[meteorite-list] Tucson Notes Part 2 of 3

From: Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:21 2004
Message-ID: <009701c3f0ce$88aa57a0$7fc21018_at_attbi.com>

Dear List Members,

In case any of you are interested we would like to share some of our Tucson
show experiences. This will be part two of three.

On the fourth day Steve Drummond received a phone call and had to head back
to California. We were sorry to see him leave as he is always a lot of fun
at these shows and in the field. This caused a slight problem since we were
depending on him for transportation at the show. Luckily there was one
rental car left on the lot and we could see why. It was the ugliest green
sedan we have ever seen. It looked as if it had gone through a meteor
shower or maybe a hail storm. Every panel had small dents in it. The lack
of choices left us driving this clown car the rest of the show. We were
careful to park it out of sight of our competitors who would have a heyday
with it. We had a few meetings with dealers that day and continued to look
around for anything new.

The next day we went to the airport to pick up Zann. She had no problem
spotting the green rental car and finding us at arrivals. She took one look
at the car and renamed it the "Green Hornet" and this name stuck the rest of
the show. We then headed to the Reed's room where she got the chance to
meet some of the characters she had been hearing about for months. She was
quickly accused of bringing the rain from Seattle with her which she of
course denied. She was impressed at how much fun everybody was having and
could see why these shows are talked about long after they are over.

The following day we went to San Xavier to look at the old mission dating
back to the late 1600s. It was nice to walk around and check the place out.
Later we found ourselves out side of the Reed's room again where a large
group had gathered. This gave us a chance to meet more collectors as they
were just getting into town. Between breaks in the weather we looked around
and tried to make a few more deals. There was not much new from the
Moroccan dealers, just a bunch of deceiving terrestrial stones. Since they
are more aware that planetary pieces sometimes look like ordinary rocks they
have been picking up way more terrestrial material. We went for some Sushi
and called it a semi-early night.

The next morning the sun was shining prompting us to check out all of the
outdoor booths. We received a phone call from Robert Matson who kindly
checked out the condition of Wilcox Playa for Sunday's hunt. It was not in
any condition to be searched because of the recent rains. This was very
disappointing because over 30 people expressed an interest in going there on
Sunday. We must thank Robert because this saved us a half of day of
checking it ourselves. We still cannot believe he actually spent the night
of the dry lake, this shows true dedication. A Wilcox hunt will be planned
agian for next year.

Later, we eventually ended up in chairs soaking up the sun outside of the
Reed's room. This time Mike Farmer and Jim Strope showed up. Mike was
blocking my sun so I decided for fun to throw some trash on him. Mike asked
what the heck I was doing and I said I must have confused him for a trash
can. Mike got even in short order. He grabbed a plastic pop bottle with
some soda still in it and smashed it with his foot. Pop sprayed everywhere
including Zanns shirt which was left on a chair. I told Mike he better
split because she was not going to be happy. The rest of the group which
consisted of about a half a dozen people backed away awaiting the
confrontation. I could tell Mike was nervous because of the look on his
face. Zann was prompted to come out and see the damage. She knowing that
things like this happen pretended to be upset. It was fun watching Mike
trying to explain what happened. Mike then somehow shifted the blame to me.
I hate it when that happens. Anyway, it was worth a good laugh and no real
damage was done.

Will be continued later starting with the infamous margarita birthday bash.

All the best,

Adam and Greg Hupe
The Hupe Collection
IMCA 2185
Received on Wed 11 Feb 2004 01:40:29 PM PST