| ARIZONA 2019 |
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| Hoolie with his pal Henry, a real Arizona prospector and the leader of the rock pickin' expeditions. |
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| Hoolie meets a real Arizona Ranger at the Apache Junction Rock Club Expo. Hoolie is not only a member but an MC for the event! |
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| Harry the Prospector leads an expedition to an old onyx mine in the middle of nowhere in Arizona. |
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| You gotta have a tough 4x4 to make it out where they go! |
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| Hoolie and his next door neighbor Ray, a Cheese-head from north of Milwaukee. Hoolie talked Ray and his 4-wheel drive into joining the club so he could hitch a ride out into the wilds. (Gosh, those Cheese-heads are easy! It only took a few beers and Bratwurst to convince him!) |
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| Pulling over for an "Arizona Bush Call" |
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| Hoolie took this pic from the top of the Onyx mine. Where those guys and the truck are is about a 200 foot drop straight down! What some guys will do for a few rocks, eh! |
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| Here's Ray sitting on top of a massive chunk of onyx. It's loaded with beautiful banding and you can see "drill scars" from when surveyors were taking core samples to test the composition of the rock outcropping. |
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This is why Yoopers go to Arizona in the wintertime. What a view! For you non-snowbirds, this is what January looks like in the Arizona mountains! |
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| You can't tell from the picture, but this field is loaded with geodes! Notice the members in the middle of the pic for scale. |
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| Can you spot the geodes? |
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| Ray disappointed that his geode doesn't have any crystals. |
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| Hoolie happy that all his geodes have crystals in them! |
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| The club looking for Zebra Agate, high up in the mountains where it's more pine trees than desert. |
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| Sometimes the best place to find your rocks in not on the pile but alongside the road! The club zebra agate hunting. |
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| Ray finds a beautiful piece of Zebra Agate. What a lucky bugger! |
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| Hoolie's load of zebra agate. |
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| A big beauty that Hoolie found in the middle of the road |
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| Hoolie and Harry heading out in search of Banded Magnetite and Jasper. |
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| Check out all those yellows, purples reds and creams in the Perkinsville Agate that Hoolie found! |
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| Banded Magnetite and Jasper that Hoolie dug up. (Damn near broke his back dragging this up the hill!) |
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| Here's Hoolie's pal John Thomas. John is originally from Negaunee but has been living in Arizona for years. Hoolie hooks up with John whenever he's down there for some rock pickin' fun. During this adventure, Hoolie and John were standing at the edge of a canyon and enjoying the view, when Hoolie said, "I'm sure enjoying hanging with you ol' pal," giving John a manly pat on the back. John was leaning too far foward when Hoolie patted him and he went ass over tea cups over the edge of the cliff! Hoolie yelled down to John, "You didn't drop my expensive Estwing rock pick I hope!" John yelled back, "Who the hell cares about your pick, grab a rope and ge me outta here!" Hoolie ran the half mile back to the truck, grabbed his camera and forgot the rope. At least he got this exciting pic out of it! |
