[meteorite-list] Check your bags

From: Mike Reynolds <MReynolds_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:08:26 2004
Message-ID: <A198D3B84FB66049AF8244437619AB13EA9722_at_cssc02.cssc.org>

All:

Interesting to hear Michael's story and Kevin's report... I have been doing
a fair amount of travel and lectures/book signings for my book Falling
Stars. I usually carry a number of "show and tell" samples like a 500g
Canyon Diablo, a nice Imilac slice, an 800g NWA 869, etc. And a copy of
Falling Stars to show I'm not going to smash out windows!!

I'm nearly always stopped at "security." (Especially when I was carrying a
metal model of a Chinese rocket back from Beijing--another story for another
time!) But usually a glance or two, along with the perfunctory explosives
check, allows me to proceed. Until last month...

I was held up for some time, checked and re-checked. (I think security just
liked the way my bag looked when passed through X-rays!). I think the only
reason they allowed me to proceed was because I wrote Falling Stars--my
picture was on the back, and a couple of the meteorites were in the book!

I don't know if anyone flew into or out of Tucson last February, but it was
a grueling process. I swore to NEVER fly to Tucson again! I didn't feel too
bad when they started frisking a "little old lady" in a wheelchair--I guess
they'd seen too many Mission Impossible movies!

So you are faced with a dilemma: try to carry on specimens, pack them in
your luggage and hope for the best, prepare a special check-in "container,"
mail them, or forget it all together (NOT an option, as far as I am
concerned!).

Keep Looking Up,

Mike Reynolds, Ph.D.
Chabot Space & Science Center
Received on Mon 16 Sep 2002 02:46:51 PM PDT