48 hours until I leave....

[Nellie Blue]

Bordertown here I come!!!

Coffee Em...did you say you were going to be wandering around? Try to look me up!

Here's my truck (but there's a camper now and hopefully no snow!)...license plate NELIBLU (of course)
http://members.cox.net/wishing4rain/Tundra.jpg

Here's my camper (I probably won't set up the tent pop out, though)..
http://members.cox.net/nellieblue/webpics/2005%20camper%20at%20camp%20ground.jpg

[Wallaby Jack]

DearMiss Nellie:Nellie ,

Your "Camper" is what we (over/under this side of tha fishin' hole) call a "Caravan", looks comfortable......


:fm

[Clancy]

Have a great trip Nellie, shoot straight and fast.....

Is there that much snow around already?

[Coffee Em]

Have a wonderful time, gal! Looks like I won't be wandering in this year (drat!), but now at least I can get a full report from ya so I can start to plan for next year.

Cheers,
Coffee Em

[Nellie Blue]

The snow picture was taken about an hour North of Phoenix, AZ, during elk hunting season so it must have been in November....the photo was taken in 2000. I don't believe they've had snow yet this year.

Well, off to finish loading the "caravan"! (after I catch up on today's posts!)

[Nellie Blue]

I finished loading the caravan...all except the guns, the make-up, and the "boy". I'm heading out as soon as I get off work tomorrow! Dang it's going to be hard to work! Talk to ya'll when I get home!

Behave...if you can!....Kid! :noe

[Kid Sopris]

I wanna go.. Oh ,by the time you get back there will be new toys in the safe to look at! oooooooo, And you can deliver any slaps I got coming from whomever.
:cgun :rofl

[Nevada Skye]

Good luck and have fun!!! Skye

[Coffee Em]

I want you all to know, Nellie's having gorgeous weather for Bordertown. Dry, warm days, cool nights, blue skies--this ought to save the state's reputation after all the rain at Winter Range this year.

Can't wait to hear about her adventures!

Cheers,
Coffee Em

[Nellie Blue]

What an AWESOME shoot!!! I thought I had shot big and close before...I didn't know what big and close was!!! Holy Moly!!! You have to shoot it to understand!

How big and close were they, you say?

The targets were so big and close that I forgot to close one eye and use the sights...my brain was saying..."Just stick the pistol out there and you can't POSSIBLY miss!" Wrong!!

Needless to say...I didn't shoot my best, but I had a wonderful time. Very warm in the daytime and COLD at night...beautiful weather.

My group did dinner at Pinacle Peak....twice!!! Yummy! And I wandered across a campfire where Solicitor General (a great shooter from AZ) was playing his guitar and singing...what a treat!!!

What a great weekend!!! :wv

[Coffee Em]

Oh, no, missy, you aren't getting off that easy. Where's our photos? How 'bout accounts of the best and worst stages? Didja buy anything? Don't give me that "I had to go back to work, for pete's sake" routine--we want our trip report!

Grin.

Cheers,
Coffee Em

[Clancy]

Hey Nellie... I guess Constable Nelsons quote rings true...

If ya reckon they are too big and close to challenge ya...You ain't going fast enough!!!!!. Constable Nelson

Just get back and practice, we all have a bad one every now and then, i think they do us good to get back on track...At least you had fun and met some neat people, that is half the fun of this sport... the great people you get to meet.

[Nellie Blue]

Well, dummy me...I forgot my camera!!! I was talking on the cell phone to my mom as I was driving out of town saying..."I've got this horrible feeling I've forgotten something!" Dang, if it wasn't my camera!!

OK...

Best Stage....It was the first stage of the shoot where I first saw how close they really were...9 targets set in a V with the center target probably less than 10 feet away from you..the furtherest about 15-17 feet away (they are both pistol and rifle targets)...HUGE targets...engage the left 5 with pistol any order...engage all 9 with rifle any order...engage the right 5 with pistol any order...then engage the 2 shotgun targets in front of the center target. I shot it in 21.31 seconds only 4 seconds behind my mentor!!! I was so jazzed!

Worst Stage...That had to be the "controversy" stage...the people that run my club said that there would be controversy over it before the weekend was out and they were right. First you triple-tapped 3 rifle targets any order, then you moved to the fence and triple-tapped the left pistol target then shot the 2 knock-down pistol targets on each side of it then repeated on the same setup on the right. Then with your shotgun you took out any knockdowns that were left standing.

Well the controversial part of this is that at the shooter's meeting they announced that the targets were calibrated to be knocked down by a .32....well, lots of people were trying to use their light 38's and they weren't going down....so a bunch of people were loading 3 light 38's then 2 heavy loads...that's what I did...but I got carried away and slipped the hammer and had to go all the way around again and wound up with a light load for the knock-down. Didn't budge it! Anyway...no biggy...just part of the game. Well, some big names (shouldn't mention names) had a problem with it so the guy running the shoot came over to show everyone that .32's would knock them down....ooops...wouldn't ya know it...his loads wouldn't knock them down! So what could they do then...well...they did nothing. I bet they don't have pistol knock-downs next year! :lool

Did I buy anything? Well, I REALLY wanted a new pair of pants...I was looking for canvas saddle pants, but no one had what I was looking for...I wasn't even too picky about the color! But I did buy a new blue necklace and a piece of deer antler (for Packard to chew on) from Aspen Filly (from Colorado).

[Allie Mo]

Oooh Nellie,

Those calibrated targets remind me of the California State Championship a few years ago. A shooter on our posse did not get all of the KDs down even though he hit them all with his heavy loads.

I got up there and pulled the wrong pistol. Actually, I put the pistols in the wrong holsters. I got them all down with mouse phart loads. Then I went over to the huge (and I mean huge), close target and missed one.:rofl

That kind of stuff is so funny. Sure beats what happened last year - I had a rifle jam and missed nine shots.

Thanks for the memories!

Allie Mo

[Nellie Blue]

Ew!!! Rifle jam!!! I feel for you!

Yep, it is kind of funny cuz we had a girl on our posse knock all of them down with her .32's! I've decided next time I come across something like that, the heavy loads go in all 5 chambers and in both pistols...it's better to take an n'th of a second longer than have misses!!

[Coffee Em]

Nellie, you've made up for forgetting your camera--you painted a darn fine word picture instead! Oh, lordy, of course the knockdowns would fail to go down when someone set out to prove they would; did they forget that Murphy started out as a cowboy? I'd have bet money on that demo failing!

Sure hope I can go next year. Oh, and I hope Packard appreciated his chewy treat.

Cheers,
Coffee Em

[Nellie Blue]

He certainly enjoyed it! He didn't even notice me leave to go into Pinnacle Peak! :rofl

[Nellie Blue]

Hey, Em! Speaking of painting pictures with words...talk to me about how you write...do you outline a story out...plot twists and turns or do you have a basic idea, start writing, then let the story just happen? Or is that a trade secret?

[Coffee Em]

Depends on the story--I've done both of those, at one time or another, and everything in between. Sometimes I've got the beginning, and a vague sense of the end, and I just write toward it with mental fingers crossed until I get there. (And when I'm done, I revise like crazy to make it look as if I knew what I was doing all along!) Sometimes there are lots of elements I know I want to include, or need to include, and I'll outline the thing so I know where they go and don't forget any important ones. But I never really know everything that will happen in the story before I start. Surprising myself is part of the fun.

Cheers,
Coffee Em