McRock's Geode Trip To IA, MO & IL

       On Thursday May 13th, 2004 we headed to Keokuk IA to go hunting for Geodes. We left home at 5:00 AM. After 45 minutes of driving we stopped in at Shoney's for breakfast. We got done at 6:45 AM. for it didn't open till 6:00 AM. We had rain all the way down there. I thought man this is going to be bad if it rains all weekend. We got in to Hickory Haven Campground at 2:00 PM. and no rain yea hoo. I talked to the owner and paid our fee for the 3 nights. We set up camp by 3:30 and right after we finished guess what? It started to rain again. We discovered that we forgot some things like I didn't pack my pillows, Randy for got the other ropes for the tarp. Oh man here we go again rain rain rain. We waited for Everett till 4:30 to come but we where getting hungry LOL. So we went in to town for supper. We got back to camp around 7:00 PM. and just after we pulled in here came Everett with his Mom. Randy thought it was his girl friend LOL. We shut the bull for a while then Everett and his mom left for supper them self's.

On Friday morning Everett and his mom came in to camp at 8:15 then we all went for breakfast. It was raining so we took our time eating hoping the rain would quit. By 10:00 we got our wish the rain had stopped. So Everett took us to his "special Place" to hunt for Geodes. Randy, Everett and I dug till about 1:00 and headed back to camp to meet up with Carol and Freddy. While we waited for them Everett got out his new toy and cracked the bigger Geodes we all found. Man what beauties we found. They got in at 1:59 PM. We all hugged and said hi for the first time we all had meet each other. Man Carol and Freddy don't look like they do in the pictures LOL. They are great and fun to be with. Freddy lost her keys all ready after only being there for a 1/2 hour LOL. But she found them right away. After they got set up we all went back to where Everett took Randy and I to dig. I was sore so I just watched them all dig and took pictures LOL. Everett was helping the girls find Geodes. For we had allot all ready our self. Everett kept only the best ones he found. At about 6:00 PM. it started to get colder so we headed back to camp. Everett started to crack open the Geodes for every one. We all had lots of them Geodes LOL. Carol for got to pick up hamburger so we had the brats, home made bread, cheese and dogs that I brought along, potato salad, salmon, and other cheese and sausage, & wine that the girls brought over. After supper we sat around talking for awhile. Then Everett and his mom went back to there motel room. Carol and Freddy stayed for awhile longer talking to us. It started to rain again and man it got damp and cold. I was ok sleeping at first but around 3:00 AM. I started to get cold and so did dad. I had to get up and put the sleeping bag on top of me LOL. Then I was warm.

On Saturday morning we woke up at 6:00 AM and got in to the van and started it to warm up. Then around 7:45 the galls came over and we left to get Everett and his mom out of bed LOL. Everett said the night before that they'd be at camp around 9:00 AM. We all went for breakfast in Keokuk. Then we headed to the Sheffler's  Geode Mine. Went we got there we all went in side and looked around for a bit then paid our fee for the day dig. Man it is a shame that the state is going to demolish the office. It is an awesome site to see. We headed for the mine and unloaded the tools and pails. Dad and I stayed in the van and rest went down to start digging. I scratched off some tickets I bought at a gas station on the way down, we all pitched in for some Powerball tickets (Carol didn't give me her $1.00 till we was at the restaurant on Sunday Morning LOL) I took pictures all day of every one digging. Yes I did dig some and found a few Geodes my self LOL. Man you talk about muddy, it sure was there. We dug till around 3:00 PM. or so then headed back to the office to weigh in. each person was allowed 50# before having to pay $.75 a #.  We went back to camp, Carol was going to buy the hamburger but on the way back they decide that since we had brats and dogs left we would just eat them up. Carol had some backed beans so we had then to with all the left over's. We took some group pictures before it got dark. Carol paid for some fire wood (that was not worth it) and we all sat around the camp fire and talked. We wanted to get more fire wood but the owner was no where to be seen LOL. We stayed up late talking to the girls. We all planed to go for breakfast so Everett and his mom were going to come over at 9:00 AM.

On Sunday morning we got up at 6:00 AM. so we started take down the camp and to pack up. We were done by 7:15 AM thank you girls for helping fold up the tent and all. We gave more Geodes to the girls and we helped them out to packing up. By 8:00 we decided to wake up Everett. We stopped in and told them to meet us at the restaurant. I went down in to MO and checked if our tickets where winners. But not a one was. Everett and him mom came in to the restaurant and we all had breakfast. After we got done and paid we all said our good bys and hugged each other. We all had a great time there digging for Geodes. We are planning on doing this again next year.