Road Tripping Pt. 23

Chapter 23

Readers, this a fictional road story set in the 1980's, before cell phones and the internet as we know it today. There is pot smoking and use of "Magic Mushrooms" in this story. All sexualized characters are fictional and over 18. This is part twenty-three of a many part series. I hope all have enjoyed it so far. Any constructive feedback is appreciated, Thank You S. L.

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Lou and Molly awoke to the phone jolting them from their slumber to slightly open curtain pouring sunlight almost into their eyes as they both ran for the bathroom. Lou bagged up all of yesterday's filthy work clothes and Molly laid out the first layer of today's victims to wear.

They were outside quickly after dressing to get anything they did not need out of Andromeda for the hard day she had ahead. They figured they left over two hundred pounds of clothes, grill, mattress, tent, gear, and two of their coolers behind. Molly went to knock on Marta and Felix's door and heard giggles from the room.

Lou locked up the room and the car and came over as Molly said quietly. "No one's around except us. Let us in for a moment if you want too."

Marta answered them from behind the door naked and closed it quickly kissing both of their cheeks. "Good morning. Felix woke up with a nice woody and I couldn't let it go to waste."

Molly and Lou laughed as he got out a bag of one of the other weeds they had, and Molly rolled up two joints while Felix and Marta took quick showers and were ready to go. "We can each smoke one of these on the ride there if you're ok with that. We are all ready to go as soon as you two are." Molly said seductively licking the rolling paper at naked Marta.

A dribble of her and Felix's cum ran down Marta's leg as she giggled again and ran in for her shower as Felix exited.

"Do you want to eat here or stop in the town nearest to Darcy's?" Lou asked Felix.

"We would love to eat here and thanks for the joint for a mellow ride." Felix replied pulling an old shirt on.

Molly handed Felix a joint and put the other in her everything bag. In five minutes, they put the few things they needed into the truck and walked to the hotel restaurant for a quick and big breakfast with extra coffees and juice to get hydrated for the next long day in the sun.

They were on the road to the Petrified Wood Mine by 7:40 and made good time on the quiet roads as Lou followed Felix and all enjoyed an after-breakfast joints on the ride. Molly enjoyed seeing the stark beauty on the ride there again, this time not being tired from ten hours of driving made it more enjoyable to see.

Once they got to the unpaved roads Felix let Lou take the lead again, for the safety of the station wagon, and at 8:45 they pulled into the mine parking lot in a cloud of dust, hoping they had a shady spot near the building this time, since they knew the owner now.

They had hardly parked when Darcy opened the door, with her hair still wet from a shower and her boots untied. 'Come on in guys. Good to see you again Felix. You look half a head taller than when I saw you last, three years ago I think."

"It's great to see you, Darcy. I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Marta."

All came up the stairs to hugs as everyone had buckets with water, tools, stuff for Darcy and in the last bucket behind Molly's back, a large bottle of Wild Turkey, Molly handed to her with the deep hug they shared.

"Too early for this stuff kids, holding up the large bottle, but thank you for bringing me all of these things. The nearest store just doesn't have some of these things. Like my favorite cookies and a good mustard. I can't stand the stuff the guy who supplies my food brings me. Not even good enough for Jack in the Box!" She spat and went to put all of the things behind her counter and got the rest open as they offered to help her in any way she needed.

"I'm good guys. Thanks. How did your dad do with those buckets Felix."

"They are almost all gone, and he heard about all the bigger pieces Lou and Molly dug and here I am." He said with a smile.

Molly looked at some of the different rocks and crystals she had for sale and told Darcy. "We went digging turquoise yesterday and we are planning to be here for most of the next three or four days. Our friends, Donna and Maggie will be here in a day or two and are anxious to dig with us. We gave directions to our other friends Ed and Val, and they will be here in a week or two also."

"Thanks kids. All the customers I can get are great. What do I owe you for all the stuff and don't you say no Molly. Your claim is now up to end of January of 88 and please call me whenever you are a day or two away and we can work out some further extensions."

Molly laughed and gave her the total except for the Wild Turkey, which she insisted was a gift. "Fair enough Molly. It's my Birthday in a few days and we will have to toast my seventy-fifth."

"What kind of cake do you like?" Marta asked, with a smile and picking out a few stones and adding to pile next to one Molly was making.

They chatted for another five minutes and soon Felix had agreed to bring some of their turquoise from yesterday, for her to look at and sell for them on consignment, since it was easy money for Felix's family and for Darcy. It was something tourists were on the lookout for in this area. A place like she owned could charge a high tourist price, and he had three different colors he said.

"I know William Wolf's Eye and I have seen and sold some of the turquoise from around there. My late husband's father and your great grandfather did some business in the twenties and thirties, before and just after I married his son in 1931 and moved out here Felix."

"I will call your families shop in a couple of hours and tell him about the deal you have offered, and we will work out the percentages. I will call you in, to come talk with him.

"Thank you, Darcy. I hope we all do well." Felix was feeling good with this possible sale of some of their raw stone before they even had to carry it all back, as Molly remembered she had polaroids to show her of all of the stones in their pickup truck and station wagon, along with some of where they dug and all of it in the storage unit at the end of the day.

"With the four of us working we were able to get a lot done and we cleaned up the site too while collecting over half of our total. There is enough there still we could do that same thing again since we did not go through half of all the broken-up stuff." He explained to her.

Marta had been quietly impressed with how Felix had conducted himself with these important business dealings over the last two days. He knew this was important and he was showing good self confidence in his dealings and last night with all of the fun they had joining and exploring with Lou and Molly.

It was not even nine when they paid and headed out to the sight. Molly got the same white wheelbarrow as before and soon wrote "Andromeda Jr." on its side in the dirt, vowing to put in on in magic marker later if Darcy was ok with that. Felix took a green one along with screens for both of them and more heavy rakes.

Lou could see his claim stakes from the back porch of the house/store and was anxious to get out and see what had weathered out there and nearby. He and Felix had talked a lot about his dig so far and what he felt they could do together to maximize their reward for their efforts and set the dig site up to drain well when the rare rains did come, they were usually heavy.

Darcy had mentioned a strong line of storms had come through about a week and a half earlier.

She enjoyed watching them from her house where she had a good view from many windows, or she would go outside and enjoy them in a more personal way, since privacy was one of the good things about where she lived.

Molly and Marta were chatting about twenty feet behind the men with their backpacks of spare clothes, snacks, and sunscreen, in trash bags to keep them from getting filled with dirt. Each picked up small stones on the walk and enjoyed the stark beauty of the landscape.

All got to where the claim stakes were, and Lou was happy to see no one had dug there or anywhere else nearby on the little rise he had dug into. He showed Felix to the right where after about twenty feet the path they had walked up on turned and went down slope slightly and off to a valley in Darcy's lands that was about eighty feet lower, about five hundred feet down the path where it flattened out into a wide-open area. Lou had not gone down to explore at all but explained to Felix how if they worked to cut the hill back the right way, they could use the gently descending path to drain what they dug.

Lou had explained to Molly his ideas about how to handle their dig site as she had seen it and added some of her own thoughts to come up with the plan he explained to Felix now that he could see the area with his own eyes.

"If we work together, we can have this site set up so either of us can come here and we can progress deeper into the layers safely and with good drainage, so we don't show up to a pond some morning." Lou finished with a chuckle, as they all went up the rise and cut a line in the top of the rise, twenty-five feet long to the path.

"We will do half a day to start today and leave about one and go to eat and then go trip and relax after we worked hard yesterday." Felix said looking at all the work they had ahead as Molly and Marta each were picking out more stones that had weathered out of the top of the hill.

"The weather looked good and clear. Just HOT later in the week but we will be careful." Marta said, pouring water on a piece the size of a flattened golf ball and with four swirling colors.

"These are some really nice-looking pieces we are finding already here. I can't wait to see what else we find." Marta said as she put that first good piece she had found and washed, in her pocket to save for her home, now and in the future like Molly had said about the small stone with the heart shaped swirl that hung from the mirror, beneath the car's great crystal she called "Andromeda's Eye!"

After ten minutes of talking, planning, and looking around they set up the screens on the wheelbarrows to ease their work as Lou and Felix put the first shovels full dirt in for the women to screen. Marta could not believe how many small pieces accumulated in the bucket as he worked for five minutes, before his shovel struck something larger and a piece the size of a softball came out in his next scoop for her to start filling their first milkcrate of larger pieces with.

Felix had started at the end near the path twenty feet from Lou and Molly and from there, they were able to keep from covering the others in dust for the most part.

Lou was at the other end, starting at the right side of where he and Molly had dug the last time. In minutes he was filling the screen for Molly, getting their shade umbrella set for now. For the next fifteen minutes he began working the side loose and tossing three larger than baseball size pieces aside, until he handed Molly the spade to switch.

In the next hour three other groups of people came to dig around the mine and another group of three young children all made their way up to the four already dirty people who looked like they knew what they were doing. They talked with the kids and one of the parents who came up to see what they were doing.

Just as the small group left Molly's spade hit a large object at almost the same layer as they had dug the log from a month ago. It would take them two hours to fully expose and remove the two-foot-long log, as they worked their way along it towards Felix and Marta, who an hour after found a fifteen-inch log, a little thinner than the one Molly had begun digging. It was a promising start to the dig.

Darcy came out to check on them and see about calling Felix's father, George and discussing the deal for selling the turquoise. She had watched them go out to the rise and talk for ten minutes about what they were going to do. When she got there, she was impressed with how much they had already done today.

"Nice work guys. I see both of you are working on logs to dig out. I understand what your plan is, and it makes some sense if you are going to dig here regularly in the future."

"There are very good pieces here Darcy so I see no reason to move and if we dig this right it will drain, and we can keep it safe to dig in and not just make a hole." Lou said taking the shovel from Molly who was filthy and taking a big drink and a moment to look with Darcy at what Felix and Marta had found so far today.

"It's hard work Darcy, but it beats being stuck in my job bartending and dealing with all the assholes." Marta told her with the three women laughing.

"I know what you mean Marta. I did some bartending during the war in the forties and some of those guys were just horrible, but where I worked would not let them get too out of hand."

Marta took the shovel from Felix as he followed Darcy to her store to call his father. It went well and soon they had a deal to leave about a hundred and fifty pounds of the turquoise with her in small and medium raw pieces. They would bring her some finished ones in a few weeks.

Molly was screening for Marta while Lou had to stop to get a large 1 foot by 1 and a half foot, but not more than two-inch-thick piece out of the ground. It was about a quarter slice of the trunk of what had been a large tree stump. When Lou showed the women what he had they all hoped more of that tree was in the ground near them.

Just as Darcy and Felix were finishing up her phone rang and there was a very pleasant-sounding young lady on the other end looking for Molly Drunham or Lou Bergan. "Yes, they are here and if you can hold for two minutes, I can get one of them. They are out digging right now. What's your name honey so I can tell them who found them all the way out here?"

Darcy smiled at the laugh in the other end of the phone and the asked Felix to please run and get one of them.

Seconds later they all watched Felix sprint to the group looking at Lou's latest find and having a drink. He reached them a little breathless saying: "Molly. Darcy has a call for you. There's a woman named Star Mackenzie on the phone looking for you or Lou."

"Holy shit Lou! Star found us out here." Molly handed him the piece and ran for the office, faster than Lou had ever seen her move over open ground. She was fast!! Lou handed the new find to Felix and followed her at a jog to the office.

"Friend of yours I hope Molly?" Darcy said with a smile handing her the receiver.

"A very dear one Darcy. Thank you. How are you doing Star?"

"I am well, and I've decided to go back to Vermont for the next few weeks. I am feeling good about the trip and mom, Larry and Bob will do most of the bus driving. It will still take us another four or five days to get from my sisters to home since we're not going to push it."

"How are you and Lou doing? Find anything good?" Star asked as Lou got inside to the AC and got some juices for all.

"We are great Star, and we did really good digging turquoise yesterday and we just started here today and are going to spend a few days here before we head east again. I still plan to try and get to see you up there after we stop at my mothers."

"Awesome Molly. I hope you do good and find more good stuff. Barny wants to clean more for you." Star said with a laugh.

"We hope to see you soon too and we have some more information on Cortinarius and a picture of one of their objects with their writing on it. I will show you that and more when we see each other soon."

"That's great Molly, is Lou there? Send him my love and wishes for a safe journey. See you two soon."

"You and the twins stay safe too. Give our love to Joe and the kids, along with your mom and dads."

Darcy let out a little chuckle at hearing her wish Molly friends mother and her "dads" well. Lucky woman if they were good men, she thought as Molly handed her back her receiver and Lou paid for their drinks.

Molly told her about Star being pregnant with twins and was now going back to her home in Vermont and they would meet them in less than two weeks. Her and Lou got a few more buckets and another two gallons of water and went out to do some more digging.

"We are going to do a half day today Darcy and go for a little hike then we will put at least two full days in here before we go east, and Felix and Marta have to go home. What day is your birthday, Darcy?"

"It's Saturday honey. Don't you, Lou, and your cute friends do anything crazier than a cake. I'm just happy I made it this far and still have my mind and my health." She banged her knuckles on the wooden counter twice for luck.

"Ok Darcy, we won't do anything crazy other than a shot and some cake either before or after. There aren't that many places to find anything to wild out here anyways."

They were interrupted by the kids and two parents coming in for drinks and the kids showing off their colored pales full of multicolored stones to show all. Lou and Molly thanked her for the use of her phone and went back out while Darcy got the grill going for a round of hotdogs for all the hungry little diggers before they went back out to get dirtier.

Darcy hoped she was still here to see some of Lou and Molly's little one's running around her place someday.

Lou and Molly were soon back out at the diggings, and he was helping Felix get the log he had found out of the ground and alongside their wheelbarrow. It was just after eleven and they agreed to put two more hours in and then head out to the hotel for a quick lunch and showers before going for their trip in the nearby park.

The next two hours went well with one shorter and thicker log for Felix's side and Lou and Molly getting the two foot one on their side out and two more large but thin pieces, along with dozens of pieces over a pound and hundreds of broken up chunks. It was hard work but the four of them knew they were in good ground now.

As Marta took her last turn with the shovel she hit two eight inches across forks of a large branch, over a foot apart, of a petrified tree heading into the very hard soil at an angle and stuck fast. It could be very large.

Lou took his claim markers and made a rectangle that covered most of the diggings and had all their worksites and the exposed piece under his protection until tomorrow. The kids and some of the others digging came to watch them load up their large logs and pieces in the wheelbarrows. Molly took a picture of the kids sitting in the white one, with the logs, with her polaroid and gave it to them as all had fun except for loading all the heavy pieces into the car and truck.

They made good time to the storage unit to unload quickly then a quick shower and a light meal at the hotel restaurant before all jumping in Andromeda and heading to the park. They had their mushrooms, Molly had rolled up four joints, and Lou had mixed some more of their purple weed and hash for his pipe.

The park's, parking lot was empty as predicted. It usually only had people there on weekends and when school was out since there were no real towns within twenty-five miles. It was just before three pm when they parked and quickly ate the already divided mushrooms and went out with two gallons of water, towels, more sunscreen after recovering themselves once out of the car and looking out to the small beach and pond fed by a river which came from a major spring a few miles away.

"Lou, there is another beach about a hundred yards away. We can still see the car, but we will be able to smoke and relax without being seen." Felix showed them.

Molly was loving how the sparse green growing around the water played off the sandstone cliff a hundred feet away on the other side of the stream.