Up Ta Camp

[rvpopeye]

 

SOHNox

I worked all day yesterday writing my summer finds post and  my unfinished draft vaporized overnight . ?  

So here's the cliff notes.

I found a lot of stuff. And I'm going back out now.So it's not finished.

 

[rvpopeye]

 HERE SHE BE YA BUNCHA SCALLYWAGS ! DONE.?‍☠️

2023 wrap up of fairground diggings... and YES ! I'm gonna dig trash ! (I filled most of a 5 gal bucket) 

(The Full Monty Finds Posting) 

JAN-Mid APRIL 

Posted some above already but the full story here.  

800/12x15 , Park1 ,sens 21, recovery 4,,switched to the 6" when it thawed out completely and upped recovery to 6. 

 First target is a pearl earring  .Nox ID# 9-10  t'was bling. (This one was actually in '22.)

#1 in '23 was a RING !Nox ID# 22-23  AND it's something I've wanted since I was 13 ! A Playboy Bunny Ring ! ,,,,,(of bling.) I shall now be the most interesting man in the world !     NO ? arrrrrgh!  OK , I'll just toss it in with the fake pearl then ...

The Hall of Bling 

Next target was finally "something good"ID# 26  ? a pendant of 925  !   The word SISTER on the front and a glorious 925 on the back ....Silver #1  yup . yup .

Soon followed by another 925 in the form of an emerald earring with a celtic knot design.ID# 18    That's  #2 and in the 925 slot in my tackle tray box !  Yeah , had to get something eventually.. and not much later came #3 ! A tiny 925 RING that ALSO had the celtic knot  ID# 17  !  ALL in the thawed out area around my rig that I had kept shoveled off letting the orb do the dirt thawing work. A job absolutely worth doing now  !

The class of 925 freshman class  pic. That's the Finger Tiara and the rosie from the beach/camp in September for scale.

 

The bracelet. it had grungy Jethro's Grandma (of Pearl) so I dug it out and plan on mixing some crushed turquoise in clear epoxy to fill the depressions.......

A generous collection of the usual suspects of the junk variety has begun accumulating since hard ground mode.  MAKE NO MISTAKE . Junk Happens. It might take more than one !   

 

 Just the bottle caps.

  A few of the pull tabs and some giant nails

Mid APRIL-JUNE

Moved to camping area.

800/Park1 , sens 20 , recovery 6

First day I swung over the empty campsites finding a string of led lights under the leaves. I wrapped it around the power post and plugged it in  so the owner could see it when they returned (they didn't so I have a new outdoor light . )  AND then a key that fit my rig ! LOL (there's only two unless a locksmith is involved).

The football bleachers and sidelines were the first big area I covered.. Got a pocket of clad and some good invisidigging  practice,  but no luck finding the golden trophy ...will try again later.

The main parking field is up next ~2 acres. 

First target, and a GIANT beep (forgot the ID and it got tossed when I moved back to the storage lot.) turned out to be half of a trailer? leaf spring . (Too narrow to make a pick out of ,,,a good thing too , it was 1/2" thick !) Anything good you may ask ? 

You bet ! on the second day a garbled beep with bouncy ID#s 19-36 but it was shallow so investigating the source , I pop a bracelet  , it was opened and kinda bent explaining the iffy reaction .( ID# still bouncy after I bent it back and clipped it together)  A 925 on the inside  so #4 on the scoreboard , oooie   

 

Plenty of parking field still to go but I found out the carney arrival to their camp/ride staging area behind me was imminent so I moved back there ....

 Carney camp:

Lots of pennies everywhere ! A few clad quarters and dimes . Then I got a jumpy ID again . and LOUD ,  pinpoint found it quick, (must be close to the surface) , just use the hori....

~8" down and it still not out ! the hori isn't getting there , hole too small . I  pull out the spade and move back a few inches  , push and CLICK ! TOO close !  , It was a knife ! Folding Buck clone and totally roached in rust,   the click was the shovel hitting the open blade and butterflying the end of the handle popping the rivet ! Oh well ,it was roached anyway.... ,but on the way back to my site I spotted a nice hatchet at the base of a big oak with two chunks of bark laying next to it ! ???     I tossed it in the trunk next to the knife after I put a nice edge on the old tree thrower ! And nobody claimed it all summer . I gave it to a friend who you'll learn more about in September..

The knife and just the edge of the hatchet...  

JULY 

Nada, ,,,mom was in hospice and passed so no time and didn't get detecting much at all . Took care of business and realized I needed to get going on the rig restore now or I'd be stuck here.  Don't remember much else. But the rig is almost done .On the inside . On autopilot.  

Still got stuck here though , and I hatesk ta shovelsk snowsk  !  (I wrote a song but I'll spare ya ,,,this time.)

 Oh , I did find a gold coin !  I almost croaked but no biggie LOL it was "nordic gold" a modern 10 cent euro from Greece .   ID#20

10 euro cent GOLD ! and my hippie van.

AUGUST 

Got a few more things done in the rig and finally got back to a regular detector schedule . The finds were more clad and a sight found Milwaukee USB C cable over by the football field parking area for the first 2 weeks , but next was......  

Fair Week: I was up by the info booth and grabbed a schedule and whaddayaknow ? One of my old bandmates from the late 90s was doing a solo in the second spot on opening day!     I found his website and got his contact #  and pushed the buttons. 10am !   Good show ! He got better over the years !..

I got up early and decided to just go over and detect handicapped parking while the gate booth was moved across the entrance road.  STOTD second target of the day following a clad dime was a very LOUD ID# 34-36              6" down.. A HUGE coin ! Brushing the dirt off I could make out words around what looked like an old home built side by side ??

WATCH OUT FOR WOLFMAN  , SCRAM YOU OLD GOAT ! 

I knew right away where it was !   Clark's Trading Post  over on the other end of the Kancamagus Hwy. in New Hampster !   I went there on my free pass book I got as a perk on my pirate gig ! 

The obverse had a pic of a steam train going into a covered bridge and wording White Mountain Central Railroad  , White Mountains New Hampshire     A token  !   Oh Ayuh yup yup !  

After showing it to the crew setting up I went over to the main stage where the first act was setting up, a 3 piece all girl grunge band ! , I just started detecting out in the audience area. , Soon I noticed some frantic musicians and swung my way up to the stairs. 

"I'm not THE sound guy but I'm A sound guy , what's the issue ?",,," We can't find the power cord for the left sub and we have 5 minutes !!!" ,,,,, "Is it 3 prong or 2?",,,,"3" ,,I have one on my guitar amp , I'll be right back" .... and when I got back the sound contractor was there and it was all running !  So , of course we sat around exchanging all the secret words , he said "whoah , I'm actually a squint (lighting director)would you mind riding along?" ,,  And there I was . 

Employed ! 

But now I had all access and the 800 was in the back of the golf cart.........OOOOie !  

Now it starts getting good..... 

Later around dusk I was supervising band # ?? maybe 12. and detecting when another cart rolls up  "What are you doing?" uhhh , not the sound cart,,a lady was driving. hmmm .

"I'm looking for lost history" ,,,, I knew what was coming next so added "I have permission from the camping manager and the fair prez ."

.(the King  right?  well , guess what? ) 

She says "I wish you wouldn't !"  ,,,

"OK , who should I say told me ?"  

Yeaaaah , I was talking to  the QUEEN ! arrrrgh.

"Why haven't I met you before? I understand all about monkey see , monkey do and I can wait till after closing , I'm gonna be busy with the sound anyway."    

Permission Rule # 17B Always make sure the queen is on board with hubby letting you dig anywhere ! 

Back to that token . Two weeks later there was a coin show in the exhibition hall so I go in with my token and find a table  covered with tokens.  "Can you tell me anything about this one? " ,,,, "I've never seen one of these before." ,,,,,  "Really ? so ,it's rare? " (YES!)    ,,,NO,  "I've seen just about all of them ,,,it means it's probably new"

arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh ! LOL  

 SEPT

The BEACH chapter.

I decided to go look up an old workamper I hired many years ago at a different campground  and give him one of my old amps for his kid ..and that hatchet got thrown in. Before they closed down . 

 I brought 2 detectors , ya know just cuz.  He works at a local campground/festival compound . I showed him the token and a few of the other "good" things and asked him to introduce me to the owner .  "Not here "   so  he suggested going to the beach anyway , "the boss will say yes"  and to the beach we went !

I go right and he goes left.  I'm looking at about 75'x2' of flat sand between the water and the dune going up 45* about 15' to the field above. Beach 2 , take all prisoners ! 

A pull tab , meh.   Then a 25 ID# a foot out in the water . T-rex  splashed and swallowed a mouthfull of sand ,jiggle jiggle and there it was,,,,,,,,,my first silver coin , a 1954 rosie !    Oh yeah ! #5.

My friend returns from the left end skunked. So I show the dime and say "lets go up by the stage." A couple of clad targets later he wants to quit so back to his site we went.

But going back the next day to meet the owner.

When I arrived I'm told we should go right away as he knew the boss was in the barn  . Introductions .   I shook his hand and said "' Great to meet you!   I did the sound here a few years back at a bluegrass festival  , sorry to hear about your mom passing. So , it's all yours now huh ? cool .  Would you mind if we metal detected around the place?" ..."Sure , but the tide is high and there's not much beach." ,,,"Thanks ! I'll leave it the way I found it, you won't be able to tell I was ever there!" So we head back to the stage area. More clad and then  I get a solid target ID# 29-30 ,,,another clad quarter?

NOPE , A RING  ,,, a finger tiara  , and it's GOLD ! ?  After a quick brush I look for a mark,?  "Rats with wings , it's 925 and plated !!!"   But silver #6 is in the pouch , and zipped in !

My friend had disappeared and the extra machine was sitting in my trunk. Keep digging dummy , it will be dark soon.  And a half hour later a jeep with Mass plates stops beside me and I hear........yup , you guessed it "What are you doing?"  arrrrrr , here we go again ! So , I tell her the owner gave me permission and could I help her find him ? She grumbles something about "it's not right in a "performance venue" and she drove off. 

Geeze sorry lady if I ruined your camping trip  ......

15 minutes later my friend shows up and tells me he was in the barn with the boss and the lady comes in  and mega reams him about my detecting ,,,to which he sheepishly said "well , maybe I shouldn't have?" and  now , I had to stop.

Turns out she was the gate lady and he was used to mommy telling him what to do  is the best I could figure ??  The new queen or so it seemed !  It still WAS a good hunt ! 

OCT

800 , Park 2  sens 18 (EMI) , recovery 5 , 11" coil back on  

Back out in storage and I'm hitting the carney/vendor areas I scoped out during the fair week. 1st up, a 3 token spill by the info booth  Adventure Landing. A bit smaller than a quarter sized tokens from a pair? of parks , one in NY and the main one in Jacksonville IIRC the webpage....

Hotspots of clad here and there .Including an 8 quarter spill near the ticket booth.

Got another tackle tray for the coins. Up to about $30 ,not counting the zincolns , ~5#  of them....

NOV-DEC 

More clad and lots of it , and a hook bracelet 

Freezing up now. The big root slayer just bounced or slid on the ice layer !  I was digging for a #20 and ended up cutting 2 pieces off the edge of a zincoln , I put 'em in with the Canadian coins , It's almost empty. 

Then came the "Not a hurricane" and thawed it all out again  ,,, and tonight it freezes back up ! so here I YAM !

 Lead and casings ?  of course it's Maine !

And KEYS ! With a very interesting one that I'll be asking for ideas on .

The one on the bottom right has no "teeth" ???

 

Adventure Landing tokens and wheaties

Buttons and buckles.. fuses and other odd bits

 

One more trash, there's lots more but seriously , enough pics of it !

I still haven't swung over half of this place ....stay tuned for the exciting conclusion when I leave .

(over 200 hours on the NoxClock now)

 As Kevin said  "Merry Christmas , you animals" !  

And as mom used to say  "And a Crappy New Year."

 

 

[rvpopeye]

The 23 wrap up is all pictured up ! ARRRRRRGH  See it above ^??

  The pics are all taken with the selfie cam built into a crummy chromebook ,,,0.9 megapixel  so definition is sad. My apologies for Goggle  ! Arrrrgh   crab bait !

[rvpopeye]

 

It ain't ovah , till it's ovah! ?

Friday my Radius Nomad shovel arrived and I just went outside to see if my dirt was still frozen , It wasn't !  So I grabbed the nox and swung right behind the rig.

~15 feet away I got a jumpy signal 23-34 range so the nomad got it's first taste of dirt. I made an extra big plug remembering that knife last summer .

Nothing in the hole ? so I ran the pointer around the plug and right on top dead  center it went crazy !   Yeah , it is a 35 but this was different then the usual crazy.

Of course when I got the PP I didn't grab the hori knife so I used the nomad  , it's almost a hori near the tip anyway.  It still got a little scratch but out popped this.(link instead of actual photo just cuz I can ! ) and the sun is a little anemic today  , there's 4" of white on the ground and another 8 or so still up between me and the sun !  I'll post a pic ?if it ever returns......

https://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-66604-Microstream-Black-Flashlight/dp/B077BLB1DN/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2KHMIV1GO6YRN&keywords=Lithium%2Bion%2Bpowered%2Bflashlights%2BStreamlight%2Bmicrostream%2Busb&qid=1704410114&sprefix=lithium%2Bion%2Bpowered%2Bflashlights%2Bstreamlight%2Bmicrostream%2Busb%2Caps%2C992&sr=8-2&th=1

 

 

It is perfectly functional ,, the seals were still good.  And it works great ! I'll be using it detecting mounted on my hat ! 

But this tale isn't over.

This is the little brother of one I found at Goodwill last winter for $4  but it was tuesday so I got the senior discount $3.20?

https://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-88083-ProTac-battery-holster/dp/B079DDL8HN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2W5SAMJIVIZPK&keywords=Streamlight%2Bprotac%2B2X-L%2BUSB&qid=1704650350&s=sporting-goods&sprefix=streamlight%2Bprotac%2B2x-l%2Busb%2Csporting%2C314&sr=1-1&th=1

 

 

 

It is an awesome light !  and the little one looks like a clone , just smaller and not as bright. I'd recommend the brand .

If it can survive me for a year ....?

 

I didn't realize how much they cost until I looked last night after I noticed they were both from the same mfg.  Plus I got the secret button push codes to program them  ! 

So I guess It was my "thanks for detecting here" prize the day before it froze up for good ....or was it??? Stay tuned . next storm is rain and mid 40s   Another WEIRDO WINTER  uptah camp ! ? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[strick]

Those are some nice finds rvpopeye its great when we can find stuff that we can actually use.

BTW thanks for those links as they reminded me that I still have 2 items in my shopping cart that need to be checked out...

strick

[F350Platinum]

Wow, how did I miss the Uptah Camp Updah? ?

Looks like a great and fun year to me. ? My whole summer was digging junk, toys, and not much silver, then I got serious and got in the water. Stuff happens, dislocated my shoulder before the last planned gold trip. No matter, got some anyway. ?

Streamlight flashlights are great, I have a few, and gave some out as Christmas presents to the folks that put up with me as boss.

Entertaining story as usual man, my condolences for your loss. I hope 2024 is a great one for ya Matey ?‍☠️

[rvpopeye]

 

 

2 hours ago, strick said:

Those are some nice finds rvpopeye its great when we can find stuff that we can actually use.

BTW thanks for those links as they reminded me that I still have 2 items in my shopping cart that need to be checked out...

strick

 

1 hour ago, F350Platinum said:

Wow, how did I miss the Uptah Camp Updah? ?

Looks like a great and fun year to me. ? My whole summer was digging junk, toys, and not much silver, then I got serious and got in the water. Stuff happens, dislocated my shoulder before the last planned gold trip. No matter, got some anyway. ?

Streamlight flashlights are great, I have a few, and gave some out as Christmas presents to the folks that put up with me as boss.

Entertaining story as usual man, my condolences for your loss. I hope 2024 is a great one for ya Matey ?‍☠️

 

Arrrrrr

 Thanks guys ! It sure was a surprise for a 10 minute hunt ?.. I did dig one other hole ,,,,a big fat pull tab and it was perfect !! ?  Maybe the nomad brought me luck ? 

I wasn't much of a son of the beach ?‍☠️ this year but it was a memorable one no doubt.and I DID kinda feel like a pirate on my way out of there !  Hopefully I can get another chance there before summah camping season starts and the queen shows up? ? 

And it's supposed to be almost 50 in a couple of days , so maybe not totally done till spring ? , gonna try to do some beaches on nicer days .  Would be nice if I could score a campsite on a beach like you 350 ! But this place still has many treasures yet uncovered....

[rvpopeye]

Is it ovah uptah ? 

MAYBE ! ?

I found 55 cents of clad and one memorial and 6 really old pull tabs yesterday uptah camp that I suspect were dropped by some nobody that was really thirsty !  Not sure how to research that though....? The ground is soft except shaded areas . 1 inch where it is.  I found one spot in the road that had almost turned to quicksand . It ain't over till it's over and I really hope it IS over. 

The mini Nomad Root Slayer is "the balls" (music term probably first used by Quincy... ) 

And YES 350 , I put WD 40 on it after use ! ?  (those teeth are nastier than a bluefish)

 

 

 

[rvpopeye]

 Another 3 hours today . , a 1970 nickel  , a 1956 wheatie , 3 copper memorials , 6 zincolns.

A bling earring , a tiny boot tack , an aluminum roofing ring nail , and another pile of ID 16 pull tabs and rings . ( I saw an ID chart for the 800 that said $5 gold coins were a 16 ID  and decided to see if I got lucky,,,,nope , and the stupid nail was  a 16 too ! ) 

There was also something that the detector went nuts ( numbers jumping wildly and sounded like a Hendrix solo ) over. It turned out to be a U shaped padlock cutoff !   I was hoping for a 50s Strat..... 

The ground was still super soft but still ice in the shade .  I got most of the coins in the "quicksand soft" road . Some easy diggin' and didn't have to hide the holes just fill 'em back in , I even filled in some ruts somebody trying to drive it left behind....

I had left a frozen target in an open hole overnight yesterday .It thawed out just enough to get the target .  It turned out to be a glob of aluminum foil ID 20. ..