I could not bear the thought of TCU without a piece of this meteorite on display. We printed out the find photos and when I left they were preparing to get it ready for display in their "New Acquisitions" section. People had already been calling and stopping by asking if they had any of it. Now they do.

I then drove as fast as I could back to West to begin hunting again. Robert and Shauna called me just as I was arriving and told me they gained access to hunt a parcel of land we calculated was in the middle of the flight path. I got there, changed clothes and talked to them for a few minutes, then started hunting. I was returning to the car less than 5 minutes later and found a 69 gram perfect complete stone on the edge of the gravel driveway. It had embedded itself in the soft soil of the fence-line. Everyone else got skunked there as we hunted for hours after that and nothing more was found.

People are already dropping out like flies today, as several I spoke to said tomorrow was their last day. Meteorite hunting is not that easy sometimes, but at least virtually everyone has stones to take home, and heads full of great memories.

I myself plan to remain another week, as I can't stand the thought of these perfect meteorites being lost to the plow, rain, or growing grass. Anything not found now will never be found.

More tomorrow.
Michael Farmer
Received on Tue 24 Feb 2009 10:09:13 PM PST