With their brilliant yellow leaves, the thick stands of quakie stood in stark contrast to the spruce and pine. In the shadows the Rocky Mountains, Autumn was revealing itself again in spectacular fashion. As we climbed in elevation a vast landscape of fall colors stretching out for miles unfolded before us. If you ever get a chance to drive the mountain passes of Colorado this time of year you will surely be in for a treat.
My Wife and I were on our way to Western Colorado to spend a few days visiting with family. Among the planned activities for the trip was a Friday night Homecoming football game. I was looking forward to this in hopes of touching base with a few old friends from the high school I graduated from almost 30 years ago. I had also brought along my detecting gear, and had planned to get out to a few hours of detecting in some of the old parks in the town of Grand Junction, Colorado. I was born and raised in this town, and despite not living there for the last 15 years, it's a place that my Wife and I still refer to as home.
My first morning out found me in a new park that I had not hunted on previous trips. I had thought a lot about this park because it had an old school located off one corner of the park. My past experience has taught me that when these two features cross paths it always makes for a great metal detecting hunt. Just 30 minutes into the hunt the fun started...
The Homecoming.wmv
The Mercury Dime was the third 1917 Dime of the year. So close! The Indian was in poor shape, but a welcome find. The unknown coin ended up being another Wheat.
Just looking at the area could not have given any clues that this grassed school ground was once the edge of an old park. Using google earth and estimating the old road and sidewalks locations was key in getting to where the coins were.
Make sure and check out Randy's Article on Google map overlays...
Metal Detecting and Google Earth Image Overlay
http://www.americandetectorist.com/earthgoogtutor.shtml
I ended up with 9 Wheat Pennies. They are always an enjoyable find.
Another nice little Mercury Dime is my reward for digging all the Wheats. lol
The Standing Liberty Quarter has eluded me in all my years of detecting. I knew I had Silver when I started digging, but had no idea this awaited me at the bottom of the hole.
Here is a picture of the take for the trip. I am still smiling about the Quarter.
I headed back to the car on the second day, and as customary for me, I spread out the days take on my digging cloth. I leaned up against the car and looked down at the old coins. I played back the excitement of the hunt in my head and gazed out at what was left of the tired old park, and the modern day school grounds that encroached upon it. I thought of the homecoming football game a few nights before.The tradition of homecoming is to simply remember those who came before and welcome them back. I can't help but wonder if when we dig an old coin or relic from the ground, and then make it our own treasure, if we are in some small way paying homage to those folks who came before us. Uncovering the years of earth, and bringing our find to the surface, holding it up to see the light of day once again. I picked up the old quarter from my cloth, and looked back at the empty park. The weight of coin was not just from the precious metal it was made of, but from the history it carried with it. I smiled, and thought to myself... welcome home.
Keep Swing'in
Jack
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awesome hunt Jack way to go, you looked like you were having fun, 
And Happy Hunting All 
Congrats on your first Standing Liberty , she's a beauty !! 
Are you sure that first pic isn't a postcard? lol 
I love the pic of the SLQ, detector and Colorado blue sky! And of course your story of the hunt...
Originally Posted by jkress link=topic=7207.msg83575#msg83575 date=1317354255
