Last Ride, New York, 2007

Cari and I headed out on our last ride together before I head West. A beautiful fall day in Dutchess County, New York. We had a small show at her farm last night featuring my meteorites, jewelry, and the rest of my ecclectic collection. Also, RJ and Cari did a demo--advanced horse tricks!

RJ

Cari, me, RJ, and my Airstream (new axles and all!). Read more on RJ at www.cariswanson.com. He starred in the Disney film Hidalgo and is a unique and talented horse.

Posing with RJ in front of the barn.

Don't let this guy fool you. He's looking a little lackluster here. This horse is no trail hack. He's got brains, talent, and athleticism. He plays dead (a lot of horses die on film in action sequences), rears on command, bows, looks on command, and does a thousand other things I've never seen a horse do. RJ came to her from one of Hollwood's top horse trainers--Rex Peterson.

"Now That's Not Something You See Every Day"

New York City

I am here in New York to peddle my meteorites. Just arrived back from Denver (via air) and have spent the past three days hauling meteorites around town.

Be sure you get this picture. Beautiful fall day. September. New York. Jim lugging 80 plus pounds of meteorites around the city including up and down the stairs to the subway. I've been commuting in from Brooklyn in the mornings and cold calling rock shops, fossil shops, antique dealers, and jewelers with my borrowed and very heavy rolling case of rocks from space.

I sold a few.

Highlights of the trip included seeing my friends Kim S and Michael M.

Michael, a Utah friend who now resides in NYC let me stay at his place in Brooklyn. Kim let me use her mid-town office as a base camp to somewhat limit the amount of stuff I hauled around with me during the day.

I loved seeing the meteorite exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. The guard commented on my bag of meteorites that I took with me in to the museum that "that's not something you see every day."

The museum has the best meteorite exhibit I've ever seen including the largest meteorite on display in any museum in the world: the 34 ton Ahnighito Meteorite, part of the Cape York from Greenland.

Go to http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/meteorites/what/ahnighito.php for more information.

The biggest highlight of the trip was seeing the city itself when it was booming and in the glory of fine fall weather. New York is amazing. They started filming Sex in the City the film while I was there. Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, Charlotte, and Mr. Big were on the streets of Manhattan again, and I was there too! Now that's a thrill. ; )

An Education in Denver

I'm in Denver at Martin Zinn's big fall show. I did his spring show here and there is no comparison with the fall one--it's a much bigger show in September!

The bulk of my business this year has been selling Campo del Cielo meteorites. These are iron-nickel meteorites--hunks of iron, often rusty, from outer space.

In August I acquired two collections of meteorites including dozens of different types. The problem was, as a neophyte, I didn't know how to price these little gems from space. I knew enough to know a good deal when I bought them, but that was the limit of my expertise.

Yesterday I was privileged to receive unlimited and free assistance from one of the world's top meteorite dealers: Blaine Reed. With Blaine's assistance I was able to price my new meteorites at fair market prices.

Working with him was a hell of an experience. While I've learned a lot about meteorites this year, I obviously know infinitely less than a top dealer who has passionately collected and dealt in meteorites for decades. His knowledge was impressive. He could easily distinguish one type from another among over 50 different types of meteorites. At one point I questioned him about a price he was suggesting and he replied: "I can't even begin to communicate all of the subtleties of why some meteorites are more valuable than others. I can just help you price them." There was nothing arrogant in his tone. It was a reminder as to how much I have to learn. Blaine was impressed with my meteorites which included some he hadn't seen in a while.

Yesterday I purchased a flat of material from the so called K-T boundary. This is the line in the geological record between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. (Geologists use the letter K to abbreviate Cretaceous.) The K-T boundary material contains the clues geologists used to give credence to the theory that a meteorite took out the dinosaurs. The story is a fascinating one. In short, a giant meteor is believed to have entered the earth's atmosphere 65 million years ago and crash in to our planet at the Yucatan peninsula. Among other things this not so little rock from space is believed to have created tidal waves a thousand feet high that cruised hundreds of miles inland along thousands of miles of coast lines. Enough matter was thrown in to the atmosphere to shut down photosynthesis and disrupt the food chain killing over 70% of all life on earth including all of the dinos (except for birds who are modern day dino-survivors).

There is much more to this tale but one of the key results was opening the door in the evolutionary chain of events that allowed for the rise of mammals who until that time could not compete with the dinosaurs.

Hence, a meteorite is responsible for our very existence. It's quite a tale and the K-T material I purchased yesterday holds the evidence of this cataclysmic event. I've had many people request pieces of it before and now I have some! It's not expensive, but it is a must have for collectors.

You can read a little more on the K-T boundary at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Tertiary_extinction_event

It's been absolutely wonderful to connect with the meteorite community and especially to see Jose G (my Campo man) whose support has been invaluable in getting my business going this year.

September Morn, Dutchess County, New York

Ohhhhhhhh . . .

Life on the farm
Is kind of laid back
Ain’t nothin an Airstreamer like me can’t hack
Early to bed
Early in the sack
Thank God I’m an Airstreamin’ boy

Since early August I've been based at Windrock Farm, my sister's place between Millbrook and Amenia, New York. Still traveling a lot too.

I’ve been Airstreamless since August 13th!

It’s a crime.

Reunited with my trailer briefly from August 22nd to the 28th.

It’s at Colin Hyde's in Plattsburgh, New York getting new axles and a thousand other little things including some replaced floor and new floor covering.

This Airstream is becoming high cotton.

Pick up my home around September 19th.

In the meantime being at Windrock Farm is like taking on the lifestyle of the rich and famous. It's a spectacular property, especially if you like horses. The main house is huge, about 10,000 square feet. The barn apartment isn’t too shabby either. I’ve stayed in both. For pictures and more info go to http://www.windrockfarm.com/
Pictures don’t do it justice but you can get a sense. Go to http://www.cariswanson.com/ for more on my sister.

She has treated me like visiting royalty (so I like to think).

Today I leave for a trip to New York City and Denver traveling by plane, train, and rented automobile. There’s a huge rock show there and I am showing some premium meteorites I’ve acquired in the past month. For more on the Denver show go to
http://www.mzexpos.com/colorado_fall.htm

Since leaving Aiken in early July (see below) I’ve been to too many places to mention. In brief: 14 states plus D.C. Mostly in the East but I also spent a weekend at a seminar in Las Vegas with my mom and my sister Elise (of Idaho). As of this writing I’ve been to 25 states plus D.C. so far this year. Not one state is a “new” state for me!

Famous people I’ve seen since Aiken (famous in my world, not including immediate family): Jim, Alison, and Kim Range, Colin and Suzanne Hyde, Rich and Eleanor Luhr, Valerie Leonard, Harley Muse, Christy Williams, Jim and Tally, James Ray, Tom Sullivan, Martin Zinn, and many more.

Become an Airstreamer and buy a meteorite. Your life will never be the same.

Sunday Morning
Windrock Farm
New York