Rockhounding near Madras, OR

Well, the BLM location turned out well, and for most of the night the moon was full, and the bullfrogs were extra loud. What a stunning view to wake up to this morning as I felt like I was on top of the world looking down over this incredible valley. The farm below was busy at work.

I can see why the paper maps add dots to this pretty route. It was fields, farmlands, rivers, barns, and rock encrusted ridges for about 45 minutes, as I arrived at Richardson's Rock Ranch. I was pretty excited about the idea of digging for thunderegg agates. Bonnie was a no nonsense kind of woman, who quickly ran through the rules, do's and don'ts about mining the agates. Turn here, turn there, 8 miles, 30 minutes, and if you didn't pay attention, god only knows what could have happened! There may be a test. But I did have to ask her for the condition of the dirt road, as, after all, I am driving the Sylver Gypsy. She kind of just gave me that "blank annoyed stare," and said people have driven all kinds of things, and it shouldn't be a problem.

Alrighty then. I am off on a mission to find the thunder eggs. There were three different locations and each of the agates had a slightly different composition to them. The loot is weighed by the pound when you return to the ranch. I was able to find some really beautiful pieces, all different colors in earth tones to blues, greens, and lavender. The very last location, which was the "blue beds," yielded not just blue, but pink, and some opal inclusions. 
The farm has already dug out a hole so finding these thundereggs was not difficult. I did my best with 50 SPF sunscreen, and since I am in the arid part of Oregon, it was darn close to feeling like Arizona with that bright hot sun. Jo Jo was in the RV with every single window open and the fan running, he had absolute comfort.

I considered my evening accommodations, and was referred to the county fairgrounds, so I thought I would try that spot first. It was incredibly affordable, only $18 for a complete full hookup, electric, sewer, water, shower....the works. And I was so ready for "the works," after a hot dusty day digging up pretty rocks!



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