Do you ever attend a field trip and hope against hope that the pickings will be easy and plentiful? Sure, you do, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes you go on a field trip and are happy to come home with a couple of specimens that are keepers.

Well, let me tell you, the recent trip to Clio, Alabama, was an exception and was exceptional! My husband Mickey and I arrived right at 9:00 a.m. to the location, signed in, and drove through the fence. We followed the lead of the two prior arrivals and backed our truck up to an area just inside the fence strewn with rocks. We hopped out of the truck. HOLY COW, there was beautiful silicified wood, lots of it! Every piece we picked up was a potential beauty. Of course, this caused a mild disagreement between the two of us because I wanted to take all of it home and Mickeywas a bit more reasonable and prudent. I finally managed to put back a few pieces.

Several attendees spent the morning working on a big log that was partially buried. They broke quite a few large sections apart into manageable pieces that folks divided amongst themselves. I was the happy beneficiary of a large piece, compliments of Jim Haege’s efforts, that turned out to weigh 60 pounds. It’s a beauty and will be even more beautiful once it’s all cleaned up.  Many thanks to Herb Whittington, who hosted the trip, and to Jim Haege, who filled in for George Libby as co-host. The trip was a lot of fun. I never got to go to Brilliant, norhad I been to Clio before. It was definitely worth getting up at 5:00 a.m.

We stayed until 1:00 or 2:00 o’clock, as did most of the 20 or so attendees. I believe everyone went home happy, especially the aforementioned Mr. Haege, who loaded his truck with goodies. You’ll be able to see the results at future gem and mineral shows! Some of us left and had further adventures, but that’s another story. The trip to Cliowas great all by itself.

A nice piece of Silicified Wood