Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 (edited) My wife wanted me to spend a weekend with her and her daughter in Atlanta recently, and wisely dangled a fossil day in front of me as a proverbial carrot to get me to buy in. We arrived at the airport behind schedule due to weather delays, and many people were camped out on the floor for the night waiting for cars. I wanted an econobox, but not wanting to see my lovely wife spend the night on the floor of the airport, I had to abandon my niggardly instincts, crack my wallet, and swing a deal on the only car they had left, a swanky Mercedes AMG C63. Little did they know that the star of their rental fleet would be my throaty, 6.3 liter, $70K offroad fossil chariot for the weekend! It must have been quite a sight to see the progressively filthier driver crawl out of this thing, gas up, and head back into the mud. I won't go into much detail on locality specifics out of respect for my offsite guide, and the fact that he secured private land access to a couple of the sites, which I don't want to jeopardize...so if you recognize the sites, I ask you not to name them here. Thanks for understanding. But I will say that they were all within driving distance of Atlanta....that is if you are willing to stay awake 42 hours straight as I did and zigzag 800 miles in the process... So I dropped off my wife with her daughter around 2 a.m., slugged my first 5 Hour Energy, and was on my way....and this car frequently beeped its "driver attentiveness alarm"...something I believe patterns and monitors eye movement to keep the driver from nodding off. More 5 Hour Energy, please! Edited May 27, 2014 by danwoehr Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 The first site gave up a few Hardouinia echinoids, Upper Cretaceous. I focused on multi specimen matrix chunks. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 (edited) More Hardouinia Edited May 27, 2014 by danwoehr Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 Moving on, I later secured a decent Placenticeras ammonite Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foshunter Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Fossil hunting from a Mercedes somehow just doesn't seem right, where do you put the mud?-----Tom Grow Old Kicking And Screaming !!"Don't Tread On Me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 Way up yonder, I ran into a few Paleocene Hercoglossa nautiloids... Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 I stopped at 3, shipped them home from the post office, and moved on.... Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 Next it was time for a few Eocene shark, ray, and fish teeth along with a cool reptile vert and other goodies. Too muddy to be taking photos very often. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 After a country drive, I found myself back in the Hardouinia echinoids.....I found one more egg sized specimen, a little cracked up but diagnostic. I enjoyed the views of driving through the backroads of the deep south, but my ride for the day wouldn't slow down for many pictures..... Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 (edited) Fossil hunting from a Mercedes somehow just doesn't seem right, where do you put the mud?-----Tom Funny you should ask, Tom! Not wanting disrespect a nice car <READ: Pay a cleaning fee>, I sat on a floor mat while driving. A hard rain when I was done knocked off the dust to my satisfaction, relegating my cleaning detail to $1.00 in change to vacuum before turning it in. Edited May 27, 2014 by danwoehr Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Bwahaha! Get any nice "custom limb pinstriping"? Awesome finds! ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanNREMTP Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Great story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Awesome finds bud! You always have the best adventures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 The trip was ludicrously more productive than these pics show. No time for pics in the field. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Hey Dan, man, hauling rocks around in a new Mercedes is just too cool. Your adventures are off the scale. Mighty impressive finds too. Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Nice job, bud! I especially like those nautiloids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 28, 2014 Author Share Posted May 28, 2014 Richard - I plan to give you one. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Richard - I plan to give you one. Dan, music to my ears! Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrian Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Great trip report! Sounds like you had a ball. Your Mercedes adventure reminds me of a story. About 15 years ago I worked for a Motorola Radio Dealer. I installed radios in vehicles of all kinds. There was this one farmer who would buy a NEW Mercedes (the big one) every year. He'd bring it our shop & we'd install his radio that was removed from his "old" Mercedes. The leather back seat would have several shovels & other digging implements--- and lots of mud. The driver side floorboards would be covered in mud. Brake pedal, gas pedal, etc--- covered in mud. Dashboard & front passenger side relatively clean. I guess if you "got it" may as well flaunt it! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Looks like it was a fun trip! Your hard work paid off again on those Ammos. -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 28, 2014 Author Share Posted May 28, 2014 funniest part... both my cars are turds! Great trip report! Sounds like you had a ball. Your Mercedes adventure reminds me of a story. About 15 years ago I worked for a Motorola Radio Dealer. I installed radios in vehicles of all kinds. There was this one farmer who would buy a NEW Mercedes (the big one) every year. He'd bring it our shop & we'd install his radio that was removed from his "old" Mercedes. The leather back seat would have several shovels & other digging implements--- and lots of mud. The driver side floorboards would be covered in mud. Brake pedal, gas pedal, etc--- covered in mud. Dashboard & front passenger side relatively clean. I guess if you "got it" may as well flaunt it! Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Fossickin' in style! Great finds as always...you mentioned reptile vert? "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Great report Dan! Thanks for posting it. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 IPFOTM -- MAY - 2024 _________________________________________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 28, 2014 Author Share Posted May 28, 2014 Fossickin' in style! Great finds as always...you mentioned reptile vert? Yes......as I said, pics are backlogged. Vocational, fatherly and husbandly duties prevail when not in the field. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 A fossiling Illead; Good stuff, Dr. Dan! ...Get any nice "custom limb pinstriping"? We call them "Pennsylvania Racing Stripes" in my family. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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