Show Me Gold Prospector

May 2010 Newsletter

May Outing: The May meeting will be May 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th at the home of Randy and Missy May.

Our April meeting: Everyone had a great time at our April meeting. A huge thank you to Gary Zumwalt for grilling the hamburgers and hotdogs! Also another thank you to Alberta Zumwalt and Judy Thompson for their assistance in setting up the food tables at our meetings. Quite a few of our members tried their hand at panning gold at the panning tub that Larry Coffman set up. Others shared different rocks (and stories) that they had collected during recent outings.

Besides our regular raffles (where quite a few of us received some nice door prizes), Judy Thompson held a separate raffle and drawing for 2 gold nuggets to help the St Luke Church Youth Group who are raising money for a mission trip to Waterloo, Iowa. Rene Thompson was in charge of collecting donations to send to the North Care Hospice in memory of Tom Gabriel’s mother, who passed away in March.

MDA Walk: Janice Petroff, who is a member of both our chapter and the Gateway chapter, has raffle tickets available for you to win a gold nugget. In memory of her mother who passed away in January, her team is participating in the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Stride N Ride Walk to take place on May 1, 2010, in Hazelwood, Missouri. She will hold the drawing for the nugget at the walk.

Summer Food Drive: Carol Coffman announced that she is collecting nonperishable food items for a local food pantry. Here’s how this works: No money involved! For each food item you bring to her at our meetings during this summer, she will put a ticket in the “food pantry bucket” for a drawing to be held at our August meeting. The more items you bring, the more tickets you get! The prize is a gold nugget that was donated by Doug and Sharon Foster.

May Meeting at the May’s: Our May outing and meeting will be held at the farm of Randy and Missy May on May 7th, 8th & 9th. If you didn’t get directions to their place at our last meeting, just give Roenna a call at 816-690-3596 or Carol at 913-306-7313.

When can I arrive? You can arrive Friday evening. I know of several people who will be there on Friday. Some people will come for just Saturday. That is O.K. too. By Sunday afternoon most people have gone home.

Where do I stay? For those of you who don’t rough it much, Mexico has several nice hotels. A lot of people will stay at the May’s. People will stay in tents, trucks, or RV.

What is the 1^st thing I do upon arriving? After finding a place to park, please find Roenna Johnston or Carol Coffman. You will need to sign an Indemnity & Release of Liability and the monthly raffle.

Is there a schedule of events? Yes!! On Saturday, you are fairly free to do what you like. We have a pile of material that you can work. If there is water in the creek, you can set up and work in the creek. The metal detector hunt will start on 1:00. Please sign up by 12:45. When you sign up, please make a donation for the metal detector hunt.

The pot luck will start at 5:00. After the pot luck, there will be a meeting. If everyone is not too tired, how about a having a bonfire??

What kind of equipment do I bring? Bring a pan, highbanker, sluice, or metal detector. For those of you that are new, just speak up. Someone will show you what to do.

What about bad weather? If the weather is bad, a decision will be made on Wed, May 5th if the outing will be a go. I will send an email and if you don’t have e-mail please call Roenna at 816- 690-3596 or Carol at 913-306-7313.

Door Prizes: Remember we need you to donate door prizes for our regular chapter raffle and the PLP raffle. The Chapter is donating 2 panning bags and a nugget.

Gold and Treasure Show in Oklahoma City, OK: There will be a GPAA Gold and Treasure Show on May 22 and 23, 2010. Let an officer know if you plan to attend and if you plan on arriving early to help set up, so that we can receive chapter credits for any members helping at the shows.

2-Day Common Dig in Thermal City, NC on June 10^th & 11th: Remember we won’t have a regular chapter meeting in Wellington in June since a lot of our members will be going to Thermal City for our 2-Day Common Dig on June 10 & 11. We had a few members indicate at our last meeting that they would be going to Thermal City, and we’ll still have a list available at the May outing if you still want to sign up. The main cabin rentals have already been reserved at Thermal City, but there are plenty of campsites available. You might want to give Lloyd Nanney a call to reserve your spot if you want to stay there. The phone number is 828-286-3016. The website is www.huntforgold.com if you want to go online. There are also plenty of motels within a few miles.

Here is a little more information on Thermal City: On I-40, take Exit #85 at Marion, North Carolina. Thermal City is located around 8 miles south just off Highway 221 between Marion and Rutherfordton., North Carolina. The cost for the 2-day common dig is $125. In the past, this has included your time at the panning trough for those two days. Early on Thursday morning, Lloyd will explain how the dig is run and divide us into two groups. One group will work on Thursday morning and Friday afternoon. The other group will work on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. You’ll be working at either the trommels or the highbankers. Any free time, we can pan at the panning trough. We usually have a cookout and potluck dinner on Thursday evening after the first day’s dig and on Friday evening after the last day’s dig and “the gold split”, we all go into town for dinner at one of Lloyd’s favorite restaurants. We will have another handout at our May meeting.

Renewing GPAA Membership: Please remember to mention that you are a member of the Show Me Gold Prospectors when you renew your GPAA membership. We get chapter credits each time you renew your membership and use these credits to purchase items for the store and metal detector hunt prizes.

Final thought: They say we always look forward to our Golden years, well I am ready to find gold and lots of it.

Roenna and Carol