“It’s as easy as walking round, picking up $100
bills.”
“Never had much luck with get-rich-quick schemes,”
replied Kevin, “what kind of a dinosaur is a megalodon anyway?”
“Big dead shark, teeth the size of your hand, biggest
fish the World has ever seen.”
Kevin should
have felt safe; Arizona had no coastline. They were camped in the Sonoran
desert but Rufus was a little bit sketchy and his proposition was bordering on illegal.
The big problem was that funds were running low, they had under estimated the
cost of touring the World in an ex-British Army 4x4 truck; they needed an income more
than their online t-shirt shop and their Youtube channel could provide.
Gabby and
Kevin were nearly six months into the adventure of a lifetime. That’s if you
don’t count the two years building their overland expedition truck from a 1993
Leyland Daf T244 four tonner. The chassis cab had been cheap enough but
building the living area and equipping the vehicle had eaten into their
savings. The cost of shipping it to North America was reasonable but driving
from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Fairbanks, Alaska, and then South to the Mexican
border had made a huge dent in the running money.
The vast
distances and expensive diesel fuel of Canada had been underestimated. The
permanent four-wheel drive of the Leyland Daf gave horrific fuel mileage. Wild
camping where ever they could had helped. They tried to avoid tourist traps and
admission fees; paying out for just fuel and food but now the trip was stalled
in the desert. They were at the crossroads of the trip. Central America and
then South America lay ahead but the money was running out.
The BLM
[Bureau of Land Management] land around the town of Quartzsite has been a
magnet for recreational vehicles for a long time. Snowbirds from Canada, nomads
from all over the States flock to Quartzsite in their thousands. For little or
no charge the desert becomes the winter base for motor homes, travel trailers,
5th wheelers even tents. A community practicing economical living,
that suited Gabby and Kevin just fine. They may have had the only UK registered
Leyland Daf in the county but they had a lot in common with their neighbours.
Missy and
Rufus had also built their own RV. A thirty year old re-purposed fire rescue
truck; lime green and white with chrome. Not a 4x4 overland expedition vehicle
but one big and tough truck all the same. They were from Idaho, just wintering in
the South-West, their second year of working just the summer. Missy would go
back to waiting tables at her family’s restaurant; Rufus would try get back to dry-walling with his brother. Rufus didn’t relish the
return to hard manual labour. Selling megalodon teeth on E-bay for a hundred
bucks each was something he awaited with pleasure.
As the four
travelers sat around a ring of stones, a small pallet wood fire flickered
enough light to see the passing joint. Conversation was about the finer details
of tooth extraction from Mexico.
“Technically
it is illegal. Yes. But they turn a blind eye; they’re more interested in whole
dinosaur skeletons and ancient man-made artifacts than old shark teeth that once
were on the Pacific Ocean floor.”
“But how did
these teeth end up in the Baja?”
“San Andreas
fault, earthquakes and the clash of continents. What was seabed millions of
years ago is now high and dry.”
“Who buys
the damn things? Where’s the market?”
“Kids
worldwide. Awesome thing to have when you are ten years old. A sixty million
year old shark tooth that is massive.”
Gabby was
reluctant to commit to the scheme but Kevin persuaded her with a few more
relevant points.
“ We have to
get out of the US soon. Our B2 visas only give us six months. I know Baja
California is not really on the way to Belize but I think it would be good to
get some spending money together while we have the chance. We can sell on
E-bay. We got Pay-pal. A little bit of poking around in the desert can’t do
much harm?”
Next morning,
the four cycled into town and wandered around the endless gem and mineral
stalls that are an ever present feature of Quartzsite. They found a vendor with
shark teeth for sale; they bought a small megalodon chomper so they would know
what they were searching for down in Mexico.
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