A Bucket List Item checked off - Opal Mining in Nevada's Virgin Valley
September
30 – Tampa to Reno
We left the
house at 5:30am to catch our 7:25 flight. We get there with time to spare, and decided
to have breakfast at Chili's To Go.
Neither Marty nor I finished our breakfast. We chalked it up to nerves.
The flight
from Tampa to Phoenix was not great. We had the middle and aisle seats, which
normally are not too bad, but these seats had to be the worst either Marty or I
had ever been in. The backs had the
headrest in the wrong spot and the seats were short so they cut you in the
middle of your thigh. The cushions seamed to have been worn through and we were
sitting on metal. We struggled through the 4.5 hour flight and then because we
arrived in Phoenix a little early, the plane had to
sit on the tarmac for a ½ hour until a gate was clear. Oh my goodness, I had never been so happy to
have a flight over with.
We had time
before our next leg to Reno so Marty got a Turkey sandwich which he could only eat a
portion and I got a yogurt parfait for our lunch. As we were finishing, our flight was called
to Reno.
This one was only a 1.5 hour flight with the same kind of worn out
seating. Unfortunately, and neither of
us felt right. Little would we know…..
In Reno we got a Dodge Ram truck as a
rental. Wow, is it big!! I had to really heave myself up to get into
the cab. It was a short and straight
ride to the hotel. We checked in and
ogled the views from our 24th floor room.
We walked
around the casino for a bit then went to Cafe Central for a bite to
eat. Marty and I ordered an appetizer
Oriental platter to share as we didn’t have much of an appetite. We both had a very hard time eating it, especially
the ribs. We walked around a bit more
but decided to go up to the room and rest.
We watched some TV and fell asleep in separate beds because neither one of
us felt well. We blamed it on jet lag,
the bad flight etc. I woke up at midnight to Marty getting sick, so I got up,
made a washrag wet, got Marty back to bed and went to the bathroom. I got up but sat right back down on the
lid. I sat for a few moments assuming
vertigo.
I remember
making the decision to stand up then being aware of pain in my mouth then
nothing until Marty came running hollering my name. I groaned and tried to get up. Marty told me “Stay still!” Apparently, I hit the marble door ledge on
the way down and split my lower lip in several places. Blood was very evident. He got me his cold rag and asked me to talk
to him. I thought he was crazy because
it hurt but he explained later that he wanted to make sure I hadn't had another
stroke. He brought me a suitcase to sit
on to make sure I was steady before I tried to get up all the way. After a few moments of convincing him, he
allowed me to get up and get in to bed.
I used the
washcloth on my lip and most of it stopped bleeding in an hour or so. The worst cut took about until 4am to stop. It oozed until after breakfast that
morning. I stayed awake most of the rest
of the night but was able to rest after Marty came to lay with me.
Marty slept
but was restless only getting mildly comfortable on his belly or his back.
October
1 - Reno
We got up while it was still dark to walk around the
"Biggest little city in the world".
It was around 5:30am and there was no traffic. The
lights were beautiful. We thought the
exercise and cool air would make us feel better, and it did. We ended up walking to the El Dorado Casino and
we decided it was a good place for breakfast.
Marty got a muffin, which he finished and I got an Apple Fritter - it
was huge! And, I didn't realize how much
it would hurt to eat or drink or laugh.
What a sight I was trying to drink or of the right side of my mouth and
get food into it without opening it. I
left the coffee and took the fritter with the high hopes of being able to eat
it later.
We played a
few slots but between our not feeling well and bad luck, we decided to go back
to the room and rest some more. We
watched TV and slept most of the morning.
One of the other things we had to contend with was our sinus problems. Both of us had lots of mucus, making it
difficult to breathe and when we blew our noses, we'd have blood. The high
altitude really had an effect on us folks used to being 10 feet above sea
level.
We decided
to try to walk around town again and went into a little pawn shop across the
street. We wanted to get a charm to put
on the map. Marty looked at and bought a few silver coins while I looked
through the owner's scrap box and found a little slot machine that was perfect.
We spent a whole $37 for everything - better odds than the slots. We walked to the Truckee Art Walk which was
very nice along the Truckee River and back again. We went to the room again to rest but I was
hungry. Around lunch I got Marty some
banana bread and iced tea and I made coffee and had nibbles of the fritter. We both took a nice nap.
We decided
that we needed to get out for dinner so we went to Cafe Central
again. Marty had a chicken pho soup and
I had a house salad. We talked seriously
about whether or not going to the Peacock Mine was a good idea given how we
both were feeling. I ate the whole salad
but Marty left most of the soup. Not a
bad thing though, we figured we'd save it for our adventure in the
mountains. Back in the room again, we
slept again, watched some TV and talked some more. We decided that we came this far, we'd assume
we would feel better in the morning and finish this bucket list item and go to
the Peacock Mine for opals. Finally we
settled in for the night. During the night Marty got sick again although this
time I didn't hear him at all and he didn't tell me until we were on the road.
October 2
– Reno to the Peacock Mine
We woke up
and went for breakfast at Cafe Central as it was the only thing open and they
had cereal which is what Marty wanted, he ate some but mostly wanted the cold
milk.
He was
still feeling nauseous. I got a yogurt parfait but couldn't finish it, not
because I didn't feel well (because I was feeling good at that time, sleep
really helped me) but because it was HUGE, I ate all the fruit and most of the
granola and left the yogurt in the parfait cup.
My lip was swollen and angry red.
It was still soft on my lip but under it was hard with 2 separate
scabs. I could still taste the metallic
taste that told me it was still oozing a little. No one ever said anything and we wondered if
folks wondered if I'd been hit. I tried
to explain if they looked at me but mostly I just pretended that it wasn't
there.
We went
back to the room and wanted to relax with some TV before getting ready to go
because it was only around 6am.
Guess what, the TV wouldn't work!
I went down to the desk and the clerk fiddled with something (they had
already shut it off as we were checking out that day) but on getting back to
the room, it still wouldn't work so we gave up, packed and got ready to leave.
Marty took
some aspirin and was feeling okay, but when we went to the parking garage, there
was an overwhelming smell of diesel which made both of us feel nauseous, Marty
worse than me. He wanted to drive to take
his mind off of how he was feeling. It
was about 40 degrees in the garage and Marty got the shivers until the car
finally warmed up.
Once on the
road though it was smooth going. Route
80 was easy to find and we got on it and drove due East out of the valley. We climbed the mountains for the next hour or
so following the Truckee River, then started seeing summit signs.
The truck
had Sirius radio so we put on comedy and this is the joke Marty remembers:
A Guy speaking: he, as a newlywed
who right after the wedding laid down the law about how it was going to be to
his wife. He didn't see her for two
weeks. Then, he started to see a little
out of his left eye….
About 175
miles into the trip we came to the town of Winnemucca NV, which I immediately recognized
from the Johnny Cash song I've Been Everywhere. We stopped to get gas and provisions (such as
we could given our lack of appetite and Marty's nausea). We got mini-donuts, two Danish, a soda, iced
tea, water, and a really, really bad cup of coffee, probably there since
Spring.
As we drove more Northward, it was beautifully scenic
but desolate and no cars passed us, no houses, only some mules, cows and
horses. When we turned off state road 95 to local road 140, we saw even less, nothing
but mountains everywhere we looked.
We stopped
and took a few pictures to show the straight road, a dead antelope and a rest area
that was just a sheltered outhouse. The
town of Denio Junction, the closest town to our destination, consisted of a
few trailers, and a coffee shop and we were still 30 miles from the Peacock Mine.
20 miles later, we turned into a tracked and pitted
dirt road, those bumps and tractor bands in the gravel did Marty's stomach no
good at all. The scenery was beautiful
with donkeys all along the way, looking at us trespassing on their turf. We found out later that the government rounds
up the wild horses each year but leave the donkeys alone, so there are a lot of
them.
We arrived
and checked in with Jake at the Opal Shop at the mine. Our cabin was an old office trailer. At least that is what it looks like. 2 twin
beds at one end, through the bathroom in the middle to the kitchen with a
little table and 2 chairs at the other end. Unfortunately, the space heater had
not been turned on and the cabin was cold.
It affected Marty in a really bad way.
He got the shivers and proceeded to give up the donut and coffee he'd
eaten earlier. I went and got another
space heater to warm the bathroom and kitchen areas. I put the heater in the kitchen and turned it
on then went outside because on the driveway were Obsidian chips. Marty just
calls them shiny black rocks. I started to collect some to take home and found
an Obsidian arrowhead!!! I showed it to Jake and he confirmed that the rock
looks worked on to make the arrow shape and there were Native Americans
originally on the land. He said a big
storm had just gone through and it washes the chips down from the mountain.
We took a
short nap, Marty’s shorter than mine. The rest of the afternoon we spend
talking and staying warm under the covers.
The
nighttime sky was absolutely stunning!!
We were able to see the Milky Way along with so many stars, it was
amazing. Marty could only stay out a few
minutes so he went back in but I bundled up in a blanket and leaned on the
truck bed for a while longer. I didn’t
want to come in at all but it was getting very chilly and windy.
I came in,
got ready for bed and promptly fell asleep.
Marty said he did too. The space
heaters ran constantly through the night and they are not quiet. Sometimes it sounded like they were dueling.
October
3 – Royal Peacock Mine
We woke up in the morning to SNOW!!
The cold and wind from the night before settled into a beautiful blanket
of white.
Luckily, Marty was feeling
better and had no more nausea or chills.
But just as a precaution, he took some aspirin to ensure he didn't get a
temperature while we were outside.
My
lip this morning was less swollen but it was hard everywhere and felt like your
lips do when they are chapped.
We were
enchanted with the views everywhere, on the mountains, on the driveways, it was
gorgeous.
I threw my first snowball
since December 2010!!!
We came fairly
well prepared, putting on several shirts under our jackets and even remembered
work gloves.
There was
only one other person working the banks this day. He was very knowledgeable and showed us what
he looks for when he mines here. He comes twice a year and works a few days
each time. He was a young man and slept
in his Kia Sportage with a generator to run his heater. He thought that they
might not open the mine because of the snow but they did and we got started
first thing.
We
understood that the working would be hard but we didn’t know how hard. We
quickly learned that the first half of the day was spent cutting the top of the
bank down with our rented axes and other tools.
There are
signs everywhere about undercutting the bank.
The space where Opals reside is from about waist level to about knee
level and you have to prepare your work site.
Undercutting is not allowed because you really don't want the mountain
to fall on top of you. It was cold but between the adrenaline and swinging the
pickeaxes, we were comfortable. It was
only when you walked away from the bank that you felt the wind and cold. Our only regret was that we didn't bring safety
goggles because we had bits of clay in our hair, eyes, mouth, down our shirts
and in our underwear.
Around midday, we started using the hands axes
and screwdrivers to work the prime areas.
About a hundred times, Marty would ask ”is this something?” And our co-miner or the guide would say...no
it's dirt, or clay, or manganese stain, or silica residue. Until finally, he swung the hand axe and
heard glass. The other miner came over and said “Yup you found a black
opal. A real nice one”. We could only see the face of it and spent
the next 15 minutes digging all around it to get it out. The more we dug, the more excited we got. When we finally got it out, it is a little
bigger than a golf ball and both guys said that it was a real beauty. Turns out that maybe 1 in 4 bank diggers find
a fire opal at all so we know we were very fortunate.
The next few hours we found a few more small
fire opals, both white and black, and some common opals too.
We moved on to other sections of the bank and
dug some more but it was slow going as we both had no strength left to swing
the axes.
We were cold, tired and hungry
so decided to call it an adventure.
It
was around
2 pm and the truck's thermostat said it was only 32
degrees. We came back to the cabin,
heated up the soup and I took a nap.
Marty and I talked, read and updated the journal the
rest of the afternoon. I played with my new
precious stones some and chipped some of the clay away from a big chunk so all
of them would fit in a baggie that Jake (the grandson of the owners) gave me. You have to keep them wet or moist as Opals
are mostly water and if you let them dry out, they will crack or shatter. I played with the barn cat a little and he
was so friendly, he sat right on my lap and started purring. When I pet his ears, he grabbed my hands with
his paws to move them where he wanted which was under his chin. He then would love bite me and lick my
fingers.
Marty and I
redressed to go out and watch the sunset over the mountains. It was so pretty. We also saw some hares hopping around outside. We walked to the store (across the driveway)
and got some more to drink. We remarked
that since we haven't been eating regularly, existing on donuts and iced tea,
our bathroom habits have been changed and since we were up in the mountain
yesterday, it was a good thing.
We also
noted that the heaters had not stopped running since we returned so we know
it's not only cold, its damn cold.
After dark,
we went out again to see the wonderful night sky. Being able to see
clouds of stars, not just the brightest ones, and the Milky Way arms is a dream
come true for me. I remarked that THIS was the best part of our journey.
At 4000 ft, no light pollution, no noise pollution, just mountains,
wildlife, and my love by my side (after I read this, Marty added, until he got
cold and went inside!).
We settled
in pretty quickly and fell asleep with the heaters in concert tonight, it was
easy to ignore them.
Royal Peacock Opal
Mine - Reno 10/4
I woke up early and
read the Kindle for a while, Marty woke up at 5am and we got into the same bed and chatted for a bit.
We seem to have not gotten onto West Coast time.
We tried to inventory how we were feeling after all our digging and hacking and
prying in the bank yesterday. It turned out that other than Marty's stiff
knees and hands and my stiff hands and a blister on my left hand we were none
the worse for wear. Yeah for adrenaline!!
As we were eating the last of our Danishes for breakfast, we caught sight of a
herd of deer running behind the trailer. What a sight! One buck with
several females in tow. After that we also saw a pair of jackrabbits too.
The photos, of course don’t the animals justice.
We
washed the dishes, stripped the beds, checked and made sure we had everything
out of the room and went over to the office to check out. As we did, we looked over the examples of petrified
opalized wood and Marty said I should pick one out to take as a souvenir.
At the mine office it was about 21 degrees but we both only wore light jackets.
It really did not feel that cold. 2 ladies were checking in to do
bank digging today and had driven in from Denio where they were staying.
That is 45 minutes to an hour away, a very long drive both before and
after a day of digging. They talked about wanting to find something but
we said the view of the sky at night was the best part. They said they had forgotten to look last
night and thanked us for reminding them.
As we were driving out of the mine area, we stopped to take pictures of the
mountains in the morning Sun, the colors were amazing. As I turned to get
back on the truck, I caught sight of a Bobcat running across the road! I
yelled out to Marty...did you see that!!! And he had, we spent the next
few minutes trying to see where it went but the brush was too thick. We
got back on our way.
It was pretty uneventful on the road until we hit Winnemucca. We stopped
at the first place that has food that happened to be a casino with a cafe
inside. We had a regular breakfast, eggs, hash brown and ham. It
was the first real meal that we'd eaten since Monday and we hadn't finished
that. I had trouble biting into the English Muffin and bacon, so I traded
for toast and ham with Marty. We played a penny slot casino game and I
won!
Back on the road again, we stopped to take pictures of a house we had seen on
the way out. We also stopped to get gas near Reno so the tank would be full when we returned the truck to
National tomorrow.
We checked into the El
Dorado which is
right next door to the Silver Legacy where we stayed Monday and Tuesday.
We went across the street to the Pawn Shop to see if they found the other
earring (inlaid hot air balloon) but they hadn't and it sounded like they had
really looked. They were very nice.
We went back to the El
Dorado and gambled a
little and realized that we were both hungry. We went to the Silver
Legacy buffet and ate. Oh my goodness, it was so nice to eat and have no
repercussions.
We decided that we were tired and went back to the room. It may only be 7pm here but in our heads and bodies, it is after 10pm. We turned on the TV and I wanted to take a bath but
there was no plug so it was a long hot shower for me. While I was
showering, Marty went downstairs to check in with the airline and print our
tickets. He came back muttering because he tried 3 times on the ancient
courtesy PC to check in, but the machine was so slow it would time out the connection
and then reboot. The second time he got as far as picking out seats and
it showed that none were available. The
third time may have eventually worked if Marty didn’t throw the PC across the
room. Can we have a normal day, please?
Reno - Tampa 10/5
The answer
is no.
Our restful
and recuperating night's sleep was not to be. Around 2am, a man in the next room started
crying out HELP HELP HELP for minutes at a time. It almost sounded like a
really loud cat. It didn't sound like he'd fallen or hurt himself in any
way - it sounded like he'd drunk too much. It would stop then start
again. Finally, after the third time, I called Security and we heard them
knock on the door next to ours. They talked to him for several minutes
then left and he was quiet after that for a bit. Security came up later,
too. In all, Security came up to his room three times in the early morning
hours.
We woke up early, around 5:30am, got dressed and went down for
breakfast. It was nice once again to eat without having to worry how our
stomachs would handle the food. I am still having trouble with bacon and
anything with a crunchy edge.
When we returned to our room, next door’s door was propped open and EMTs and
their medical equipment were in full view. We didn't hear them take him
anywhere and when we were ready to check out, the door was closed.
We packed everything up, double checked the room and made our way down to the
desk to check out. At the desk, all was going well until the clerk said
our card would be charged an amount that was more than the city tax. We
explained that we had prepaid and she explained that if we had, the bill would
not have the room charge on it. We refused to pay and she argues with us
a few moments until we insisted that we had paid in advance, she called to the
billing office and asked them to check and sure enough there had been an error
on our room charge sheet. We had, indeed, paid in advance. Our bill
was for the room and city tax, about $11. With that straightened out, we
got on our way.
Again, the airport was easy to get to and we were there in no time. I
loved the car rental return for National as every person who passed us said
"Welcome back!" It was a very nice thing to do.
Our flights back were scheduled on American Airlines and the planes were larger
and the seats way more comfortable. They also had a policy of allowing
early boarding for those who had only luggage that fit under the seat, it was
different and nice for those who qualified.
The trip to Dallas passed quickly and once in DFW we
had dinner at TGIFridays and watched
a few innings of the Rays-Red Sox playoff game. When they called our
flight, they asked that we board quickly as weather was moving in and they were
going to try to beat it.
We did end
up beating the ‘weather’ and got to Tampa around 9:30pm.
We flew above the cloud cover and the clouds were amazing. So thick and high, like skyscrapers. We hit very little turbulence and the flight
was pleasant. We were home by a little
after 10pm but couldn’t settle in.
We read, unpacked and finally watched TV until we were tired, around 1am.
Time to
plan our next adventure.
