After washing away trail grim from our garments, we spread them to dry on the bank and eased up to our necks in the hot water.  When Amber switched off the lamp to save batteries, we got another surprise in a day already abundant with surprises.  Lichen, growing everywhere on surrounding limestone, lighted the area around us with multi-colored phosphorescence.

       "Magnificent," Amber said.

       "It's like a fairy land," Mary Ann said.

       Their words understated how I felt.  Languishing in the luxury of the moment I reclined until only my eyes and tip of my nose protruded from hot water.  My muscles relaxed as I breathed the lusty mixture of sulfur and orchids.  Sometime later, Amber aroused me from the lethargy of my relaxation.

            "I just had a bad thought.  What if the whole valley is foggy like this?  What happens if we can't find the trail and our way back up the mountain?  It could happen, even if we go no further than we are right now."

http://www.ericwilder.com

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Yes, you can find real diamonds in Arkansas.  The state is a geologic wonder.  There is a place near the tiny town of Caddo Gap, where you can literally see the very center of the eroded Ouachita Mountains.  Do you like quartz crystals?  You can dig them out of the loose earth on the side of the road.  Take a trip to Magnet Cove, Arkansas and find minerals found no other place on earth.  You can dig for diamonds (yes, real diamonds) and keep what you find at the State Park near Murfressboro.  Part of the premise of A Gathering of Diamonds is a previously undiscovered deposit of diamonds.  Really possible, you say?  Yes, it is very possible.  In fact, it is likely.  The Ouachita National Forest encompasses hundreds of square miles of wilderness area.  Read A Gathering of Diamonds and learn what else lies within the forest.  Available at barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, and lulu.com.

http://www.ericwilder.com