My brother Darryl and I had not had a prospecting adventure since January and we wanted to try out our new drywasher, so we decided to go for the weekend and check out some claims near Barstow…

If you have done any hiking in rough terrain you are well aware that going down a slope is much more difficult and dangerous than climbing it.

My next strategy was to walk anywhere and everywhere that I had been inside this home and garage. I looked on the floor, in the bathroom, I checked the bathroom trash can, and I even pulled the shower curtain back and looked in the bathtub.

The temptation to enter the dark interiors beckoned to me before the day was finished but I resisted.

With one outstretched hand grasping the bottle and the other waving at air, I moved forward feeling for the tent. No tent. No tree.

My right rib cage took the brunt of the blow from the fall, which left me feeling partially paralyzed and in immense pain.

I have a slight mental disorder. It causes frequent lapses in common sense, good judgment and bouts of high fever—gold fever.