Marathon Fossil Hunting

It rained all day yesterday, so I was nearly foaming at the mouth to get out and score some paleo goodies. I left early and arrived at my destination, surprised that no one else was there. The road in is really muddy, so I had to walk it instead of drive, so I parked and went into power walking mode to quickly cover the mile I had to cover before I could find anything. When I finally arrived, to my sheer delight, I found that the hills I have been hunting at this spot for the past few years had been bulldozed just this week. And there were no footprints in sight anywhere. It was easy to tell that I was the first there because there were shark teeth everywhere. Nearly every minute I picked one up. Most were badly broken or worn, but as I've said time and time again, there's nothing like picking up a massive quantity of teeth. It just makes the day fly by! I did manage a few nice teeth at this spot, including an incredibly preserved (for this spot) megalodon tooth and several nice mako teeth. With every pocket loaded with teeth and my boots covered with 10 pounds of mud each, I walked back to my truck. When I got there I found one of my tires nearly flat. Bummer! It wasn't all the way flat, though, so I drove to the gas station and picked up some fix-a-flat and asked to borrow their air. Of course, I pulled up to the only gas station for miles around without any air, so I was content to just let the fix a flat do its job. I still had one more place to go. When I got there, wouldn't you know it that the road into there was muddy, too? But this time, it was a mile and a half walk and I was already starting to feel the pain from my earlier hunting. Still I pressed on, though, because it was for teeth! Just as I arrived at the pit, my foot slipped in some mud and I sprained my left knee. I thought about turning around and limping back to my truck, but I was already at the pit. It would have been a waste to come all that way and not find something, right? Yah, I thought so, too. And besides, whether I went back now or later, I would be limping the whole way, so what's the difference? Well, as it turns out, I should have just gone back. Close, thorough examination of the pit revealed that only enough rain had fallen to make the road too muddy to drive in. The fossil bearing dirt was barely even eroded. The limp back was much slower then the walk in, but I could hardly count the day as a loss. The morning rocked! Next time I'll just call it a day after the flat tire.