On Peace River it is a thing to pan for fossils. We have seen people doing it since we got here. On the first day this guy was telling me that the river is brackish water and they find sharks teeth. I was a little skeptical and he showed me his share of the booty for the day. They really are sharks teeth, but they are black. We get back to the rig and Dennis says, no way those were really sharks teeth and that water is not brackish. So we looked it up. Thank you, Google. This part of Florida was under water for millions of years. About 30 million years ago the sea levels began to drop due to global cooling. An island of limestone emerged and we call that Florida today. Anyway, these shark teeth have been here for millions of years and have turned black because they have absorbed the minerals in the river. People also find many arrow heads, mammoth teeth and other ice age fossils. Who knew???
Anyway, I decided I couldn’t stay on this river for two weeks without giving it a try. Most folks will take a piece of screen and attach it to a square of PVC pipe or something similar and put pool noodles around the edge so that they will float. Then they shovel, or sometimes they have those digger baskets that you see people using metal detectors with, dig up some mud and sift it in their screen. Dennis refused to get that high tech for me so we took my metal colander down to the river and I just scooped up the mud with it and sifted away. He was supposed to bring a shovel, but alas, he did not.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
We will be heading north tomorrow on our trek back to Texas. I will really miss the people at this park. They have made our stay here amazing. Especially Archie and Eva. I hope to see them again real soon.
Anyway, I decided I couldn’t stay on this river for two weeks without giving it a try. Most folks will take a piece of screen and attach it to a square of PVC pipe or something similar and put pool noodles around the edge so that they will float. Then they shovel, or sometimes they have those digger baskets that you see people using metal detectors with, dig up some mud and sift it in their screen. Dennis refused to get that high tech for me so we took my metal colander down to the river and I just scooped up the mud with it and sifted away. He was supposed to bring a shovel, but alas, he did not.
I really should have worn a swim suit so I could just sit there in the water. I was squatting and am obviously too old to do that so I just kept bending and digging. It worked just fine. Here is a picture of my haul for the 15 or so minutes that my attention span allowed me to pan for fossils.
We got back on the river today. Archie, Mitch, Pete (the poker game runner), Mike (the spiritual guru) and Dennis and I put in up river and kayaked back to Thousand Trails. This time Dennis turned on his sport app (not sure which one it is) that maps our trail and gives us audible updates on our distance and speed. We traveled a little over six miles in about 4 hours. The river is down quite a bit since it still has not rained here. Dennis never ran aground, but I did twice. I am a dare devil and take chances. Dennis, not so much.
There was an Osprey flying with us almost the entire way. He would go ahead of us and land in a tree and when we passed he would fly ahead of us again. He swooped down at one point and I thought he was trying to get Archie's Trump 2020 hat! It is brightly colored red white and blue. He also swooped down in front of Dennis once and looked like he tried to get a fish. Sadly, he came up empty. I got one picture of the darned bird after trying numerous times and it isn't a very good shot. But believe me when I tell you the wing span of this bird was at least five feet and we first thought it was a bald eagle because of the white head, which you cannot see in my stupid picture.
The picture below, from the web, shows how majestic this bird really was.
We see many turtles and gators on this river so I wont bore you with all of that again, but we found a juvenile gator, maybe 3-4 foot long, sharing a log with a turtle. Who knows, maybe they were besties. Stranger things have happened.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
On our bike ride around the park we went to see Mike, the spiritual guru. He is on the other side of the park he calls the leper colony. He is an interesting fellow. He has put out a Labyrinth at his campsite and invites all who are interested to walk it.
I decided to walk it and he began playing a Celtic sounding flute. He instructed me to go towards the center with intention (prayer or hope), enter the center and give this to your higher power and walk back away with thankfulness. I did. I can say that I did a Labyrinth now. Cool. He is a very interesting man. He is extremely spiritual and is a firm believer in meditation and being one with nature. He spends a great deal of time in nature alone, but takes his Labyrinth to fairs and festivals to introduce them to others. Extremely kind and caring man. Interesting to spend time with him.
We will be heading north tomorrow on our trek back to Texas. I will really miss the people at this park. They have made our stay here amazing. Especially Archie and Eva. I hope to see them again real soon.
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