[meteorite-list] 99th Anniversary Holbrook Hunt

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:46:24 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <1311144384.93412.YahooMailClassic_at_web39303.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Hello All,

Well, I've finally unloaded the truck and downloaded my camera images of our trip to the highly successful "99th Year Anniversary" Holbrook Meteorite Hunt. After Moni got home from work we stayed-up late last night reviewing all of the images. I'm sure glad that Ben Fisler's son, Erik, is such a good photographer, and that they took time from finding all of those meteorites in order to record this "event". Because, I think they'll be talking about this "group hunt" years from now. But, if I want to make any more predictions, I should save them for a future article,
  

So, a big "THANK YOU" goes to Ruben Garcia (who is always the first person to volunteer to be host for any social gathering), for taking a casual comment about a "99 year anniversary" and to turn it into a fun, group meteorite hunt (not that Ruben needs an excuse to socialize). And the same "Thank you" goes to Jim & Wendy Wooddell for their logistical support and managing of the daily (and nightly) activities, which insured a successful social event.

And to all of those who have taken the time to share their images and videos of the Holbrook Hunt with us, a big "Thank you", as well. Although this group hunt has been ably documented by many of those in attendance, I still wish I had taken more images while hunting in the strewnfield. Especially of people making their very first meteorite find, because this only happens once in each finders lifetime. And to be able to re-live this event (even vicariously) through its recording, would be reinvigorating to the soul of every meteorite hunter.

But I did record the group activities the evening before and after the Saturday hunt. And that is what I would like to comment on here. Upon arriving at the Motel 6 on Friday evening and entering into the central courtyard, it was as if we had registered for a symposium, because we encountered several dozen people standing around in small circles engaged in animated discussions (talking about meteorite-recovery). All that was missing were the name-tags.

A good percentage of these people had never found a meteorite, and a few had never gone on a meteorite hunt before coming to Holbrook. Some of these neophytes had brought rocks they had found with the hope that one of the more experienced hunters would deem their "hopeful" as being a meteorite. All of the others were intently listening, trying to learn why these meteor-wrongs were not meteorites. The crowd around Ruben Garcia was particularly large. It seemed like the meteor-wrong discussions were going to last all night.

Finally, almost out of desperation, Ruben brought out his collection of Holbrook stones and conducted an impromptu free-clinic on "Meteorite Identification". I feel that Ruben's extra effort in educating, by conducting this class on meteorite ID, was a factor in the overall success of the hunt the next day. After Ruben's free-seminar, conversations over dinner would be centered on meteorites. After dinner, small groups would form to continue discussing various meteorite-related subjects long into the night.

Then the next evening, even after a whole day of meteorite-hunting, everyone pitched-in to make the awards ceremony as memorable as making your first find. Jim and Wendy found the time to make Certificates of Achievement for all 47 participants, as well as, the trophy awards, not the least of which was the award bestowed upon Ruben for his unique social skills which made possible this anniversary-hunt as a historical day in meteorite-recovery.

After Ruben accepted his award, he and Erik personally awarded each meteorite hunter with their Certificate, and in addition, if that person hadn't made a find that day, they were given an original Ruben Garcia genuine Holbrook meteorite along with limited-edition Mr.Meteorite ID Card & CoA (which were much larger than any of the fragments that I found)!!
By my count, there were 19 people who were presented with a Holbrook meteorite by Ruben!

As I mentioned earlier, I have some images from this event. I plan on uploading those and making them available on-line at a later time. Just wanted to add my 2yen and comment on some of the other activities that centered on the "99th Year Anniversary" Holbrook Meteorite Hunt.

Bob V.
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[meteorite-list] 99th Anniversary Holbrook Hunt Video!
Jim Wooddell jimwooddell at gmail.com
Tue Jul 19 15:45:57 EDT 2011

Hi all!
I added /updated pictures of the Holbrook hunt!
They are in my Scrap Book under 7/16/2011
http://desertsunburn.no-ip.org

Jim Wooddell

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On Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 6:37 PM, Ruben Garcia <mrmeteorite at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Worked all day on the video - it's done!
> http://www.mr-meteorite.net/99thanniversaryhunt.htm
>
> Even if you are NOT a "meteorite hunter" type you may want to watch
> this video just to see how the largest 240 gram specimen was found
> this last Saturday (July 16th, 2011)
>
> P.s. I just talked to Ben and Erik Fisler and
> they will be posting photos soon!
>
> --
> Rock On!
>
> Ruben Garcia
Received on Wed 20 Jul 2011 02:46:24 AM PDT