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Re: My first trip to Tucson

Jim was not exagerating,  we got to hold more rare meteorites than I have ever
seen! Me and Jim were like little kids in a candy store, grabbing one and saying
this is mine and them forgetting it when the next box was opened! I am lucky to
live here and get to spend time with everyone but I think Jim spent his one day
better than anyone! His new collection rivals that of most! I am thrilled to have
got many of the BEST looking Juancheng available, many of you know I love small
individuals most!  I look forward to this entire month and meeting every dealer
and colletctor who come into town! My school work will certainly suffer. Anyway
The weather is great here (a little hotter than normal right now) and you should
not miss it if at all possible. If you are coming into town don't hesitate to call
me at 520 206 9153 and we will get together.  I will be uploading new stuff and
photos of the show daily now but it takes a while so be patient but keep looking
at my site for special photos of the show!
Thanks
Mike Farmer
http://www.concentric.net/~farmerm

Jim Hurley wrote:

> Most of you haven't even left yet, and I just got back an hour
> ago. Here's a brief glimpse of a whirlwind of events I've just been
> through.
>
> A month or so ago I had a nice talk with Cathi Casper about an order I
> made with Michael Casper, and she told me about the show.  I hadn't
> actually planned to go, since I have some pressing business where I
> work at a software startup in Silicon Valley.
>
> But then I thought that I could possibly leave San Francisco on Friday evening
> and get back on Sunday evening and I won't be missed too badly at work.
>
> I decided to arrive this weekend before most events would start in the
> hope that I would have a nice chance to see the best things before
> they got sold. I offered to help Michael Casper unpack and set up in
> exchange for some of his time to talk.
>
> Lucky for me he was happy to take up my offer.
>
> My next stroke of luck occurred when I read that Mike Farmer offered
> to help folks that didn't know the area.
>
> I emailed him and arranged to talk with him when I arrived.
>
> Last week my wife arranged the flight and we got one of the last hotel
> rooms available downtown for this weekend.
>
> We arrived, exhausted, late Friday night. On Saturday morning I called
> Michael Farmer and he offered to drive me to Michael Casper's room.
>
> You've probably seen Michael Casper's calendar, with that grin,
> surrounded by behemoth rocks.
>
> Well, that's pretty much what this room was beginning to look like.
> I struggled with one giant Gibeon, Farmer was dollying an even bigger
> one, and the two of us together needed to jockeye another into
> position. This went on for some time. I was sweating and coated with
> iron dust and oxide.
>
> In the space of a few hours I was handling and immersed in more
> meteorites that I had seen in my whole life!
>
> After we had all the large objects laid out, we took a break and
> Michael Casper started to open up suitcases of smaller objects.
>
> These were his personal collection and many very special
> things.
>
> We saw a piece of a lunar meteorite, I held a fabulous Murchison the
> size of an orange (was it my over-active imagination, or was there
> a faint aromatic smell when the bag was opened?). It was so black it
> was hard to see any details at all, almost perfectly spherical.
>
> I could go on, but truthfully, I've forgotten the names of most of them
> already.
>
> Farmer and I then had the privilege of going through all these wonders
> and picking things we wanted to buy.
>
> I was whispering to Farmer over and over again, how much do you think
> this costs, what do you think that would cost, etc. He was ogling some
> of the small, perfect Juancheng, selected some, and did the same for
> many other small individuals. If you are in the market for small
> individuals, go see Farmer in Tucson before everything he has is sold.
>
> For myself, I picked out some splendid Sikhote Alin's individuals,
> Imilac, Esquel, Sahara E3, an etched Gibeon end piece, some
> Mt. Egertons, Tatouhine, and some other specimens. I'm not a dealer,
> these are for my collection and I'll have pictures up at my web
> shortly, once I catch my breath.
>
> I could hardly sleep that Saturday night at the hotel, partly from the
> shock of spending about 3 times the amount I planned and wondering
> what had I done, partly from the dazzle of having put together a
> collection of such fine objects.
>
> I think Farmer also was a bit dazzled because the next day we met
> again and he had spent most of the night just cataloging what he had.
>
> Michael Farmer then drove my wife and I around a bit more to see some
> other places, and we joined Michael's wife, Melody, for a banquet
> lunch.
>
> Michale Farmer graciously offered to drive us to the airport and 10
> hours later I'm writing this. This didn't happen, it's a dream.
>
> I'm sure you will all have a wonderful time in Tucson, where the
> street signs have been temporarily changed to names like 'Mineral
> Road' and 'Fossil Way' and so on... Next year, I'll have to plan things
> a bit better.
>
> Michael Farmer - thank you for being such a kind chaperone and for
> explaining so many things.
>
> Namaste, Michael Casper.
>
> --
>     Jim Hurley         mailto:hurleyj@arachnaut.org
>  Arachnaut's Lair    http://www.arachnaut.org/ >
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