Thursday at the National

[LuckyLarry]

Room-mate #3 Doug D arrived late last night due to airline difficulties. He touched down CLE after 2AM and an UBER ride delivered him just after 3AM. Of course I missed all that. The four of us left the Air B&B at 8:30 and found our "strategic" parking spot planning somehow to avoid the traffic snarls as the show lets out. Taylor has his dealer badge so he goes right in, Doug has to pick up his tickets, but Spike and I are inside the VIP Lounge Area before 9. At 9:30 an escalator takes you from the VIP Lounge Area up to the show floor. There is a pretty long line waiting for the escalator to fire up, but we just sat at a table until the line was down, and we were in the show before 9:45.

I stopped at JD Heckathorns table as I'd missed him yesterday and bought some nice 1952 Berk Ross cards. JD and his wife couldn't be any nicer just great people. I'm really not looking for anything specific, so my plan is just to walk the aisles and see what shows up.

I did see several of my "favorite" YouTubers. Chris from "Baseball Card Collector Investor Dealer" has a table with his partner from Texas. "Card Collector 2" (Ryan) and of course my fav "RothCards". Everyone's favorite PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) guy "Baseball Card Investor" Geoff Wilson ("he ruined the hobby I love") if you know you know lol. Geoff opened the world's largest card store "CARDS HQ" this past year. He has one booth "CARDS HQ BUYING STATION" and there is always a long line of people waiting to sell to his partners manning their "comp computers" and the line to sell was long all day.

The only free t-shirt I accepted was from "BACKYARD BREAKS" who is always in the crosshairs of "Sports Card Radio" and my son (46 years old) was excited when I told him I got him a "BACKYARD BREAKS" shirt for the second year in a row. I also picked up a couple of these free mini "squish" baseballs why I'm mentioning that I do not know.

The show is crowded, but I've only been side swiped with a backpack a few times. I've avoided contact with these "Pelican Cases" everyone is carrying thank goodness, but it seems more and more people are bringing roller bags into the show now. Net54s own Glenn Mechanick sold me some nice 1948 Topps "Magic Photos" and he also has a big stack of 1951 Parkhurst hockey and I found one I needed. Later my friend Sam said he was also looking for '51 Parkies so I took him over to Glenns as well and he found five or six hits.

I get in line for the main floor bathroom and this guy behind me says something to me which I didn't understand. He then turns around and points to the end of the line about 100 men deep so I guess I took cuts accidentally. So I exited this line and went back down in the basement to the VIP Area and no waiting for a bathroom down there. Escaping the main floor madhouse and utilizing the basement VIP Areas appears to be one of the keys to a successful show this year.

We left the show at 5:15, 45 minutes before show closing, and were off the I-X Center property in minutes. We made a stop at the Air B&B then took the short drive over to the Net54 pre-war meetup and dinner and had a fun time over there thanks to our host Steve (brass_rat here on Net54) also REA. A couple days ago Steve asked for pictures of our pre-war cards to show on the big screen during dinner. While I did see a slide of my former T206 set I sent him, I was a little disappointed that the Elly May card I sent didn't make the cut lol.

Got back to the Air B&B, took off my shoes, updated wantlists, and stored cards for travel home.

13,081 steps and walked 5.90 miles today and it looks like I spent $725 which is well below budget. Of course my feet hurt and I'm exhausted but having a blast and plan on more aimless walking the aisles this morning to see what shows up in my cardboard box I carry in my backpack.

Here's a picture of me and our fearless leader Leon

[SyrNy1960]

Looks like a great time! Thanks for posting!

[ALBB]

love the recap !

[LEHR]

Thanks for the recap. Sounds like you're having a blast!

[Snapolit1]

Enjoy your positive attitude about the whole experience. Taking it all in with a minimal set plan is the way to go.

[Leon]

Going to have to get with Steve. How could Elly May not make it? A travesty!!
Thanks for the recap Larry.
.

[mrreality68]

Love it and love the recap

[Hankphenom]

Great vibe, thanks!

[obcbobd]

Larry

Thanks so much and three cheers for Ellie May

Bob

[The Detroit Collector]

Nice recap, thanks for sharing

[brass_rat]

I was rushing at the end to get the whole slideshow put together. I should have asked for scans and photos sooner.

Took me over 2 hours on my cell phone at the show and the venue to get it ready, lol. Not everything made it in.

Glad everyone had fun though!