Wild Bunch match, day 1

 First day of the End Of Trail events, this was the Wild Bunch World Championship, first 5 of 10 stages. To be continued tomorrow. 

We got started at 7:30 this morning with an opening ceremony and safety meeting.  All was going great until I tried to fire my second shot from the rifle.  Jammed!  Lost 6 missed shots right off the start.  By the end of the morning it was running really rough, had to hit the lever to make it cycle.  Fourth stage was the best; no rifle!

So after finishing the stages I went over to the vendor area and found Jim Bowie, one of the best gunsmiths in the cowboy game. 10 minutes and $5 later it runs great.  And he explained how the springs and carrier lifter timing works better than anyone I’ve heard before.  His repair was to put this spring in a vise and tap it with a hammer three times.  Bent just right.  The real skill is knowing how hard to tap it!

This afternoon I went out to the camper store and bought some dicor caulk for the camper roof, came back and put that on so (hopefully) the roof won’t leak next time it rains.  Also got a cover for Carlene’s bike so we can store it outdoors here.  My bicycle is sharing the motorcycle's cover.  She did get out for a 10 mile ride today.  

The campground is getting full enough that we can no longer see the sunset. Have to go outside to check it.  But the sunrise view is fine!

Sunrise today

Texas Stork’s Bill

Blue Dicks

Stinknet

Bootlegs Loon, celebrating her 21st birthday today

Fire & Ice 2

 Second day at Fire & Ice shoot.  I ended up with 1 procedural and 2 misses.   I’m happy with that.  

It was raining last night  Carlene woke up at 4 AM when the rain found it’s way through the caulking on the roof and dripped on her face   Shall we say that woke me up too!  Some strategically placed towels in the overhead cabinets stopped the flow (it helped that the rain also slowed).  I had put new caulking on that part of the roof when I added the fourth solar panel last fall   I’ll get some more tomorrow  I shoot early tomorrow morning so will have the afternoon off   

Got my registration materials this afternoon.  Then found all my posse assignments so I know where to be and when.  And, of course, some more gun cleaning.  They had to get a good cleaning because they won’t be used again until Wednesday.  Different gear the next 2 days.

The sky was intriguing today

The campground is filling up.  This is just the dry camping area

Fire & Ice 1

 First day of the Fire & Ice Shoot out at Cowtown, about 8 miles from camp. Cloudy start this morning but I’ve been outright cold at that shoot other years.  Today the sun came out and by noon it was a warm sunny day. Shot with some New England friends, Yankee &  Boston Lady along with Rancho Roy. Plus former Boston folks Tick Ridge & Avocatesa, now of Savannah GA. And former Vermonter Half-a-Hand Henri.  There were also several people I’ve met and know from the previous years.  

Back at camp it wa a just refill the supplies for tomorrow and, of course, clean guns!  The price of shooting black powder. This afternoon it was breezy, didn’t feel as warm as it really was.  The wind makes it so that you have to anchor every little thing or it blows away.  

Carlene dropped me off and took the truck to do whatever she wanted today   That was more potential than anything else   

The morning balloons.  Roy counted 23

 

Yankee

Boston Lady

Ranch Roy

This evening, just before posting this at 8:30

Phoenix 3

 Work day at the range.  I went over at 9 and volunteered for the day.  Worked with my old friend Kid Rich putting boardwalks together. We use boardwalks to make running on the stage easier and safer than running in gravel.  Gravel is the natural soil here 😁

I’m pretty tired tonight.  It wasn’t hard work, except for getting down to work and getting up again a hundred times!

Kid Rich and wife Shirttail Bess used to shoot with us when they lived in Maine.  Now they live out here and I only see them when we are at this shoot. 

Meanwhile Carlene went on a bike ride and took some flower photos. 

Sunset was kind of basic but worth a photo anyway.  The conjunction of moon Venus and Jupiter is kind of spread out but we still got to see it.  It’s been too cloudy the last couple nights.  

California Poppy

Arroyo Lupine

Bristly Fiddleneck

Apricot Mallow

Creosote Bush

Redstem Stork’s-bill

Smallflower Stock

Phoenix 2

 Unpacking day!   Get all the ammo out of the truck, get the odds & ends out of the garage, rearrange it so I can get to the cowboy stuff.  

Taking the motorcycle out got to be an adventure.  It wouldn’t start!  Got Rancho Roy over for a second opinion.  Bad battery.  Again. It s only 2 years old and I wasn’t believing it was the problem.  Bought a new battery and all is well again.  When I rolled it out there was this loud clunk every few feet   Now what!!!!  I knew I had dropped a nut I wasn’t using on the new battery and hadn’t found it on the floor   Sure enough, it had landed on a sprocket on the rear wheel gear and was causing the chain to pop as it rolled over the nut!

Now the bike and my bicycle are under the weather cover beside the camper due to a little rain in tonight’s forecast.  

All the cowboy clothes are hung up where the bikes used to be. Carlene’s bicycle is in there too.  

My helper as I try to fold the tarp over the ammo crates under the table. 

Bike and generators under covers

All at up

Phoenix

 At Ben Avery Shooting Facility

Arrived at SASS End Of Trail, World Championship of Cowboy Action Shooting.  Tomorrow I need a time warp to get my mind (and rearrange all the gear in the truck/camper) back to 1882!

Got here in early afternoon.  Found the dump station locked so moved onto a full hookup site for 15 minutes to dump the waste tanks and fill the fresh water tank for 12 nights on a dry camp site. 

Got the trailer set up and went shopping again. Propane, diesel and food.  

Tomorrow I’ll get everything rearranged for the cowboy stuff.  

Got some scenery photos on the way up from Yuma. The wind was wicked last night and today so there was blowing dust most of the way up here. That is some of the flattest, driest landscape anywhere. As we got closer to Phoenix it got better. Not the wind, just the dust. More ground cover. Still the Sonora desert but with more vegetation to hold the soil there is a little less dust. 

The wind has calmed down now. Shouldn’t be as bad again this week  

The elevated road next to the irrigation water ditch

Migrant worker bus, with outhouses

These are photos of dust, not haze

Here we are at EOT

Skye is happy to have some people to watch