Day 4 - Arkansas

Day 4, October 20

Dear Miss Smith

 As you know, Priscilla turned the driving over to me today. I was relieved to find that driving the RV wasn’t too difficult, probably since I’ve had practice driving all kinds of other vehicles at home on the farm. The three-hour drive was pretty uneventful. Wanting to get an early start we were up at dawn but Priscilla was still tired so she quickly fell back to sleep, leaving me to comparative solitude.  As you know, ‘Cilla is indeed a deep sleeper and I took advantage of this by putting one of my own music CDs in. I don’t mind her music but honestly,  opera and old country music aren't exactly my favorites. I prefer Irish tunes in most cases so that’s what I went with.

                We finally arrived at Crater of Diamonds and found a good place for the RV before heading up to the Discovery Center and then started out to the field, armed with small shovels and a wire screen.  It had rained over night and one of the park employees informed us that this was the ideal time to search for diamonds as the rain helps unearths any rocks and minerals that might be around.

                We followed a worker’s advice and just walked up and down the field for a while, “surface hunting,” and digging a little hear and there. We arrived there at about nine o’clock and by lunch time hadn’t found any diamonds. Of course we knew there was a good chance we wouldn’t find any but we did hope. We weren’t completely empty-handed though. There is an abundance of other rocks and minerals to be found and we each found a few, including an amethyst and garnet.

                About noon we were getting hungry so we decided to go to the on-site restaurant for lunch. The dogs were with us all morning, on leashes of course, but we took them back to the RV before washing up and going to lunch. After lunch we headed back out to  look some more. There were other attractions (like wooded trails) which we wanted to see but we decided to look for diamonds a little longer.

                As I was looking, suddenly I heard an excited squeal and looking up I saw ‘Cilla on her hands and knees, her big plumed hat (you know, the one with the bird on it) haphazard but going unnoticed as she carefully lifted a small yellow stone into her hands.

                “Look, Amy!” she exclaimed. I could hardly believe my eyes. We called to a nearby employee who came over and confirmed our suspicions. Priscilla had indeed found a diamond! It was small, only a little larger than a pea, and yellowish in color. There was a natural oily substance all around it which apparently kept it fairly clean in the dirt.

                Storing it in a little bag we’d brought for the purpose we continued our search with renewed vigor. Another hour passed; it was 2:30 and we’d found nothing more so we decided to go see what else there was to see around the place. As we started for the edge of the field suddenly a little glint caught my eye. Eagerly I bent to see what it was. With a grin I held the little white diamond up for Priscilla to see.

                “We should’ve decided to leave earlier; maybe I would’ve found one soon!” I joked.

                We got cleaned up, put the dogs on their leashes, and went out to the trails. I suppose I shouldn’t go into too much description of the woods or I’ll bore you, so I’ll just say, they were quiet and very beautiful!

                About 4:30 we returned to the RV and started for our next destination, stopping once for supper at Taco Bell.

                Priscilla is going to bed and just gave a not-so-subtle hint that I should probably turn out the light.

                So, good night, Miss Smith.

 

~Amy~