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A
Texas Odyssey
My wife (Regina) and I headed out early on July 9th for Austin, TX. Herb
was to be flying in to Austin that afternoon around 3:45. Having already
made a hotel reservation in Round Rock, TX, our plan was to check in
early, have dinner somewhere nearby, and then go do a bit of rock hounding
around Austin before going to Larry's that evening to meet Herb, and visit
with Larry and Elisa. The trip to Round Rock was fairly uneventful and we
arrived there around 2:30. After checking in to the hotel, we went to
Luby's for dinner, and then headed for the south side of Austin to a creek
behind an apartment complex just one-half mile off of I-35, literally in
the heart of Austin. This particular spot is one a fellow club member told
me about to find ammonites in the creek bed. Well, I didn't find any
ammonites, maybe I was not in the right place on the creek? What I did
find however, was about a dozen Exogyra Ponderosa oysters, ranging in size
from 3" to around 6" in overall length.
In addition to the Exogyra, I also found some very nice flint nodules, and
a few flakes of lithic material from a large scraper or hand-ax, along
with the hand-ax itself, up on a steep bank above the creek.
It seems strange that such lithic artifacts could be found in the heart of
Austin, TX, but this particular spot is still somewhat wild and
undeveloped due to the terrain along the creek, which is situated between
this apartment complex, and a secondary road. A relatively small area
inhabited only by snakes, bugs, and a few homeless citizens of Austin. I
poked around the area until about 5:00, then headed back to the hotel to
clean up before heading to Leander to Larry's place.
We arrived in Leander around 6:30 or so, and found Larry and Herb sitting
in the living room BS'ing like old Army buddies. I immediately recognized
Herb from photos. After introductions, we sat down and talked for some
time about this and that, mostly rockhounding experiences, but I think
maybe some politics and other subjects might have meandered through the
conversation from time to time. I gave Herb his package from Mary Siniard,
and one from me with a nice cluster of hourglass Selenite xls from Jet,
OK.
After making plans for the following day's hunt, Regina and I said
goodnight and headed back to Round Rock to the hotel to retire for the
night. The following morning, Larry and Herb picked me up at the hotel
around 7:15, and we headed off to Falls City, TX to meet Denise and Tim
Bicknell, The plan was to go walking the county roads looking for agatized
and opalized wood. Regina stayed at the hotel, as Elisa planned to pick
her up for a day of shopping and visiting while we were out pursuing our
hobby. The pet wood from this area is remarkable in it's diversity of
color, it's fluorescence under SWUV, and it's wonderful state of
silicification. Although the pieces are relatively small, ranging in size
from one-half inch to a couple of pounds, it's some of the most beautiful
silicified wood I've had the pleasure to collect, with the orange pieces
being the most prized for their color and translucency. After meeting up
with Tim and Denise in Falls City, we headed a few miles down the road to
collect.
Let me say that knowing Herb has perhaps the most desirable place to
collect as anyone I know, it still does not surprise me in the least that
Herb would make the find of the day at the very first stop. Within the
first few minutes, Herb had located an agatized tooth, most likely
Pleistocene horse, Great find Herb! We walked several miles during the day
at various locations along the county roads, collecting numerous pieces of
pet wood. Herb and Larry kept accusing me of trying to walk back to
Oklahoma at every stop, frequently having to drive back and pick me up a
mile or more down the road from the truck whenever they were ready to go
find a new spot. Hey, what can I say? You know there is another good piece
of pet wood just a few feet further down the road...
Below are some of the specimens of wood collected including a colorful
small piece of palm wood.
 
 
 
With the
weather threatening rain, we decided early in the afternoon to go just
down the road to the Pfiel mine and collect some fluorescent calcite,
quartz, and gypsum spar from the tailing piles. We found some great
specimens of quartz xls on fluorescent calcite rhombs, with the best
specimen being found by Denise, a large rhomb around 1/2 to 3/4 inch
across sitting in a bed of smaller 1/8 inch rhombs, a wonderful honey
colored calcite, way to go D!
The entire time we were there the thunderstorms were just off to the south
of us and several times we thought it was going to pour down rain, but the
storms stayed just out of range of us the entire time.
Below are some of the calcite specimens collected. The calcite glows white
under SWUV, and phosphoresces for a few seconds while the matrix glows a
pastel pink.
 
Eventually we loaded up and went to find a few more roads to walk on the
way back. Although it sprinkled a few times on us, it never did rain
enough to send us packing. These later stops paid off well, as some of the
best material was found. At one such stop, while inspecting a hole which I
suspected was probably dug by a feral hog, I was mildly surprised when I
stepped up to the edge of the hole to peer in... As I did so, I noticed
there were two more smaller holes back behind the larger one, and
apparently, someone else had already staked a claim there. I stepped up to
the hole to look, and suddenly there was a flash of movement above the
hole, and a very sinister hissing rattle! Well, I didn't think about it,
instinct made me jump backward away from the hole, as I did, I saw a very
healthy western diamondback rattlesnake literally fall into the hole from
the bank above! Fully four and a half feet long (more or less), he was
kind of upset at being disturbed, (and possibly a bit embarrassed at
having been so startled as to fall into the hole) and raised up out of the
hole to hiss and rattle some more. By this time I was trying to count the
rattles (there were eight), and after showing off for a bit, the rattler
decided to retire to his burrow in one of the holes above the one he fell
into. I suspect he was taking advantage of the larger hole as a way to
capture small rodents that might unwarily wander within striking distance,
as I nearly did. Now of course, a few people had cute things to say about
Okies and Texas rattlers, a few nickname suggestions came up as well...
Me? I learned to be more cautious when inspecting roadside holes in
south Texas...
We eventually
headed back to whence we came that morning, after dropping me off at the
hotel, Larry and Herb headed back to Leander to get the smoker going and
prepare for dinner. I hit the showers, and then headed for Leander myself
within the hour. We all met at Larry's for a wonderful dinner of
marinated, smoked burgers, and all the fixings. After dinner, we all sat
down and exchanged rocks and such, we all got to pick out a few of Herb's
hand-painted owls, a very unique gift from Herb, and ones that will be
treasured. Later in the evening we prepared for a special treat. Mr. B
brought his Bonseki kit all the way from Japan. We all waited in
anticipation to see a Bonseki master at work, and let me say, if you
haven't seen the process of creating one of these works of art, you
should. Herb proved his skill at the art of Bonseki, and having explained
that it took thirteen years of weekly lessons to achieve the title of
Sensei, it was well earned, and well learned by Mr. B. It was a real treat
to witness this most ancient of cultural arts.
We spent a
while longer visiting, and making plans for the next day to meet at I-Hop
for breakfast in Round Rock, not far from our first collecting spot of the
day at a road construction site for possible ammonites. After a great
breakfast we all loaded up and headed for the construction area. After
spending an hour or more walking about looking for fossils (we didn't find
any ammonites, but we did find a few Texigraphea (devil's toenails)
oysters, and a couple of gastropods, along with some interesting calcite
specimens) we decided to head toward Killeen, TX and a couple of road cuts
to search for echinoids.
Below are a
couple of the Exogyra Ponderosa from Austin that I gave Herb before we
left the construction area.
Arriving at the
first cut, we piled out and soon found an abundance of well preserved
Texigraphea. Further searching turned up some other oyster varieties such
as Lopha Subovata (Shumard, 1854), and soon even a few ammonite fragments,
gastropods, and eventually a few Hermiaster Whitei (Clarke, 1891)
echinoids (heart urchins). At one point Herb was so happy, he was singing
a song about finding graphea (it could have been the heat though, and he
might have even been dancing on the side of the steep roadcut at the same
time!). Larry was starting to feel the heat as well, unlike the day
before, there was no cloud cover and temps were in the mid-nineties with a
heat index over a hundred. After a couple of more road cuts, Herb found
the most complete ammonite specimen, a good four inches plus. I eventually
found a single specimen of spiny echinoid about two and one half inches in
diameter. Eventually, it was time to part ways with Denise and Tim, as
they needed to head back to Houston, after some group photos, we bid them
farewell and saw them on their way.
Left to right:
Me (Sgt. Richards, AKA Dances with Rattlesnakes), Mr. "B",
Larry, Regina, Denise, and Tim.
What a bunch of
yokels!
Herb, Larry,
Regina and myself decided to check a couple of more road cuts before
calling it a day. We found a few more specimens worthy of collecting and
eventually it was time for Regina and I to bid adieu as well, with a seven
hour drive ahead of us. We took a couple of more photos for posterity
before saying our goodbyes, and hitting the road.
After a stop
for a cold drink, we headed for the Oklahoma line. Somewhere south of OKC
I managed to catch a draft from a couple of cars that were running ninety
most of the way to Tulsa, so the last leg of the drive home went very
quickly.
I can't express
enough how honored I feel to have friends like Herb, Larry, and Denise,
and all of the members of McRocks. The past couple of years since Tom K.
invited me to the site has had major impact on my life, my demeanor, and
most decidedly my state of mind. Thanks again to Larry and Elisa for their
wonderful hospitality in opening up their home to us, showing us some
wonderful collecting, and the fantastic marinated burgers! Thanks to Herb
for just being Herb, a truly wonderful, gifted, and giving
individual who shares his experiences with all, he has led a fairy tale
existence of exciting and interesting circumstances, and yet never loses
that sense of wonder for simple things. Thanks to Tim and Denise for
sharing their time with us as well, I'm proud to call them all my friends.
©2004
Virgil G. Richards
(AKA: Dances With
Rattlesnakes)
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