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First real outing in two years!
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,198 ✭✭✭✭✭
I had that recurring dream again recently.
In it, I have the ability to walk along a sidewalk and comb my fingers through the soil as though it was dry, loose beach sand, and I scoop up big fistfuls of coins, both old and new.
Ever since I had the dream again last week, I've had a powerful hankering to dig a piece of silver. I set my sights on an attainable goal: just a Merc dime would've made me happy.
After detecting all day, I had almost a dollar in modern change and three Wheat cents (1940, 1947, 1958-D).
I'm worn out. No silver, but at least I got out.
In it, I have the ability to walk along a sidewalk and comb my fingers through the soil as though it was dry, loose beach sand, and I scoop up big fistfuls of coins, both old and new.
Ever since I had the dream again last week, I've had a powerful hankering to dig a piece of silver. I set my sights on an attainable goal: just a Merc dime would've made me happy.
After detecting all day, I had almost a dollar in modern change and three Wheat cents (1940, 1947, 1958-D).
I'm worn out. No silver, but at least I got out.
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<< <i>Glad to see you're back in action. Are you still using the ACE 350? >>
Took the Garrett 350 out for its first full day, yes. It's a GTA series, not the Ace series, so a GTA 350, in other words. A GTA 500 was my primary machine for about a decade, circa 1993-2004 or so.
I miss several of the features of my bigger GTI 2500, but though the 350 is a much more basic model it still has what it takes.
Unfortunately the real question is whether I myself physically have what it takes. (Yes, but only barely.) After yesterday I'm still hurting from all the bending, stooping, squatting, kneeling, and digging. Previously I had thought that the "detector elbow" I used to get was due to the weight and balance of the 2500, but after a day with the lighter 350 I find that's not necessarily so. My own body and its woeful lack of fitness seems to be the problem.
Kind of disappointing to struggle valiantly for a modest piece of silver like a common Merc dime and then not even achieve that, BUT it was nice to get out again. Just as it was on my last day's hunting in England, it was a grey overcast day in the low 60s with a misty drizzle in the air. That may sound wretched for some, but I like cool, grey days for hunting, as long as it's not actually raining. Yesterday's drizzle was so fine that it didn't pose a problem and felt good on my face. Beats the heck out of steamy hot humidity, sweat, mosquitoes, and gnats. With October here we're finally coming back into my preferred outdoor climate.
I didn't find the Wheats until the end of the day. Had actually quit around 1:30 and driven most of the way home when I forced myself to turn around and give it a couple more hours to attain my Merc dime goal. Went to a Victorian neighborhood where I had lived as a teenager. There are some extra wide grassy strips there between the sidewalk and street, and one in particular had always struck me as smelling strongly of silver, though I had never found any there. It's one of those spots where you know the goodies are- you might never find 'em, but you know they're there. Two of the three Wheats were within three feet of each other and about 4" deep. I also found a thick, heavy Shriners' emblem which is probably solid brass and must've been mounted on a car.
PS- oh boy, what I wouldn't give for a dig day like pcgs69's typical outing. I think his posts have kept the lights on in this sleepy little forum.
PPS- readjusting my dig philosophy to "business as usual" after the highs of checking an England trip off my "bucket list" has been difficult, and is probably the #2 reason behind physical unfitness that's kept me out of the field for two years. Ah, well. S'pose I'll have to come back in with baby steps, right? There is, after all, that gold coin still waiting to be checked off the bucket list...
Menomonee Falls Wisconsin USA
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistr...dset.aspx?s=68269&ac=1">Musky 1861 Mint Set
Looking forward to more hunts and more finds!
And not all of my hunts are flowing with silver, haha. Got out on Saturday to a corn field that's a 45 minute drive each way. Was there probably 4 or 5 hours. Came home with a Roosevelt dime, a copper memorial, and a 95% busted IHC. I think it's 186? but it's really toasted. Plus, gave the property owners a $25 gift card for the opportunity. So that was a -$30 day.
It is now Thursday morning and my kneecaps still hurt if I press on them. The tendons in my right arm are better, though.
Maybe I pushed myself too hard in the quest for silver that day. Should've limited it to four hours or so.
But if I'd gone home at 1:30 PM like I started to do, I wouldn't have dug those Wheats.
And where would I be without three more crusty Wheat cents, eh?
Three cents poorer, that's where I'd be.
PPC has been telling me about knee pads for probably 2 years now. He uses them and says they work wonders. Eventually I'll get my stubborn butt to buy some because that hard ground hurts.
I do have kneepads, as it happens, but haven't seen them since England, so they're gawd knows where in the clutter heaps. Thus I did not wear them the other day, and wished I had.
I was just wondering about you that day. Been thinking about giving you a call.
If you're up for some coin swappage, I might be interested in another 2500. I've still got the SunRay inline probe from my old one.
Another local friend of mine has a like-new Fisher CZ3D for 400 bucks, which sounded interesting. But he's not a coin guy and I don't have that kind of cash right now.
I was down on the sidewalk strips in the 600 block of Dartmouth Street, BTW. And did the sidewalk strips around the courthouse square earlier. Haven't done much detecting north of Gloucester Street.