[meteorite-list] Tucson Notes Part 3 of 3

From: Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:21 2004
Message-ID: <00fe01c3f114$9c729220$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 three of three.

Luckily we arrived early at the Birthday Bash because the tables were
already half taken at 7:15 and the event was not due to start until 8:00.
Getting there early also gave us the chance to meet other meteorite
collectors as they entered the room. It was standing room only by 8:00 and
the crowd overflowed into the adjoining foyer. Before the event got
underway I had a chance to look at Jason Phillips pictures taken while he
and Greg were on the last expedition in Morocco. I enjoyed the images as
the party patrons were packing in. Zann begin to socialize with the other
women who dared to go to Tucson. Seated next to us was Rob Wesel and his
wife on one side of the table. On the other was Jason Phillips and his
wife. Directly across was Bruno and Carine. It was good to see that the
women were have just as much as fun as the men as they sat there giggling.

Finally the awards were being passed out with a few announcements
in-between. The most interesting announcement was that a bag with the
initials C.C. had been turned in as being found. Geoff Notkin was forced to
look inside the bag to figure out the owner. Instead he found a bizarre
array of items that could only have belonged to a meteorite hunter.

A partial list of items:

A Russian fur cap
A giant sized pair of jeans with one pocket labeled rites and the other
wrongs
Rainbow colored suspenders hooked to I am guessing a size 60 plus pair of
jeans
Knee pads still attached to the jeans
A giant safety pin holding the rites pocket closed
A booked titled "Keeping Your Brain Alive"
A size 60 plus pair of men's briefs with a burn hole in the tail end
A pair of flaming tennis shoes with horseshoe magnets attached to the back
A bag of astronaut freeze dried ice cream
A blow up astronaut doll
A gigantic magnetic meteorite degrappler whatever that is
A bag of what looked like weed with a couple of joints which Mike Martinez
grabbed
A NASA tee shirt with the following on the back:

CAPTAIN CHONDRITE
He is the man
Ifins he can't find it
Nobody can

And finally Captain Chondrite's photo album with baby pictures in it.

I think there were several other items that I missed.

When the blown out underwear was pulled from the bag my eyes began to tear
up I was laughing so hard. Then the baby pictures were passed around and my
stomach began to hurt they were so funny, kind of in the Proud Tom format.
Since nobody claimed the bag it was decided it would be sold in the Blood
auction to raise money for the IMCA.

Finally the night came to an end and it looked like everybody had a great
time

The next evening we found ourselves at the Blood auction. There was an
incredible amount of material there filling at least five cases covering
about 40 feet of table length. Everything sold for about half price and we
took advantage of several bargains. The turn out was incredible with what I
am guessing about 150 people. Several comments were made which caused
rounds of laughter making it a very fun auction. Michael Blood interacted
with the audience which also added to the entertainment. The drinks were
flowing from the bar in the back of the building which kept some of the
crowd well lubricated which was needed when the Captain Chondrite kit was
auction off by Geoff Notkin who stepped in.

The following two days were spent recovering from the previous two days.

Wishing everybody the best,

Adam and Greg Hupe
The Hupe Collection
IMCA 2185
Received on Wed 11 Feb 2004 10:02:11 PM PST