“A man’s reputation is the opinion people have of him; his character is what he really is.” ~ Jack Miner
Wednesday I awoke to find a black bobcat in my campsite but he vamoosed before I could grab my camera. He wasn’t very big though, not like I thought he would be; I thought bobcats were larger but he was more like an oversized house cat. Perhaps in other parts of the country they are bigger…?
After enjoying this lakeside campsite for a while longer I said goodbye to all the waterfowl and all my buggy friends, drove around the lake, through the town of Cherokee, Oklahoma, to the Great Salt Plains.
That’s not his real name but a moniker he seems to enjoy. The town of Cherokee asked him to be Selenite Sam after the last Selenite Sam chose to retire. The town is also talking about giving him one of the many empty storefronts to display his vast selenite crystal collection and to draw in more tourists. Sam spends most of his days digging for crystals on the salt plains, from early morning until late at night. It was noontime when I saw him and his wooden board was already full of crystal formations. I asked him if he had a computer so he could see this blog and he said, “Hell no! I ain’t even got a TV, what the hell would I do with a computer!” He also mentioned that he was an American Indian, though he didn’t know of which tribe; he said his grandparents were half-breed which brought segregation upon them from society, so they kept it a secret, even from there grandchild. I asked him what he does with all of these crystals and he said he keeps the special ones and leaves the rest for tourist, then he looked down at his board, picked a beautiful crystal formation that looked like a flower, handed it to me and said, “Just ’cause I like ya’.” My friend Chris referenced this formation on his computer and found it is commonly called a “Gypsum Flower.” I thanked Selanite Sam profusely, signed his guest book, which people from all over the world had signed, then took this great picture of him. We gave each other a hearty handshake, then I continued on my journey and he continued digging.
I hope whenever you go fishing you always take a frying pan.
The gam continues…
You seem to be having a wonderful trip. Please be careful of snakes.
God bless fr your neighbor w/ flowers -Have fun, Bill