I am still on the grind for an epic ride on my pally. I have almost 30 stacks of obsidium now so I hope that will bring in close to what I need. As a nice by-product of the mining process I am 3/4 of the way through level 80 with nothing but experience from collecting. I haven't done one quest. It should make thing easier when I start questing, I guess. I'll be a little ahead of things if it matters much. I have stuck to a simple pattern of mining around a few nodes in Mount Hyjal. I can usually avoid people and get almost a stack per route. Now, if I just had more time to play.