[meteorite-list] Just got back from Washington

From: Rob Wesel <nakhladog_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Jun 4 02:29:49 2004
Message-ID: <002001c449fd$25a488f0$46d5a943_at_robewcufk0z2s3>

Hello all-

The phone rang around 7:00 am and my wife answered. "It was ET she said
(Edwin Thompson), there's been a fireball" Not knowing where I figured I
could hit the snooze a couple more times before checking up on this. Up and
showered by 8:30, I checked the metlist. Chehalis is only a couple hours
away! I immediately called the local sheriff and two radio stations. After a
couple brief interviews on the radio, I called my buddy Matt, who is self
employed, and asked him to cancel his plans today...which he did. Next I
checked in with ET and compared notes. He had been busy since 3:00 am and
was planning to hit the road soon. We agreed to meet in town.

Having spoken with the radio station and sheriff, I learned that the entire
town was treated to sonic booms, a beautiful light show, and a lingering
smell of sulfur. No reports of damage, however.

While I was at the local sheriff's office, ET made it to the legal building
in town and set up a meeting with the county sheriff. We went to the public
works building while waiting to meet the sheriff and had an opportunity to
purchase extensive maps of the area as well as spend a good amount of time
talking with and educating the receptive staff there. Unlike Park Forest,
everyone we talked to knew about it and news had traveled across the nation
and into Canada. Iraq was all the news fit to print this time last year and
Park Forest was only local news at best.

We met with the sheriff, who had been inundated with alien reports and
similar foolery the better part of the morning, and he was a bit standoffish
at first. When he learned we were professionals he immediately softened and
gave us all the info he had. An excellent resource and an excellent man.

Dick Pugh, long time meteorite enthusiast and bolide tracker was working
from home and keeping us informed of any new information. We learned that
the bolide was seen from Vancouver B.C. all the way into Idaho. That's a
hell of a flight path and makes one wonder if one is anywhere near the right
place but the Chehalis area was shook the hardest. We also learned that a
news crew was set up at a nearby Wal-Mart. ET needed coffee and I wanted to
run into the local tavern and leave some info in case folks got to talking
and perhaps had some property damage to report. Only minutes behind ET to
Wal-Mart, he was already on camera doing an interview. He conducted himself
flawlessly. I get the coffee next time :^)

The news anchor gave us all she had and that was the first we had heard the
NORAD info regarding the size and nature of the fireball, it is meteoric, we
hope it is meteoritic.

The area outside of Chehalis is densely forested interspersed with farmland.
ET and Matt and I canvassed the greater part of Lewis County by leapfrogging
and keeping in cellphone contact so as not to double up on any one location.
Every post office, gas station, diner, tavern, cathouse, henhouse, and
outhouse. Even far from Chehalis, most knew of the event. We handed out
cards and brought meteorites to show them, and we taught them what to look
for (the further we got from town, the harder this seemed to do).

Two questions did strike me as we were out and about but that is why we had
to go:
"So, is this going to happen again tonight?"
"Does the Volcano (Mt. St. Helens) draw them in?"

We have a good foundation started and an excellent team in place
triangulating the bolide, now we see what happens. The weekend is coming,
lawns to cut, cars to work on, barns to clean, and an educated public.

I hope to head out, armed with more information, on Monday. They're out
there.

Rob Wesel
------------------
We are the music makers...
and we are the dreamers of the dreams.
Willy Wonka, 1971
Received on Fri 04 Jun 2004 02:28:27 AM PDT