~LARGO~

Hi Rob, BINGO! Everything worked just fine so far! Even my automatic sign in! Gary

You have reached your quota of positive votes for the day... Always shows up...guess I get one positive vote per day as my quota...

Re: I've been wondering how your butter knives have been getting bent... Always good to know how to do stuff. Doc always has an answer... Still need to figure out how to get an SDC 2300 coil cover off without breaking it. Gary

Who's runnin' this thing? thought it was Doc! It might be his day off... Big ole nugget being found and nobody talking about it...

So the answer to this is Norfolk, VA? Guessed by grubstake1?

Orlando, Florida

Hi Doc, Thanks very much for that info! I knew you would know... Gary

Hi all, As always, Doc hits it out of the park with his new product! That being said, where can I purchase one of the bungee attachments shown in the attached photo on the SDC2300 upper shaft? I saw one on another friends machine, but no one could locate the source... Thanks very much! Eagle Eye Gary Long/Boise

Gary, I know your uncle has been a huge figure in your life, seems he was a very giving and hard working man. Please understand and know he and you will be in my prayers. Gary Long/Boise

Hi all, With all the advancements in electronic technology, coupled with an awful price to pay for that technology in a new whiz bang detector, it seems all that is being compromised by some instances of poor quality control box castings of late. The plastic control boxes of our older machines seemed to be more than adequately robust for the job at hand then, but I ask, WHAT HAPPENED??? Hearkening back to the early days of minelab super detectors, if you didn't have a roll of duct tape to hold your lower stem and other plastic parts that suffered failure, you were simply out of luck, until a new replacement part could be shipped to you. Problem was, many of those in dire need were miles from any post office and even more miles from a parts stocking Minelab dealer, and UPS didn't have a ZIP code to help find you! I was thinking about those days, and how much gold those earliest guys found. POUNDS of the stuff, literally...One of these days I will show you all some photos of BIG gold that was found with just any Garrett or inexpensive detector back in the early days of detecting... Can't show 'em now, as I promised I wouldn't show, until the finder passes, and he hasn't...yet. Largo

Hi Doc, Just noted your comment on Hoss Blackman. He WAS quite a character, as well as a pretty good published poet as well! I went down to Henderson Nevada, a LONG time ago, to pick up my brand new Minelab XT18000. I had bought the machine from a dealer in Idaho, a friend of Hoss, it was arranged for me to meet Hoss at Wilma's place to receive and be checked out on my new machine. Hoss showed me how (magically) that it could detect metal through thin rocks ( I think most do...) My brother and I offered to take Hoss out to lunch later at a local cantina, as he had taken us to his old trailer, which led me to believe he might be a bit down on his luck. Hoss met us at the appointed time, complete with a string full of big gold nuggets around his neck. I thought he was rather daring to wear such a valuable display of gold, but that was Hoss. Hoss drew a map showing us how to get out to Gold Basin, which included some hot spots around the King and Queen mine. We drove out into the desert to Dolan Springs, where the truck developed a leak in the radiator, so we had to stop at the local grocery store hoping to find a bottle of Radiator Stop Leak, which we did. After putting that Stop Leak into the radiator, we pushed on, day had passed into night time, we were very tired. We pulled off the dirt road out there somewhere, so we could get a nights sleep in the cab high truck camper of my brothers '56 Chevy pickup. Just before hitting the hay, we both took turns standing on the tailgate, taking a quick sponge bath, having heated some water to accomplish the task. Our Coleman lantern helped illuminate our late hour nocturnal baths, which may have made it even more interesting when, in the next morning, we found we had parked ourselves only about 150 feet from a neighboring house, complete with kid slides and swings in the yard. I often wonder what those people may have thought about our free show we had put on just the night before. It was out there at Gold Basin, I finally found my first gold nugget. Leaving the area, we passed some full time gold hunters, who stopped us for a brief chat on how each other were doing. They said they were getting pretty low on supplies, as they hadn't found any gold for some time, and had to rely on Alpo, a canned dog food, for their meals...not sure if I believed them on that one. I told them I had found one nice little nugget, they responded by asking where? I told them where it was I had found my first find, their response was "there's not supposed to be gold out there..." Go figger. Cutting to the chase. I still have a couple of VCR tapes of Hoss's lectures, pretty interesting, and humorous, as Hoss, who had set up a dry erase board in the desert, was showing how gold travels in washes, etc, interrupting himself occasionally by his nasal snorting and blowing his nose with his big handkerchief. He was truly one of a kind. We kept in contact later on, he called me on the phone, asking if I would be interested in taking people on a gold hunt down in Australia. Of course such a trip like that was out of the question, not sure if he ever really did go or not... Gary/Largo

Good job Rob! Gary

That is a GREAT video! It pretty much takes me back down my Minelab memory lane! Gary/Largo

Hi Cuz, Things are getting stranger and stranger... Just so happens, I have a copy of "The Rocks Begin to Speak" as well! I bought it years ago, on the recommendation of a friend who knew the author, LaVan Martineau, I am pretty sure that is his name. An expert on the subject, as well as desert survival... I need to clean up some hundreds of pounds of interesting books as well... Not a project I am happy to contemplate, as I have enjoyed them for so long. Cuz Gary...

Hi Gary, I hope you have a great Happy Birthday! I didn't know you and my wife shared the same birthday! She is 67 today. Never did sleep with a woman that old before... That whupping is what I would get if she read this... Take care pal, I am looking at 73 next week, so don't feel so bad about your numbers... Gary/Largo