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cal valleys of southwestern Wisconsin,
southeastern Minnesotaandnortheast-
ern Iowa feeding into the Mississippi
Rivervalleyandwerepackedwithmorn-
inggroundfogthatwouldsoonburnoff.
It wasanenjoyableandunusualview.
Having claimed my luggage and a
Budgetrentalcar,withinthehourI wasANA Summer Seminar
Great Event at a Great Destination
T
hrough the years I’ve put in a fair
number of cameo appearances at theANA’s annual Summer Seminar sessions
in Colorado Springs, which in 2018
celebrated its 50th renewal. This first
year of its second half-century was no
exception. For the first time since 2011,
when I was closing out the second year
of my two-year term as ANA president,
I determined an opportune occasion was
presenting itself.
The ANA Summer Seminar presents
our hobby community with a great educa-
tional, networking and mixing opportu-
nity. Originated in 1969 by Ed Rochette,
then editor of The Numismatist, and Adna
Wilde, then executive director, both of
whom are no longer with us, that first
installment featured one class and two
field trips. It hosted just 16 students but
was decreed a “huge success” by then
president Arthur Sipe and all participants
in attendance. In recent years it has typi-
cally welcomed upwards of 400 students
who have been able to avail themselves of
more than 25 specialized courses over two
sessions, plus varied evening lectures and
extracurricular excursion options.
My travels to Colorado Springs on
this occasion got underway early morn-
ing on the third Wednesday of June with
a 44-mile drive to the Appleton airport,
where I arrived at about 5:30 for my 6:
United Express flight direct to Denver.
With the flight departing on schedule, I was
disembarking in Denver at 8:05, which was
about 20 minutes ahead of schedule, with
the snow-clad slopes of the Rockies to the
west creating a beautiful backdrop.
Speaking of snow-clad slopes, an
interesting phenomenon had accompa-
nied my clear skies departure and climb
to UA3932’s assigned 32,000-foot cruis-
ing altitude. The flight path being slightly
south of west, I was viewing country-
side that I had often driven through,
but never flown over commercially, as
United’s Appleton to Denver flight had
been inaugurated only a few months ago
and this was the first occasion that this
travel opportunity availed itself to me.
Peering down, I noted what at first glance
appeared to be snowcapped mountain
ranges but were actually the topographi-
I pickedupthispromotionalpostcardnoted
when exitingRosie’s Diner,which boasts a
lineage of having been “humbly birthed in
1946 astheSilverDollarDinerofLittleFerry,
NewJersey.”Thecurrentnamewasadopted
in1971,withtheoriginal modularstructure
subsequently being moved to Rockford,
Michigan.TheRosie’sinMonumentpicksup
onthetraditionof theoriginal,thepromotional
cardproclaiming;“ ...servinggreatfoodina
funandfriendlyatmosphere– theHappyDays
oftheAll-Americandinerareback!”This Evanston Railway Co. transportation token, an inexpensive 23mm 1920 white metal issue
from Illinois, was a nostalgic purchase from Devils Lake, North Dakota, dealer Glen Jorde.
Given that I attended Northwestern University in Evanston back in 1957/58, it was among an
assortment of nine largely transportation and trade token selections I made from the offerings
available at his table.headed south by way of I-225/25. An
hour and a 63-mile drive later, I pulled off
at Monument for an early lunch. There I
availed myself of very tasty chicken torti-
lla soup and hot pastrami melt sandwich
selections at Rosie’s Diner, enjoying
them in a pleasantly nostalgic recreated
1950s era roadside diner setting.
Back on the road by roughly 11:30,
the remaining 19-mile drive delivered
me to the parking lot at ANA headquar-
ters on the Colorado College campus
by noon. There my first encounters
were with current ANA president Gary
Adkins, accompanied by current elec-
tion cycle presidential candidate Steve
Ellsworth. Shortly thereafter I had occa-
sions to also exchange greetings with
this election cycle’s other presidential
candidate, Don Kagin, and Daniel “Tiny”
Cross from Missouri, a great personality
long associated with the seminars.
As the seminar lunch hour had just
gotten underway, executive director Kim
Kiick invited me to join her and her assis-
tant, Donna Nunez, and a couple others,
for some light conversations over lunch.
Limiting myself to an iced tea, most of
which I managed to spill atop the table
while talking with my hands, I found
myself carrying a good bit of the chatter.
Afterwards, Kim and I adjournedtoherCliffordMishler
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