Day four, Saturday.
We were supposed to meet up in the hotel restaurant at 7:00am, but Haydn was curiously absent. When he showed up I knew something was going on. It seems when Prosper went to their room at midnight, he put the security latch on the door. When Haydn showed up at 2:00am, he was locked out. He finally managed to get the door open, but things were a little "cool" at breakfast (it's actually pretty funny to hear Haydn tell it).
We had a quick bite, and we were off to the range. I should mention that with this many people in attendance, Northbrook contracted with the Campbell airport (next door) to let us park there, and ran shuttles up and back from the runway to the clubhouse.
It worked out really well. They also had shuttles running from clubhouse to the parcours and sporting courses. Northbrook is a huge place, and without them you'd be walking a marathon. Jon Porter was using a friend's Ranger, and was kind enough to give our whole FITASC squad a ride every day. Thanks Jon.
Actually, I saw very few empty carts. Anytime anybody was going some place and saw somebody walking, they would always stop and offer them a ride.
Today I shot the Red Course in the morning, and Blaser and Promatic parcours in the afternoon. Steve Knoll from Wern Valley set the Red course (and gave me a ride out there) and I really enjoyed being in the woods (and the softer targets). Steve's a great guy, and if you're ever the Milwaukee area, stop in at Wern Valley. It's a beautiful place.
A word about all the targets this weekend, I think they were outstanding. And when I asked various other shooters, local and world champions, they agreed. The internet goofballs that think it was too soft are way off base.
It's always easy to shoot 100 straight when you're sitting at home in front of the keyboard. Even though Red was soft, nobody on my squad ran it. If I run it, then it's too soft.
Blaser and Promatic were fun, but challenging. I think I managed an 18 on Blaser, and a 20 on Promatic. Things were looking up.
Unfortunately you had to look up to shoot one of the particularly silly-er pegs.
I think it was peg one on Blaser. It was in the pine trees, and there were cut logs in front of you. There were two birds coming from behind high and right, going over the tops of the pine trees and going right into the SUN !!
Talk about blinded by the light. I got one on the way down, but that was it.
We finished early, and I was able to wander around the vendor area. I've got my eye on a couple of guns that I'm sure will help my shooting.
Afterwards a bunch of us were sitting around the round tables in the beer tent, when Prosper asked to barrow my car keys so he could put his gear away.
When he retuned he tossed them to me. They landed in my glass of beer sitting on the table in front of me causing it to spill in my lap.
We all had a good laugh, and one of the Aussie's said, "now you smell like one of us, mate". And I did
