A number of years ago my longtime detecting buddy stepped out of detecting for quite a while citing a number of very valid reason including some you bring up. Competition around Utah was pretty keen with lots of CTX3030's and Etrac's running around the private yards, areas we once had to ourselves. Finds were getting thin. Too, We had found the newer generation of home owners much less likely to grant permission to hunt the yard of an old home than the greatest generation that was passing away.

With Declining places to hunt and no more detecting buddy, I decided to broaden my interests to include ghost towning and shallow water hunting. I also wanted to add gold nugget / prospecting but was less sure about how to do that.

Results? These last several years have been a change from the strictly residential hunting I had been doing, but they have been a lot of fun. Aside from some great times of hanging out with all of you, I've made some pretty great finds. I've added significantly to my oldest coins, my jewelry finds (rings) have blown away all of the previous decades combined, I've gone back to old haunts with my Equinox and Deus and found masked targets I would never have thought would still be there AND I even found a little gold nugget detecting on a club gold claim.

I didn't mean to be a Debbie downer in bringing up Carl's post about Fisher / First Texas, merely to point out that like many businesses impacted these last two years by the new economy they were adjusting as needed.

I look at the skies as partly sunny, and my detecting adventures continuing to happen, my old detecting buddy even went out and bought a new detector. while Monte has been MIT (missing in Texas), we've continued venturing about to ghost towns and train stops and cow towns and military camps and mountain resorts and mining camps and swimming holes and tot lots, old schools, parks and sports fields. Even old yards and parking strips.

Some may turn interests in other directions (I have lots of others interests) in the off season, it is hard to deny that feeling as winter begins releasing its grasp and sites we've been pondering about all winter begin to thaw.

I've seen all of you sleuth out detecting sites that have given up very cool finds. We've kicked around some of the same ghost towns and other places. I think we need to make sure we broaden our vision of places to hunt and not allow those blinders to be put on. I love to explore and am looking forward to more of it in 2022.

Until then, it is like 18* F outside and I spent another 90 minutes today shoveling snow off the driveway and walks. More tomorrow as a neighbor needs a hand with their driveway as well.

All of you keep warm if its winter and cool if it's summer.

Rich