FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Gail]

We are off to the last day of the TGMS. Heading home will be like leaving the twilight zone for reality..not sure which I prefer! I will take photos today and try to post tonight. We leave early tomorrow on our adventure to return to Texas and a little more moisture in the air. Missing our family and our dogs, cats and various other critters. Can't believe the time has gone so quickly, although we packed enough into the 14 days. We did more than many people do over the course of a month!
Look for my report tonight, in the meantime....some more photos from Saturday...

[strahler]

Gail,

Got home and read your posts, great postings.

It enjoyed the people and exhibits as always.

Take Care,

Ryan

[Gail]

Good to see you Ryan, it has been a long strange trip indeed, as the Grateful Dead say.
We had the last day of the Main show and we managed to take down our exhibit with no breakage whatsoever. In fact, it was a wonderful time of saying goodbyes, getting kudos and chatting with other exhausted people who just want to go home.

Everyone helps everyone else, it is a truly amazing thing to see how the volunteers set up the dividers. The show closes at five, the cases are opened, after dividers are set up and tables are brought in for the exhibitors to unload onto. Then they come along after you get everything out and disassemble the lights, the risers and remove the plugs from the outlets, all in a matter of minutes.

I was left standing in front of a vacant cabinet as though there had never been an exhibit at all. These people deserve major applause for their efforts.
The security is high, the police are everywhere. We finally pulled out at 7:35 and head out for dinner with our good friends, Dan and Diana Weinrich.

We are heading home early and will be floating on air all week. It has been great.

Some photos below, but only a few as it is late, I am tired and I will add the remaining shots when home and can type on a "real" keyboard!

So, for now.......goodnight Chet. And Cheers to my friend Trevor Kitto....a new buddy and ...well...what a hoot! Aussies rock!

[Gail]

more shots.

[Gail]

and yet more.

[Gail]

hmm, what else...

[Gail]

and...that's it for tonight folks..it is long after midnight and I have 3 hours of sleep to try to make before getting up to leave. I will follow up on Tuesday when I am better settled in at home.
Good stuff to follow, I promise! Texas or Bust....outta here, night!

[str4hler]

I don't seem to stick too well on digital fotopaper :-)
I might just have a nightmare about myself tonight....
But it was cool to meet Wendell ! Thanks for the intro Gail.
Keep up the good work, keep posting, don't go to sleep ;-)

[chris]

Hi Gail,

Hope both of you had a safe trip back home. Still thanks for the report, I really liked your pictures.

Christophe

[Gail]

Home and resting, sort of, doing tons of laundry and reaquainting with the pups and cats, goats and piggies. We left Tucson at 4:30 in the morning and drove straight through to our home 30 miles east of Dallas.
With Jim and I doing two hours stints at driving it made it very enjoyable. The huge windmills of west Texas were a sight to behold. The ever changing landscape was remarkable and I wonder how the native Americans dealt with living in such tough conditions. I was saddened to see so many plastic bags and trash stuck to the branches of mesquite along portions of I-10, but it was for only a few short miles.

The last day of the Main show was a whirl of hugs and goodbyes. We were so impressed with the packing up of minerals done by all the grand masters. They had volunteers stand and watch to make sure privacy was ensured, the police were there to keep an eye on things too.

Once they undo the locks and open the cabinets it is full work mode for us

Here are some shots from the last day ....

[Gail]

More photos..

[Gail]

cleaning up...packing away and loading vehicles.

[Gail]

On the small camera I brought I found a couple of last shots....I had used my Nikon D-40 for many shots, and my Nikon Coolpix S550 for many of the closeups.
Found these just now.

[Gail]

And...That's all folks!

[Brooks]

Gail, Thanks again for the tireless effort of this report. All the pictures and words really did make it real for those of us who couldn't stay for the main show and I am sure many who couldn't make it at all. Last year I helped TGMS with the breakdown of cases and to me it was such a sad time after four days of pure excitement. Of course last year's show was the killer show theme (Minerals of the U.S.A.) but I sense it is that way anyway. A lot of planning all year long and after four days, puff! done for another year. I hope to be there next year for the entire show and may even have my family with us. Both my daughters want to see what Tucson is all about. They are tired of hearing me talk about it. They want to see for themselves. I say, so be it! Hope to see you guys next month while in Dallas.

[robynahawk]

I had to tell you that the cop in the photo above was doing demos for the people attending --- he used him maglite to show the "Cat's Eye" effect on the Chrysoberyl from the Smithsonian!!!

It was so cool - he had a crowd and understood what cause the effect and was giving a minicourse!

Robyn Hawk

[Gail]

Hey thanks you two. It was a great joy to see you in Tucson.
I meant to say I had mispelled Mike Wise's last name in my report. I asked Jim what his last name was and we both got it wrong! So, if Mike sees this...sorry about that. I think, all in all, I did okay with names. And that is Bob Dawson in the photo with Jim.
Mrs. Bergmann is, indeed, Sally.
And I had fun with Gloria and Sally all week by messing around with their names...as did a whole lot of other people apparently!
So, those are my apologies and disclaimers.
On my fourth load of laundry.....yuck...

[Debbie Woolf]

Gail I loved every photo - Thanks Again

ps: I was looking forward to seeing your 'windmills' what a surprise at what I saw !!

Here's a pic of our local windmill

[Singingstone48]

Gail,
A wonderful report and a lot of effort expended. Tonight is our Section meeting to talk about the Tucson Show with those who went, and you have given me a lot of information to pass on to our collectors. Nice to be able to put faces with the names I have seen in Min Rcd and Mindat. Glad you had a blast and made it home safely! Of course now everyone will be expecting the same from you at Denver!!

Cheers,
Steve

[Gail]

Debbie, good to see you are now a "regular" on Fabre Forums! And..your windmill is prettier than ours, although much shorter!