July 18 Sunday

We left Tri-State RV park in Matamoras, Pennsylvania at 7 this morning and had an uneventful trip until about 1 mile before arriving in Candia. Unexpectedly a flock of turkey took off on the side of the highway and attacked us. One hit the windshield on the passenger side and then hit the trailer as it headed to its afterlife. No damage to the windshield but left a dent in the trailer.

 We arrived at Bob's around 1PM, unhooked the trailer,, unpacked Bob's stuff and unloaded my stuff from his Tundra loaded it into my Tundra and hooked up the trailer and I continue on to Freedom. 

So this adventure is done. I have no idea the number of miles we drove but we visited NH,MA,CT,NY,NJ,MD,PA,VA,NC,TN,WV,

SC,GA and FL and while driving we saw drivers from all states BUT HI,AK,SD,ND,NV,AR,MI,MO,WY.

July 17

We left Quakertown Woods this morning and headed north but we didn't make too far. We had read in a blog that the Franklin, New Jersey area was a rockhounders dream spot. SO 😃🤪😃 I found us a campsite just north of the Delaware Water Gap right on the Delaware River and headed south to Franklin (about 30 minutes from the campground). The area is called the tri-state area as we're at the border of NY, NJ and PA.

The museum has an amazing collection of rocks, minerals, and fossils. This area was mined for zinc, calcite, fluorite and magnatites many of which are fluorescent.  As it was only in the mid nineties we cut out time in the collection area to about 3 hrs. We got a bunch of specimens before melting. May have to come back as we're only 4 hours from home. We'll be in Candia, NH midday tomorrow  God willing and the creeks don't rise.

Hate to see this adventure coming an end but we need time to get unrelaxed, see doctors, dentists, and plan out next adventure.

We heard from Nicole that a  better than full price had been received on the Florida house. So it appears that the goal of the trip was met. Maybe now she can join us on our future rockhouding plus adventures. 

July 16

Met Jim Sculte at Twin Ponds country club for another great day chasing a little white ball as it led us across the Pennsylvania countryside :-) 

I think we wore Jim S out because he mentioned a shower and a nap. Not Bob and I cause we're "adventuring". So we headed to Bethlehem to see a converted steel mill. Now called Wind Creek casino!

😁

After a couple of hours earning more gas money we headed to Jim and Karen's home for dinner of pulled chicken and visit'n.  We left Harleysville at 11:30 PM and dragged ourselves back to Quakertown.  Continuing north tomorrow. 

July 15

Today was an all day travel day. Up US81 to US 78 across Pennsylvania stopping at Quakertown Woods campground. Only event was following a storm cell that was on the same route.

July 13

We decided to spend an extra night in Asheville and visit the Pisgah Gem mines.

MISTAKE!!!! It was a road side place for kids with ridiculous prices. A bucket of dirt with foreign gems was $80.

We decided to visit Pisgah National Forest instead.  Stopped at the ranger station and talked to a ranger about rock collecting areas in the park: None. But we could pan for gold but the gift store doesn't sell pans; scratch that. SO let the adventure begin. We went into the park a few miles and stopped at a pull out near a brook ( correction a Crick :-) ); through the woods to the crick...a guy was fly fishing and had just landed a 16" brown trout. We talked to him awhile : from Asheville, his day off, assistant manger for a music production company in Asheville, business is recovering, applied for a government assistance grant for music people. Catch a 14" rainbow trout. Bob and I pulled some interesting pebbles/stones. Wished him continued luck and headed further into the park. Stopped several times to check out the local rocks. Eventually we got to the Blue Ridge Parkway (The Pisgah section) and followed the parkway back to Asheville. For a day that started not so good and raining, we finished the day after having a great day outdoors with burgers on the grill with the sun shining.

July 14 Wednesday

We left Asheville just before 8AM this morning heading toward the Roanoke,  VA area. The target is a State Park named Fairy Stone. Fairy Stone is a crystal made of iron, aluminum and silicate. The mineral name is staurolite and often takes the form of a crucifix  so here's the legend:

"Long, long ago...as fairiesplayed in a sunny glade in Patrick County, Virginia an elfin messenger arrived with the said news of Christ's  crucifixion. The fairies cried and as their tears fell to the earth, they crystallized into little stone crosses. Though the fairies have disappeared, their remnants can still be found in that spot today."

With a legend like that how could we not travel an hour and a half off our route to explore. We left US 81 before Roanoke heading south again crossing a segment of the Blue Ridge Parkway and down a 9% grade to a to Stuart, VA. One of the photos is a truck we got stuck behind on that decent .

Bob and I spent the afternoon trying to local the Fairy Stones with little luck. We did find pieces but no intact crosses. When we finished we found an open building near the entrance to the collection area and inside was a vending machine with Fairy Stones. 🤣🤪🤣

Heading to Pennsylvania in the morning.

July 12

Monday - Today we stayed in Franklin, NC and visited the Cherokee Gem Mining Co.

We actually towed the trailer up a narrow back road to this slicing area. We had a blast washing dirt. Bob got a sapphire and some garnets and I got a 5.4 CT ruby and some garnet. From there we traveled to Asheville, NC and decided we checkout the mines that were advertised for the area. 

We found a BBQ place, Little Pigs, for dinner. We did learn that BBQ in NC means pulled pork. Not bad place. Staying at KOA Asheville west which is right off US40. I guess other people have complained about traffic noise because they offered earplugs at check-in.