Christmas time 2010, once again found my Wife and I making the trip over the Rocky Mountains to a place we both still call home. Home is the town of Grand Junction, Colorado. It is nestled in the foothills of the west slope of Colorado. Famous for Palisade peaches and as of the last 10 years, grapes and wine. We both grew up there and still have family in the area. I always take a detector along in case the weather is good and the ground is not frozen. This year I took both the V3 and the DFX. The V3 for old coins and the DFX for use with my Bigfoot coil. We arrived and found ourselves in beautiful weather. A quick check in the back yard and I was happy to find the ground perfect for digging plugs. This is not always the case. Most of the time the ground is frozen hard this time of year. We got settled in and I started planning for the hunt the next day. I decided on an old park that had produced a few keepers for me in the past. Across the road from my Wife's Mothers house was a modern day High School and sports fields that would do nicely for a hunt with th DFX and Bigfoot coil. I was set for a fun week. The following morning I set out for the park and it was not long before the fun started.

ChristmasCoinShooting

With a few phone calls to some alumni from the old school I confirmed that I was in fact hunting the location of the old home coming bonfires. This little overlooked area in the corner of the park produced a nice pile of old coins for me. The grass still does not grow well where the fire was.



The old park in the background has produced some good finds in the past as well. Here is a few closeups of the coins I found this trip.

A Rosie Dime spill was one of the high lights of the hunt



It was not the only coin spill. I found several Wheats in close proximity. These two had been companions for many years.



Silver was a welcome and frequent find in the bonfire area.



In the end even the Wheats were exciting digs.



Here is a photo of the keepers for the trip...



The last day of the hunt I sat for awhile and tried to visualize the home coming celebrations that happened here at this location on cool fall nights in the past. It was a different time, and a different way of life. As I looked at the coins I had dug, they filled me with a feeling of nostalgia and a strange warmth overcame me. I can only imagine that it was the warmth still radiating from that long ago bonfire that once burned brightly in the corner of the little park.

Keep Swing'in
Jack