Dear Gary,
I prefer the second version - I like the idea of following one of the old
wagon-trails, but I think the some of the debris could be more sinister. I'm
thinking of oxen skulls, graves etc.
Some detailed comments below:
Kind regards,
    grasshopper

(-the image of finding fool's gold,
something worthless, does not seem a very appropriate one. Isn't the thrust
of the poem that we find something valuable in mediocrity? I don't think a
worry-stone fits the requirement.)-grasshopper


Grass, thanks for the through read.  I need to think on what you have 
offered.  But two standout.  Skulls, etc, seem to me to be even more cliché 
than the bird or notebooks.  I started going down the odd path, towards 
surreal, and for a change pulled back for more mundance.

Worry-stone.  As I noted to Colin (I think), value is as we find it.  A 
plain stone may have considerable value to the finder, a stone with pyrite 
may have more if that is all the finder expects to find.

Smiles.

Gary


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