Find of a Lifetime... and it rained!

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=80 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="03c00500dvldtc.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>The TAAA Cibolo Creek Site</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The TAAA Cibolo Creek Site"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Wilson County Sand Pit"><U>The Wilson County Sand Pit</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dig Prices"><U>Dig Prices</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Camping Prices"><U>Camping Prices</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Dig Rules for this site"><U> Dig Rules for this site</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Subscribers to the TAAA Electronic Newsl"><U>Subscribers to the TAAA Electronic Newsletter</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact the TAAA"><U>Contact the TAAA</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TAAA Memberships New or Renew"><U>TAAA Memberships - New or Renew</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About the TAAA"><U>About the TAAA</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links to related sites"><U>Links to related sites</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Copy of Release of Liability"><U>Copy of Release of Liability</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dig Times"><U>Dig Times</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DANGERS AT THIS DIG SITE!!!"><U>DANGERS AT THIS DIG SITE!!!</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lodging, Eating Supplies"><U>Lodging, Eating & Supplies</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Opening Weekend Photos"><U>Opening Weekend Photos</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some Fine Finds at the site!"><U>Some Fine Finds at the site!</U></A>   |   <B>Find of a Lifetime... and it rained!</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="03dd2c00dvldtc.gif"> <div> <I><B><IMG SRC="06abc790.jpg" border=0 width="188" height="121" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></I></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=400 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> Find of a Lifetime... and it rained!</div> <div> by Bob McWilliams</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Here is what happened last night at the dig site (11/22/04).  A story about how even in overwhelming odds one can turn adversity into an unexpected experience, even if it was by luck... or maybe fate, if you believe in such a thing.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>...and it rained and rained and rained...</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> For those of you who have dug at the Cibolo Creek dig site you will have a better prospective of what I had to go through last night. </div> <div> Old Betsy, our oldest backhoe was left at the dig site. In 1998 the site where we were digging was covered in 10 feet of water! It was looking like we were not going to have to move the backhoe out of the field where the dig site is during this last batch of rain. </div> <div> The landowners and locals advised me that we had not gotten the rain that they had in the previous flood years. Well, about 9:30 PM last night that all changed. </div> <div> I received a call from the landowner at the site and he told me that he was moving his house, right then! His home now is a large travel trailer since his other home had washed away in the '98 flood. </div> <div> I wasted no time in getting my rain gear together and hitting the road for the dig site. About 1 hour and 15 minutes later I arrived where the Cibolo creek crosses the highway. The road was closed. Barricades were up and the water was rising. I stayed just long enough to see a 6 inch rise in the water (about two minutes). The top of the guard railings could still be seen but it was several feet over the road. </div> <div> With advice from the landowner I went around the back way. I crossed over several creeks as I grew closer to the dig site. </div> <div> As I drove up to where the landowners trailer had been I was relieved that there was no water there - yet! I put on my wet weather gear took my blue Mag light and started walking towards the field where the backhoe was parked. </div> <div> Just behind the landowners yard there is a low spot. We had already had lots of trouble there with mud from previous rains at the two other digs. We had filled this in with dirt from a hole that I had dug to make the landowner a trash pit. </div> <div> The road had a narrow pipe running under it to let the water move under the road. As I crossed over the pipe I noticed water running through the pipe in what seemed to be going the wrong direction! Earlier I had put two red reflectors on each end of the pipe so someone would not drive off in the ditch there. </div> <div> As I come out of the low place and entered the field there was a large puddle of water in the road. I tried walking in the weeds to the left but encountered deep water, I then tried to go to the right and found a place that the water was not so high but still over my shoe tops. </div> <div> Shining my light I could see Old Betsy in the field in front of me. It was surrounded by piles of dirt (now mud) that I had dug out in the previous two digs there. </div> <div> Through a light rain I could see a major problem as I looked at the backhoe. One of the rear tires was totally flat, so was one on the front. I had been having trouble with them so I had left a bottle of propane at the site which was rigged to fill the backhoe tires. </div> <div> In the dark I searched the site and finally found the bottle against the fence in the weeds. I grabbed the bottle, lifted and could tell from the weight that it had enough in it to fill the tires. My first piece of luck! </div> <div> About 150 years further into the field runs the Cibolo creek. I had to see for myself how high the water was. In the dark I trudged along as the sticky black muck made it difficult to walk. </div> <div> But, I was determined to look at the creek. </div> <div> When I walked through another archeological site that I had cleared the brush on I could hear water running. As I neared the bank I could see the water. It was about 6 feet from the edge of the bank before it would start spilling into the site. </div> <div> I hastened back to the backhoe and began filling the tires with the propane. The front tire filled quickly, no problem. The large rear tire was another thing. The propane was escaping nearly as quickly as I put it in. After what must have been 20-25 minutes I had to rest a minute. The cold, wet weather was hurting my old arthritic joints. </div> <div> As I stretched my back I took my light and shined it onto a small pile of dirt that I had been scooping up and putting the dirt on the screens during the last dig. I could see a quarter size piece of flint glistening in the pile. As any curious person would do I dug my finger into the soft mud and lifted up. To my amazement I could tell that I was lifting a large thin piece of flint. </div> <div> Adjusting my Mag light I could tell that I had what looked to be a whole artifact covered in mud. My heart raced as I tried to find something to clean it with. I found a small mud puddle and began to wash off what was turning out to be a "Find of a Lifetime" for me. </div> <div> As the mud disappeared it was replaced with awesome the oblique parallel flaking of an 4 1/4 inch side notched knife It was paper thin, had a slight twist in it and was completely whole! </div> <div> Carefully I put it in my zipped rain coat pocket. Then the realization hit me that I was losing propane and there was high water coming!!! </div> <div> I put more propane in the large rear tire until my achy joints told me to stop. I jumped on the backhoe and made a dash for the county road at the front of the property. As I neared the low lying area where the pipe ran under the road I was startled to see that the road was totally under water! The water was about 1/2 up to the top of the red reflectors. I had no choice, I drove the backhoe into the water trying to guess where the road was. If I veered too far off I would stick the tractor and it would be buried by water, possibly in just a few minutes. Everything was going well, I came to the area where the reflectors were and remember thinking how lucky I was to have put those there or I would risk falling off the pipe into the ditch. I prayed silently that the tractor would not slip off the side of the underwater road and become buried. </div> <div> Old Betsy slipped past the reflectors just like a motor boat and I came out of the water to the other side. I started up the 6 foot incline and my problems were really just about to begin! Even the tractor tires would not grab the slick mud on the incline. I could get about half way up and then it would just sit there and spin! After many attempts and realizing that what I was attempting was futile I went to plan B. </div> <div> I decided to turn the tractor around. Well, that was not so easy either! My front tires would not grip the muddy road and let me turn. After about 20 or 30 attempts at turning I was able to slip and slide my self in an about face turn. Then, I took my backhoe, and started pulling the tractor up the hill! It was working! </div> <div> The tractor would slip a little way down the hill when I would get a new grip but I was able to finally get over the hump. I tried backing out of the property to the county road but I could not control the muddy beast in the mud, I was running into trees, the fence and whatever got in Old Betsy's way. I knew I was going to have to turn around. With the landowner shining his lights for me from his pickup I attempted to turn her around again. Another 20 or 30 attempts and once again I made the turn. It all sounded like I was bad luck but what happened next really put a damper on things. </div> <div> Slowly the big back tire had run out of air (propane) while I was fighting the machine in the mud! I tried to fill it back up but it was losing propane faster than it was filling it. I made the choice the to run it out flat! </div> <div> I had one more really muddy spot to go through before I reached the landowners drive that was covered with a weather proof caliche. I hit the mud at full speed, the flat tire popped each time the flat area hit the ground. It popped me up and down in the drivers seat. The noise, the bumps, the rain, the lights in your face... You would have had to be there to understand the emotions of that night. I was pretty pumped! </div> <div> Successfully I got through the mud pile, I had reached sturdy ground. The landowner's neighbors were waiting for me. They told me that I could park Old Betsy on their property across the road (on a hill). They said it would be safe there. Finally a break, at least I thought I had one. As I started to drive the tractor out of the front gate of the property the rim began to spin inside the flat tire. Seeing how Old Betsy is old, the axle turns the tire with the least resistance. I was not going anywhere! It was the end of the road for me and Old Betsy. </div> <div> We were stuck in the gate of the property, the landowner was behind us and could not get out as we sat in the middle of the road. </div> <div> Once again, I took the backhoe and pushed the tractor out of the properties gate on to the side of the caliche County Road. I put the backhoe jacks down and the front end loader down and jacked the backhoe about 4 more feet up into the air. I was hoping it would be tall enough not to get the motor wet if the creek covered the property! </div> <div> I had been defeated in one way, yet in another I was victorious. I patted the 4 1/2 inch awesome ancient artifact that became mine by default, by accident as I tried to rescue Old Betsy. </div> <div> Firing up my Chevy truck I left her behind, I crossed the creeks just in time to get back home (they came down behind me). I went back to the Cibolo creek crossing that I had first been turned back from due to high water. It was now totally over the bridge and was lapping at the last number on the flood sign at the bridge, 5 feet over the bridge. </div> <div> Old Betsy remains there tonight. No one can get in there to see if the tractor made the flood or not. We will have to wait for the floods to recede. </div> <bR> <div> Update... </div> <div> Member Bill La France called me two days after the flood and told me that Old Betsy was safe BUT... the water had risen to the bottom of the crankcase of the backhoe! Just missed losing the motor! All is well that that turns out well. </div> <div> 12/1/04 </div> <div> I just had the two flats fixed on Old Betsy, she runs fine. We will be digging again this weekend! </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0c0902c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="0c1902c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="0c2902c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="0c3902c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="0c4902c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="0c5902c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="0c6902c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="0c7902c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="0c8902c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="0c9902c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="0ca902c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Bob McWilliams - TAAA</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>