Saturday morning the trip started with the flight leaving SLO (San Luis Obispo) in darkness heading east and south into the rising sun. It was a full plane and a short flight to Phoenix for connections could be found to just about anywhere. My seat was way in the rear, and I was impressed by my fellow passengers behaving sensibly when exiting the plane. Instead of everyone getting up from their seats and crowding the aisle, they waited until those in front had moved! Naturally in Phoenix, my flight to Tucson was four moving walkways distant from the terminal where I landed. Not all that much later I was arriving on-time in Tucson.
After parking the rental car at the hotel and getting something for lunch, I headed off to survey the “freeway” shows until it was time to check in for my room. Much was just as I remembered it, with only minor changes since 2020. Some vendors were exactly where I recalled, and others were no longer around. The 22nd Street show tents were fairly busy. Their main tent seemed to have less congestion than before — I believe they eliminated a row of smaller booths and increased the size of the booths and remaining two aisles. A new third tent was added to the 22nd Street show. That one was set up with the three aisles. The JGM tent in the next block had a lot of empty space as usual but they added many small outside tents.
Then, on the other side of the freeway, there was the Pueblo show. While the hotel has gone through more than one identity change, the show has stayed with the original name. It was the first place in Tucson I visited many years ago, so it has a sort feeling of “home”. It seemed to be a slow day which was great for me to visit with vendors and friends from previous years. On the other hand, not so great for dealers’ sales. Finally back to check-in to my hotel and then take a quick look around the show there and at the next door hotel.
Hotel
The hotel was much as I remembered. The lobby and first floor rooms held dealers and the space for outside dealer tents seemed to have expanded. However the amenities had gone downhill a bit. The room was missing the expected microwave and fridge. (Supposedly had been ordered, but yet to be delivered.) The breakfast area was somewhat larger since it was moved from the tiny bit left in the lobby to a 2nd floor conference room. This change also made it harder for staff to monitor and resupply the breakfast offerings. It also seemed that the variety of items available for breakfast was fewer than in previous years with no variation from day to day. The staff was polite and friendly, but obviously overwhelmed by the swarms attending the Tucson shows — which seemed to be the case at many other places serving the visitors. I did find it amusing that the “C” door still did not unlock for the room keys and an appropriate size rock was still being used to allow access back into the building.
(Sign in hotel elevator. Took until the last day to see the typo.)