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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;V. Kurt Bellman, post: 2368040, member: 71723&quot;]Part 1-</p><p><br /></p><p>I flew from Philly International out to &quot;Big D&quot; Wednesday the 2nd in the late afternoon/early evening time slot on Southwest. No special food on which to report, sorry. Flying into DAL for an Eagles fan just felt wrong, y&#039;know? I may shower, but I may never again be clean. KIDDING!</p><p><br /></p><p>The official show hotels were impossibly expensive for a mere collector, so I had to rely on Bill Shatner and &quot;knock, knock, knock, Penny?&quot; to find me a room. (Priceline, for those who need help.) Cha-ching! The old classic hotel, The Adolphus, became my three nights&#039; home for less than half the show hotel rate. Here&#039;s the best part - it was CLOSER to &quot;our&quot; end of the Hutchison Convention Center than the official hotel was. Hee, hee, hee. Either way, it was a three to four block walk. The weather was superb so what the heck, right?</p><p><br /></p><p>I waited at Love Field for the transfer to the DART light rail just long enough to say &quot;enough&quot;, and took a cab to the Adolphus. I am a collector of not just coins, but Southwest Points deals wherever I can snag &#039;em, so I strolled over to The Press Box a few blocks away to grab some sustenance. Again, no food pictures, sorry. Had a great local brew and a &quot;Brisket Burger&quot; at the suggestion of the server. Excellent, and Southwest bonus points on the side. Then, me tired, must sleep.</p><p><br /></p><p>My room at The Adolphus was HUGE, Texas huge, but with no view. Standard with a cheap Priceline deal. Big deal, right? Sleep, bathe, dress, leave, come back, sleep, rinse, repeat. The room was also luxurious. Good enough for the Brit royals, good enough for the BellmanMeister, I always say.</p><p><br /></p><p>The show opened on Thursday morning for the dealers and paid Early Birds at 8, but I walked over to the hall with the Chief Counsel for Dillon Gage, who was headed to ICTA&#039;s meeting on counterfeits. I needed to say &quot;howdy doo&quot; to Kathy McFadden of ICTA anyway, because we&#039;ve been working hard together on keeping coins untaxed in Pennsylvania. I stayed for the meeting, and ANA Executive Director Kim Kiick and Prez Jeff Garrett plopped down at the same table as me. The meeting was basically a gripe session about law enforcement doing everything they can to NOT get involved fighting Chinese (and other) counterfeit bullion.</p><p><br /></p><p>Then it was time to go over to the bourse hall and get my Day 1 assignment from the &quot;Goddess of ANA Shows&quot;, Rhonda Scurek. It was registration line management, a specialty for which I am known at ANA.</p><p>(more to follow)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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