Winter Range, day 5

Second day of the main match.  Still having lots of fun with a fine posse.  We have 5 people from New England and of course several new friends just met.

This evening was another group dinner of a Mexican flavor followed by casino Night.  I played some blackjack and broke about even, then tried out the roulette wheel.  Cashed out $135 in the form of 13 raffle tickets.  We'll find out Sunday if I actually won something.  Actually I did win 5 lbs. of black powder yesterday in the main raffle.  Not bad!

The light at dawn

Dead Head's black powder smoke in the early morning

Boston Lady

Mad Mel

Winter Range, day 4

First day of the Main Match.  I shot it clean (no misses or penalties) and all in the 30-something seconds.  I'm quite happy with that.  Good stages, not too difficult yet still offering some challenge.  Just what they ought to be for a National Championship.

Carlene went to Wickenburg which is 42 miles from our camper. I stopped at the Chamber of Commerce for a map and a self guided walking tour of the historic section in this community of about 7,000

Everett Bowman world champion all around cowboy 1935 and 1937

The Chamber of Commerce is now located in the old train station behind the teacher waiting to board a train

Elizabeth Smith owned the Vernetta Hotel

All the art on display on the first floor of the museum featured Arizona artists

A beautiful statue "Thanks for the Rain" by Joe Beeler

The jail tree is a 200 year old mesquite tree

Cowboy and dance hall girl

Winter Range, day 3

Warm up stages began the day at 8 AM.  The lack of wind made it seem warmer than yesterday, even though it was the same 41 degrees.  I shot the warm up stages well, just a Procedural because I can't tell right from left.  But I hit everything which is what I cared about the most.

This afternoon was the Plainsman side event.  One of my favorites.  We had two posses of 18 each.  Like last year I had volunteered to help run it with Chili Pepper Pete from Mich.  He is a pretty good guy, and one of the better Frontiersmen (my main match category).

This evening was the "Shooter's Appreciation" dinner, some great hamburgers & sausage with all the fixings.  Really good for a free dinner.

Check out the frilly yellow drawers

The Warbirds flyover

Carlene's day
Carlene went hiking with Cal
We went back to Lake Pleasant Regional Park to hike a couple new trails.  Lake Pleasant is a reservoir and is located 30 miles north of the Phoenix metropolitan area.  It is an ideal destination for camping, picnicking,  hiking,  mountain biking, swimming, water skiing, boating, and fishing.
The Yavapai Point Trail climbs to a high mountain top with beautiful views.  I enjoyed lunch on the comfortable bench  and had the top to ourselves for a short while. Part way down we switched to the Pipeline Canyon Trail to return to the trail head.

unusual looking saguaro

looking over at the Pipeline Canyon Trail

Yavapai Point Trail

Winter Range, day 2

A second day of Wild Bunch.  This day started out quite cold, just under 40 degrees when we started shooting, and a stiff wind too.  I had 3 shirts under my coat, and I don't usually wear the coat all day.  I wore it until 1 PM.

Dr. George and his ambulance

Kid Rich with his black powder 1911

Here is Whirlwind Wendy in her pink, alongside Dead Head with a pink broom.  Too much to pass up!  Those fuzzy pink chaps must have been cozy this morning!

Winter Range, day 1

Today opened the Winter Range, SASS National Championship with the first of 2 days of Wild Bunch stages.  We shot 5 stages today, and we will shoot 5 tomorrow.  Nice stages, well written, no hiccups.  And they went well for me too.  But it was a bit rainy to start out the day and then just cool and windy.  It never got to 60 degrees.  I was just happy when it quit raining after the first stage.

Out here a round over the berm is not a problem

Inside one of the permanent cowboy buildings

Capt. George Baylor

Babe Ruthless

Carlene and Callahan went hiking in the Lake Pleasant area.