July 1981 ~

The quarry is a magical place.  It was the site for the gathering of the tribes.

My friends Jerry and MaryBeth Sixt had a father who made a fortune inventing plastic drainage tile for farm fields.  They had a mother with a PhD in geology who taught at the university.  Their parents bought a farm house and quarry north of Iowa City.  The quarry had exposed sedimentary rock with striations, scratches, where glaciers scraped across.

The quarry was long unused for quarrying.  It had filled with water and the water was filled with little fishes.  There was no better place for a hot Iowa day than in the cool quarry water avoiding the tiny bites of the hungry fish.

This private paradise hosted epic parties.  Some are depicted in my catalog, but do not yet appear in my blog.  There was the annual 4^th of July blastathon.  There I learned how to build a thundering clusterfuck.  Take an empty beer case.  There are plenty around.  Cover it with hardware cloth, like a large-mesh screen.  Fill the mesh with as many pop bottle rockets and sky rockets as you can fit.  Wait until dark.  Get someone brave or stupid or both to light the fuse leading to it.  Stand back. 

Imagine a sunny beautiful hot Iowa afternoon partying and swimming naked (or not) with friends in a private pond miles away from anyone else.  The place drew very interesting people.  I had met Jerry and MaryBeth at 518, their house on the north side of Iowa City during their college years.  Many people went through 518 and all of them went to the quarry when they could.  Go check out the gallery for 518.

The quarry also hosted the occasional cardboard boat regatta or flight competitions.  I have a few photos of them in the gallery.  Mark Gauger once screen-printed a variety of pins that had different tribes named on them.  I gave my “Gothic Horde” button to my college history mentor, Bill Carroll. 

The quarry always held the promise of future delight.  I met many very attractive women there.  I took a few there myself.  Everyone was playful and creative and smart and conversational.  I wish my life had taken the arc of happiness that the quarry suggested was possible.  I wish I had that place I could go again to meet old friends and make new ones.  It was heaven and Iowa.

You can find the photos discussed in this essay by going to the 'Photo by Number' set of galleries and seeking 00023.  You can find all my posted photos of the quarry by using "quarry" in the key word search.  Thank you.