subject: Metal Detecting on the Rio Grande [print this page] Metal Detecting on the Rio Grande Metal Detecting on the Rio Grande
Metal Detecting on the Rio Grande
On a treasure hunting trip, on the Rio Grande just south of Sierra Blanca, Tx., we had the time of our lives. The river was swollen and the water was rough that day, I had taken my fishing rod to take advantage of being on the river. Our goal was to get to the side of the river in Mexico and explore a cave that we had seen there a few years earlier, but at that time did not have a boat and now we did.
On Saturday morning, we got in our boat and headed to the site. The water was flowing extremely fast and the boat was on full throttle and as we were inching our way up the river, suddenly the motor shut off and we started to spiral backward out of control. Finally we slammed against the river bank and we were able to hold on to the branches of a salt seeder and held on to dear life until we were able to start the motor and headed up river again. About one hundred yards before we hit pay dirt, the motor shut off again and we were carried away by the river. We tried it a few more times but finally gave up and headed back down river to our camp site. The only good thing was that my friends are mechanics and they overhauled that engine at night with minimal light, no magnetic trays to put the bolts and nuts. Needless to say we were ready to try the following day, but that night was still young and the scary adventure was about to begin.
At about 12:00 midnight, we heard a noise that sounded like a hungry lion looking for something to eat so we had to take turns staying awake making sure we were not going to get eaten while sleeping. One of the times that I was on guard, I saw a pair of big eyes just looking at us. Needless to say, that was the scariest thing I had ever seen at that time in my life. That thing kept watching us for a while and I was not sure what it was. It could have been the alpha horse we had seen earlier with his herd of female horses. It could be a bull since we had seen cattle there too or maybe a "javalina", I don't really know since my imagination was running wild. Anyway next morning, everyone was excited about what had happened the night before so we decided to explore and found mountain lion tracks. We were all freaked out just to think that this lion was actually casing us; we were to be lion food. That was a very strange feeling if you have ever been in a situation where you could have wound up as a cat treat, then you know what I am talking about. The good thing was that it was morning and we were going treasure hunting. We got on the boat and were relieved when we were able to reach the cave without incident with the engine. As we approached the cave, to my dismay I saw that the cave was half collapsed and sealed, far too dangerous to go in. The positive thing was that I did find a few silver Mexican coins just outside the cave and did catch a 13 pound catfish. I guess all in all, it was a great trip.
