Respite

The Expedition has been in home port for some R and R and also to plan the second phase.

The original plan was to head west for the big rivers of northern California and southwestern Oregon, but after what this gold miner witnessed in east Tennessee and somewhere in Alabama, along with how late in the season things are getting to be, the choice is easy.

Phase 2 of Oro Expedition '13 will take place on familiar ground. I look forward to returning to the Coker Creek area and taking up where I left off with dredging.

There are a few places on my list that still need to be investigated deep in the National Forest along with preparation for the fall dredging season at Doc Rogers Field which starts the 1st of September.

I have a spot picked out where I retrieved some small chunky stuff with the 852 sluice. The plan is to hit 3 spots along the same line of bedrock where it meets the blue clay with the "Dragon-Dredge".

My learning curve on gold prospecting and mining has dwindled down to nothing. I'm not saying I know everything there is to know, but I do feel confident in my abilities and the knowledge I have received.

The amount of gold available in the area of east Tennessee, North and South Carolina, along with Georgia and Alabama is very exciting.

Being here at the KDCL studio I have been able to spend a lot of time on the Internet looking for new ideas for funding the Expedition. 

Even though "crowdfunding" is fairly new concept it seems that there are a large number of people using it with success. Miss Paula has contributed to various projects in the past, but I didn't think about it as a way to fund the Expedition.

During my stay we took time to set up a campaign for Oro Expedition '13 at GoFund Me. One of the ways to inspire people to make a contribution is to offer "rewards" and I figured what better reward than to share some of my gold. I already gave away the First Nugget so giving away more just seems natural.

Miss Paula and I have been involved with "social media" since the mid 90's when the only outlet was a place called AOL and Windows was a new concept just catching on.

Today there is an explosion of sites that are social media related and Miss Paula is always expanding our reach.

I also wanted to take as few minutes to explain what I see for the future of Oro Expedition
'13.

Just before the beginning of all this most people I talked to about it said "there's no way you can make a living by prospecting and mining gold," and some are still saying that but I know different.

Even though the success of Phase 1 was small it was still a success due to the amount of gold recovered.

The future of Oro Expedition '13 is in the making with Phase 2. With the addition of a 3" dredge to the operation much more material can be moved which will result in more gold recovered.

Two locations are on the list for Phase 2 and the only thing left to figure out is the order in which I will visit them.

The first of September brings dredging season on Doc Rogers Field in Coker Creek, Tennessee, so it is a safe bet I will be there for that.

An invitation back to an undisclosed location in Alabama could be a great way to spend the month of August dredging along with a stop off in Tennessee so time will tell how it goes.

More later...