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[irockhound]

Well, after getting shut down last year on a 2 week West Texas rock trip I was supposed to lead to the ranch that had been sold and this was to be the last trip before the sale was final so I book 13 unrefundable nights at the hotel but the day before I was supposed to leave they cancelled the trip thanks to the guy that has cattle lease threw a monkey wrench in the trip and the ranch that had all those great Bouquet agates sold.
So this year a trip to the other ranch I like to frequent which has the Beautiful Red Plume Agate.  I wasn't going to be able to go because my wife was out of town at a dog show so my sister offers to watch my disabled son as a birthday present to me so I can make the trip  YAY.  I invite my friend from the Oregon border to join me and my sister drives from San Francisco and we head out.  2 days there and I get to my hotel to be told that my reservations were for the wrong days and I had not reservation for that night.  I had the confirmation numbers and I knew they were correct for the right days.  Well the hotel staff lied , my reservation was correct but they made a big deal saying they would "fix" it for me.  Okay so we get the room I already had booked and the next morning we are excited to hit the ranch and get that plume!  We go to the departure point and there are about 25 people waiting.  We are all talking and I get a call from the ranch owner, THEY ARE CANCELLING THE TRIP!!!!!!!!   ARRRRRRRRGH.  We drive to Texas for 2 days spend 4 nights hotel stay and they cancel the trip the morning it starts.  The rock gods hate me.  I am really wondering if I will ever make a commitment to a trip that far away again, too much risk and no guarantees.

[hummingbirdstones]

OMG that just sucks!  Does the ranch have any kind of notice on their website or something that says that they can cancel at anytime?

[irockhound]

No website, just trips a couple times a year.  This time it was 2 factions of the family that control the ranch one side lets rockhound trips happen the other side hates rockhounds.  The side that hates us locked out us and the other side of the family and had all the locks on the ranch changed and of course they have the same guy holding the cattle lease that was from the other ranch he got us kicked out of in Marfa so he has a history of getting us removed and was no doubt a large part of the shut down this time too.  This wasn't the first time they cancelled trips on this ranch though.  I think 2 years ago the city of Alpine actually paid for an ad in Rock and Gem advertising the show and field trips and at the last minute the ranch shut down that trip too.  At least then we had the Marfa ranch with the Bouquet as a backup and still worth the trip.  This was the last Plume ranch available that has the plume that was actually formed on the ranch.  There are still 2 other ranches in West Texas that allow collecting but they are far away from the sources of the plume and it is only errosion and thousands of years of rains and floods that have deposited the occasional plume on their ranches.  Lots of walking looking for needles in haystacks.

[socalagatehound]

Yikes!!!! I came within an eyelash of making that same trip. Can't believe it got cancelled at the departure point. That sucks big time. Talking to the owner who likes rocks, he said they had reached an agreement and were only going to do one hunt a year each October. He must have thought it could push another one past the family and they caught on. I am going late October /early November but the Walker is only a couple of days on a 10 day plan. Can't depend on any ranches to be open in Texas! 

Craig

[irockhound]

Yeah, he is a friend however I have now found that the walker is MUCH more difficult than anyone knows.  Lawyers for both sides are now involved and the only benefit we have now is that by the part of the family that had the control over the other half hurt themselves by illegally locking the other half of the family out along with the rockhounds without any notice.  So this could play in the pro rockhound camp to rest the control via court from the anti rockhound group.  It get more involved than that too.  I'll give you a call tomorrow but I am doubtful at this point that there will be a fall trip.