To all,

I was asked to do a recap of the COA convention in Houston.  So to those who
were unable to make it and those who do not believe they spent that much
money -- this is for you.  Oh, and for all of those who have asked where I
was, now you will find out.  I call this shell tale --

"Tom and Bruce's Amazing Shell Adventure"

Four members of the High Desert Shell Club of New Mexico, USA attended COA
this year, Pat Burke, Sybil Burger, Bruce Neville and myself.  Bruce and I
planned on sharing a room and we headed out together in our rental car on 19
June; Texas bound!

Exactly 155 miles later, in the middle of the desert north of Truth or
Consequences, our brand new Chevy rental quit -- stone-cold dead.  Those who
have been in New Mexico will realize, there is nothing much but sand and
cactus 150 miles south of Albuquerque.  Luckily a Border Patrol agent
stopped and let us use his cell-phone to call Avis.  They delivered a new
Buick and we were on our way after a delay of only 4 hours!!!  We got into
Del Rio at 2:30 in the morning and slept in until the maid said, "Either get
up or clean your own rooms."  The remaining trip to Houston was uneventful.

Our first day in Houston was actually spent in the University of Texas
library in Austin.  We were copying references we needed for our nerite
project -- in fact, $190 worth of copies.  After three libraries and at
least 20 miles of walking, my feet felt like they belonged to someone
else -- and I really felt sorry for that person.  Okay, okay, I am getting
to the actual convention.  Next day, 22 June (a day late), we signed in.

First, thanks and hats off to the Texas folks.  They hosted an incredible
convention.  The programs were first rate, the trips interesting and lots of
fun, the facilities perfect, the meals superb (yeah, I am a bit partial to
southwestern food -- but they really were great!!), and the shells
unbelievable.  There was always someone with the yellow ribbon (host club
member) to provide directions and help.  We couldn't have asked for a better
convention -- thanks Texas!!

Some numbers:

-  Over 250 registered attendees (plus lots of strap hangers).
-  The auctions (regular and silent) brought in over $29,000!  This is a
record (by quite a bit) and means there will be solid funding for shell
related research grants next year.
-  I personally polled almost half of the dealers and all were well
satisfied with the bourse results (i.e., plenty of shells were sold).
-  I do not have a count of the dealers present (lost the handout in all of
the excitement), but there were a lot.  We had most of the familiar faces
plus some new folks from Indonesia, Vietnam, and Russia.  The room the
bourse was held in was the size of a couple of gymnasiums giving everyone
plenty of room.  This enabled the dealers to spread out their wares and made
it much easier to see what was available (in my case, maybe too easy).

Now back to the convention proper.  The first day (21 June) was a field trip
to Lake Jackson and the Brazosport Museum of Natural Science.  A display of
14,000 shells greats visitors as well as fossils, butterflies, and minerals.
This small museum has centered their display around shells and it is quite
impressive.  The displays included dioramas as well as cabinets and
drawers -- all full of shells.  The museum folks hosted brunch and later
lunch was served courtesy of the Sea Shell Searchers of Brazoria County.
Bruce was running my feet ragged in Austin during all of this -- but we made
it down the next day to the museum, so I can truthfully say it was quite
impressive.  We did miss all of the free food -- but both of us can stand to
miss a meal or two.

Day 2 (22 June) was a day of silent auctions and presentations.  I will not
go through each of the programs here -- but they were all quality.  Whoever
selected the programs for this year's convention gave us a diverse selection
of really interesting presentations.  That evening was a fiesta to greet
everyone (lots of food) and later that night I turned in with the fervent
hope I had been outbid on some of the silent auction shells.

Day 3 (23 June) involved more great presentations, silent auctions (the bane
of my checkbook), and the annual business meeting.  New officers were
elected and I am sure they will be announced in the next American
Conchologist magazine (don't worry, Lynn Scheu is still editor).  I do want
to offer just a quick thanks to Linda Brunner and her staff for all of their
hard work and dedication and a good luck wish for Betty Lipe (ex-vice
president and new president) and her staff.  COA keeps getting better, not
something that just happens.