My 2016 Trip West In Search Of...

[Roughwater]

Thanks so much Jim and Joanne.

I was hoping the info I gathered would be useful to others.  I have lived in the Midwest and Southern US and traveled to the western US several times but my trips never fail to give me enjoyment.  One thing I never really mentioned is how ruggedly beautiful the Western US really is and how diversely beautiful.  The landscapes that go on and on even in the prairie states are amazing to me. I happened to drive down a highway that bordered a couple of the Monument parks and driving past MOAB.  Incredible formations!  The mountain Peaks, the night sky's.  It's like another world.  Pictures of some things just cannot do them justice.  You just have to see them for the full effect!

 

[tboykin]

It was great to meet you Terry. Glad you had such a memorable trip. On my Nevada trip we stayed at the Virgin Valley hot springs, amazing that it's still free (though not sure for how long). Sorry you only caught one trout, next trip out we'll knock em dead!

Even though you didn't dig any nuggets, you found some memories that will be with you longer than any gold.

[Roughwater]

Thanks Tom.  It was great meeting you.  I wasn't really too concerned with only catching one trout as I was having fun catching a few Smallies and watching you catch more than a few. Smallmouth have always been one of my favorite fish but I seldom am in an area where there are trout and Salmon.  The rivers and streams I live near right now are too warm to support small mouth and I have to travel 2 hours or more to fish for them and further for trout.  I think it best to enjoy whats available.  Probably better if I am able to visit again to do so earlier in the year. 

I really enjoyed your tour of the Whites metal detector plant too.  I like the little museum at the front office of the plant.  Some interesting old detectors there.  I had to sneak back into town before I left the area to have a frozen mug of A&W root beer which is something else lacking in my area of the south that I enjoyed when I was young.  I know I mentioned it before Tom but I think it's so great that the White's plant is located in such a beautiful area.  Sweet Home looks like an outdoor person's paradise.   

Again Tom I thank you for your time and for showing me around it was truly all good.  

Terry

[tvanwho]

Great stories , just was wondering how your Subaru held up in the mountains and deserts? Is that a Forester like my 2010? Gas mpg? I can sleep in back of mine but have to have a thick foam pad under my hips and sleep diagonally with the seats down.

 

-Tom V.

[Roughwater]

10 hours ago, tvanwho said:

just was wondering how your Subaru held up in the mountains and deserts? Is that a Forester like my 2010? Gas mpg? I can sleep in back of mine but have to have a thick foam pad under my hips and sleep diagonally with the seats down.

Tom V

Sounds like it is pretty much like yours.  On my 2014 Forester with the back seats down there is still kinda of an overlap around your hips so you do need something in that area to make it comfortable (like foam). However I stored things on one side of the back and slept on the side.  I got some extra length by filling the the floor of the back seat with a filled collapsible 5 gallon water container and on top of it I had other softer items so I could lay my head where one normally would place their legs when setting in the back seat which gave me enough length so I could almost completely stretch out.  I normally get about 31 or better highway but I had a Thule carrier on top and ran the air a lot, even so I got almost 30 Mpg out to Arkansas but then running it at higher speeds and the mountain terrain along with the lower octane gas of the west and often running it while parked to stay cool and to keep things charged dropped my MPG into the mid 28's overall.  

As to holding up it did well.  I had pretty worn out tires (Original tires with 41000 miles on them) but still made it up into some iffey trails at Rye patch with careful driving.  I might have been in trouble had it rained back there but I figured not a great risk of that happening in July.  The symmetrical all wheel drive on those as you probably know is really good.   

[tvanwho]

Yes, I've only almost got stuck once and that was in an unplowed Hilton Hotel parking lot. We had over 2 feet of snow on the ground that day. No road traffic at all that day, the whole plant called in sick!!  This car just floats over mudholes, never digs in like 4x4 trucks do.

Glad I had my General Altimax Arctic tires on the Forester as the stock Desert Dueler tires are useless in snow.

Sounds like your 2014 is doing better than my 2010 in mpg.I average 26 around town on summer gas,maybe 28 on the hiway with the old 4 speed automatic.

Sounds like you had quite the adventure out west.

[Roughwater]

 

 

1 hour ago, tvanwho said:

This car just floats over mudholes, never digs in like 4x4 trucks do.

When I was up in Alaska driving the bad roads in the boonies with my F250 4X4 diesel truck I recall meeting a local and I don't recall how the conversation came up but I remember him saying something about the Subaru's driving back there and not sinking in like the trucks.  As to MPG my impression is that the MPG's of a lot of vehicles has been increased in the last few years.  My 2014 Subaru has that CVT (continuously Variable) Transmission.  I think between that and a little weight reduction it bumped up the mileage some.  You get much above 65 MPH though and you can see the MPG start decreasing.  That trans really impressed me as you never feel a shift and when you touch the gas pedal the forward movement is immediate, there's not a lick of hesitation.  I have zero issues with the vehicle so far and the only thing needing replacing is the tires.  I haven't replaced anything but oil and filters so far, not even a bulb.  

The trip was good Tom.  I try not to get my expectations too high.  If me and my vehicle get there and back in one piece and no other major issues I call it a good trip.  But for me I like driving out west better than anywhere else.  I get a high just enjoying the scenery out there.  I worked for many years in Federal Civil service when I lived in Ohio.  Other than Southern California when I was in the Corps I had not been in any western state.  However my job required me to take a Seminar to a base in Colorado Springs back in the 80's.  I thought I was in heaven!  I rented a car and toured the area all I could, and took my family and a friends family back there a year or two later. We saw the Garden of the Gods and hiked up the Barr trail up Pikes Peak and visited a gold mine among other things.  We camped out in Tents.  One campground being at around 10K feet was pretty interesting getting acclimated to the altitude and experiencing the temp drop at night.   It was great!   Anyway getting off subject here but as you can see I like the west.   

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi Terry,

That sounds like a great trip! My kind of gig - I have spent a lot of time sleeping in my truck. It would be fun to do something similar myself with the focus on the gemstones and not the gold. Anyway, I sure appreciate you taking the time to write up the story and post it and the photos. I am sure you have inspired a few people and the tips on locations is a real bonus. Thanks again!!

[Roughwater]

Thanks Steve,

You all had been putting up with me for so long talking about my upcoming trip I figured I owed you all a story.  I would have liked to had shared with you all the places where I found gold too but that didn't happen at least not in a physical sense.  The gold I found was in the folks I met, the beauty of the west and observing wild critters close up. The trip was kinda one old farts boot camp.  I had planned to do some gem mining but didn't plan ahead to do the Sunstone collecting and Opal mining. That was decided in route because I was in Oregon heading south and had some time to kill on my way to Nevada and both the Sunstone area and opal mines happened to pretty much be in route to Rye Patch.  I am thankful to you that you started this Forum.  There really is no other detector website nearly as helpful, factual and pertinent as this one.  

Thank you Steve.

 

[Roughwater]

Just wanted to add a bit more info about Sunstones. I was just cleaning up my Sunstones a bit this morning.  I'm not trying to purposely advertise the Sumpter mine but previously never displayed what I had found at that mine so below are pictures of my take there.  The small bag of sunstones in the pic are what I found at the free collection area VS the loose one's in the classifier from the Sumpter Mine. 

Below is a close of of some of the more colorful ones but plenty more in the pile I didn't sort out.  I found few reddish ones in the free area.