Walking with dinosaurs

W
hen I started writing for the News Letter Journal, I expected to do articles on artists, dances, plays, live shows, and art galleries. I did not foresee what I was truly getting into, nor how limited I was with that vision. These experiences are just getting better and better. I wanted to do some preliminary research into an event that is coming up this Father’s Day, June 16, where an open house is happening at the Hanson Research Station, a widespread dinosaur dig about 40 miles south and west of Newcastle. See the ad in the paper for times and directions. 
With that in mind, I contacted Carolyn Johnson to see if I could visit for a bit and get a few details. She invited my wife Connie and I to come out to her place, and then she would take us to see the project. And before I go further into this, I want to personally thank both Carolyn and Vern Johnson for their open hospitality and fellowship they gave us all afternoon, both at their beautiful home and at the compound where the research is actively going on. 
We spent several hours Sunday surrounded by some of the most awe-inspiring wilderness I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. While I would not like to get lost out there in that open and harsh land, to see the unique geological formations and marvelous fauna was reason enough to make this day trip. It’s impossible to convey what these sandstone formations are like, but Connie did a pretty good job. She said that they looked like something out of The Flintstones, and that’s about as close as I can get also. For miles, you pass by these strange, other-worldly geological formations that take your breath away. I’ve seen many unique and beautiful areas of the country, but this was as good as the best and better than most. 
Now, when we got to the project site itself, we were treated like royalty by everyone. And we could not believe the friendliness and good humor of the score of people that were working there, and the acceptance and hospitality they showed to us. There is one permanent building, as far as I could tell. The team lives in tents, but they study and eat and play together in this main building. The atmosphere of the place was one of unity and a love they have for a mutual passion and drive and for each other. We had no idea that any of this would happen. All I was anticipating was a few minutes to get some details about the Father’s Day Open House. But we arrived just as the team was getting ready to eat dinner and the founder and co-director, geologist Art Chadwick, led us to the front of the line. 
I love Mediterranean food. But I’ve only had restaurant style before. This fabulous food, however, was closer to what I would call street food, and, in my opinion, this is what eating should be. From falafel to lintels, from hummus to a secret recipe fruit drink (which they joked that if given the recipe they would have to kill us. The were kidding of course. At least I hope they were kidding), everything was delicious, and there was a lot of it for all. During the meal we saw people from all over the world and all ages, even children, enjoying each other’s company, sharing a myriad of stories, and laughing with ease. And of course we got many personal stories by a lot of these fine people.
The project runs only during June of each year and has been going on for more than 20 years now. Last year, 2018, they uncovered almost 1,800 bones, which were cataloged, not only by species, but by who found it and when, and there is even an advanced GPS system in place, pioneered by the Hanson Research Station, so that the location of each bone in relationship to each other and at what depth they uncovered the fossil can also be cataloged. They also take detailed pictures of these quarries, and the arsenal of details about each find is most impressive. 
After dinner, we were given over to Jared Wood, a zoologist who is the co-director and also the curator of the museum at Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, Texas, which heads up this project. Wood has studied reptiles for many years, including invasive species in Florida as well as snakes and alligators. He was an impressive man, very informative and precise with his descriptions about what was going on at the different locations, without talking over our understanding level. Chadwick definitely picked the right person to take us on this tour. Wood took us, along with the Johnsons in an ATV out to one of the many quarries where there is current excavation. It’s one thing to go into a museum and see these bones on display. But when you see one that currently protrudes out of the surrounding sandstone or mud stone deposits, you get the feeling of genuinely looking into the ancient past. I got to lay my hands on bones the size of my whole leg, and one even more substantial. That is a beautiful experience that I’ve never had before this. There are also fragments and chunks of fossils all over the ground, including pieces of fossilized bone, tendons, teeth, and shells. The sheer volume of the different species as well as the numbers of fossils and total area the site covers is beyond anything I’ve ever even read, but all of sudden I was walking among all this wonder for myself. The bones I saw were predominantly from hadrosaurs, a duckbill dinosaur from the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. However, there are also triceratops, velociraptors, Trannosaurus Rex, even alligators, frogs, turtles, and birds mixed in everywhere. You can pick these fossil fragments up all over the ground. There are that many of them, and it soon became easy once you knew what you were looking for, to see them everywhere. 
One of the unexpected but interesting things Wood told us is that it is tough, almost impossible, to get a degree in paleontology. Although there are some classes a person can take in the study, as a degree it is just not offered at most universities. Most people who get involved in that study come from either a geology or a zoology background, and those two studies often team up at dig sites. The real learning almost always happens in the field, and that is part of the goals that the team is providing here by teaching newcomers to the area of study while they participate in uncovering history. 
When we got back to the compound, some people discovered that I had a guitar in my car. I saw two guitars there, asked who played, and one thing led to another, and there it was. I was asked to play a few songs and sing. Some of the people there even knew the gospel songs I was playing and sang along with me. After I put my guitar away, suddenly there were two of the team members who brought out their own instruments, a trumpet and a flugelhorn, and they started playing beloved hymns. This little community of researchers is in every way a family unit. The joy of fellowship and accord that they showed us is rare indeed. 
Sunday was one of those days that we wished had not gone by so fast. But as the sun was getting low on the horizon, we realized we better make it back to the highway before it was too dark since the road has no lights and at times is very rough. The drive takes about an hour and ten minutes both ways. During that time, heading home, Connie and I kept talking back and forth about the incredible adventure in which we had just participated. We have loved taking road trips ever since moving to this beautiful community. I think I can honestly say that this was our favorite one so far. 
We’ll be heading back to the Station this Father’s Day. I highly recommend this trip to anyone who wants a different time for Father’s Day. If you want to visit with a group of people who are the cream of society, and have a time you’ll treasure always, take this drive.  You won’t be sorry. 
For the future, who knows. I may disappear for a while next June, so don’t be surprised if you find me living in a tent in the middle of the most impressive wilderness imaginable. I’ll be writing a follow-up piece about the Father’s Day Open House next week, and I hope to see you there. Be warned, though. The road is rough in quite a few places. So put on your grubbies, a good pair of hiking shoes, grab a walking stick, and hop in your four-wheel drive for a day you will never be able to forget. You’ll have the time of your lives, I guarantee.