Foraging for Fossils

S H E L L, Wyo., Aug. 7 -- There’s a geologist, a metal worker, aveterinarian, and a computer technician who lives in a traileralmost as snug as his old cubicle.

They come from Louisiana, California — even Germany — and justdown the road.

Their enthusiasm is boundless, though their experience andqualifications are limited. In short, they enjoy getting down onall fours — toothbrush and dental pick in hand — and digging indirt for hours on end. Bone fragments make them giddy; words endingin “saur” evoke downright delirium.

They are kids in a candy store, savoring the sweet taste ofdiscovery. And, like children, their pleasure is divulged in boyishsmiles and delighted giggles.

Part Indiana Jones, a little more like the Nutty Professor, theyare among a smattering of explorers conquering the new West by wayof the old: Grown men trading 9-to-5 jobs and steady salaries todig for fossils in the foothills of Wyoming.

The Ultimate Business VentureThis is no hobby or weekend project. For these entrepreneurs, itis the ultimate business venture in an era of high-stakes stocksand dot-com millionaires — one that unites childhood fantasy andadult ambition.

“If I could make a living doing this,” Bob Simon says with awistful sigh, “that’d be awesome.”

He is squatting on a sandstone hill high above a cattle ranchoutside Shell, a 50-person speck of town in northern Wyoming. Hewears a T-shirt splashed with pastel-colored dinosaurs, a bronzebelt buckle in the shape of an Allosaurus and a baseball cap withthe insignia of his fledgling company, Dinosaur Safaris.

He looks like he cleaned out a Jurassic Park souvenir shop.

Simon, 44, has spent almost half his life — 19 years to beprecise — as an oil and gas geologist for Chevron in New Orleans.He earns a “good salary,” owns a four-bedroom house and commutesregularly to Washington, D.C., where his wife works as anenvironmental health scientist.

Yet Simon is trading security for uncertainty to make a go ofhis dream: leading dinosaur digging expeditions in Wyoming’sMorrison Formation, with rock layers dating back to the Jurassicperiod.

“I’m working two jobs, basically,” he says. “Hopefully, thisthing’ll fly.”

Simon started Dinosaur Safaris in 1998 after his own weeklongdigging vacation to the 80-acre site he now leases. On the thirdday of his trip he hit the jackpot, unearthing an Apatasaurus tibiaand rib.