2019 EOT Trip

I want to start by saying thank you. Thank you to everyone that worked so hard to make EOT 2019 a great match and a better time. Deuce Stevens and Lassiter made some challenging stages worthy of a world championship. If you ask Deuce he’ll tell you that he couldn’t have done it with  out Cowboy Carty and the army of others that came together to make it happen. Misty Moonshine and the SASS Staff ran a well oiled machine with all the fixins, opening ceremony, dinner and shootout announcements and awards on Sunday. Hats of to the SASS team! Thanks for letting me have some fun with the contest. Wonder if they found any of their bounties?

Madame and I left for the airport around 3 on the 17^th to meet up with Shelleen and headed west. It was normal Florida weather high 80’s low 90’s and humid. After some delays we made it to Albuquerque around midnight. Cool in the low 70’s and like -20% humidity. My nose and lips instantly dried out. Our delay gave Santa Fe River Stan time to catch up, he landed like 10 minutes after us. We got our bags loaded up the rental and rolled to the hotel.

Day 1:

I think the whole Cracker Crew popped up like toast at 4:30. I know I didn’t really adjust to the time change the whole trip. We put our toys in the wagon, pointed it east and said good morning to the prairie dogs next to the I40 on ramp. The ride to the range is pretty much uphill the whole time. Riding past the giant boulders and desert landscape didn’t get old one time. Every time we made the trip  I would see something new. We pulled on to the range and started looking for Deadly Don and Cowboy Jon’s camper and it wasn’t hard to find. They were proudly flying the Action Shooting Network .com flag on the camper. We picked up my cart and made it to the parking lot.

I heard some of the buzz about the ASN Bounty hunt before making it to the range form Scarlett Darling and others that were already at the range, but it wasn’t like seeing it. First I got my pin in my shooter pack and found a match before I even pinned it to my hat. Madame Moog and Santa Fe River Stan traveled all the way to NM to match up getting them a entry. Seeing the pins on hat, suspenders and the clever ways people were coming  up with to find their bounty did it for me. Thanks to everyone that played along and had fun with it.  

Now to the shooting, what can I say, at least it was practice stages. Getting in at 1am up at 4:30am and hit the range by 9:30. I was still out of gas. It was a good way to get acclimated to the altitude and no humidity to speak of. Decent time but I started to notice a trend.

Day 2:

I didn’t do much shooting, Fast Eddie fixed my shotgun Tuesday night and I just wanted to test it. Went to the shotgun side match run a couple just to be sure it was going to go bang. It was having an issue where the lever to open it would stick, so when you closed it, it wouldn’t lock. Quick fix and it worked like a normal Fast Eddie Shotgun. I’m sure it was probably that I don’t really clean it.

We finished shooting and went for a site seeing trip up to Santa Fe. The ride was really cool for this Florida boy that doesn’t get into the mountains that often. We crested one hill to a wide open plain then drove all the way across it to the mountain on the other side. As we drove, one of the ridge lines looked like someone took the time to stack the rock making a wall and off in the distance there was still snow on top of another mountain.… Mother Nature you’re crafty.

Stopped in Santa Fe to have lunch and do some shopping. It was neat to be there we noticed that almost every building, house or shed was a shade of brown. Lunch was good but the ride back was better. We took the Turquoise Trail back to the range right through the mountains. Not sure Shelleen was a fan driving the short bus through the twisting desert roads. That didn’t stop us from side and back seat driving. We didn’t make it back in time for Madame to make it in the LOCAS picture; we missed it by 2 minutes. But we did get to see and participate in the opening ceremonies.

Day 3:

A good friend once told me, “I hear a train a coming” and man let me tell ya. My first stage, I staged my guns, said my line and 20.39 seconds later I was done. I was optimistic at that point until I shot stages 2-11. I want to apologize to anyone that had to witness my shooting this week.  I could not find targets or sites the whole match. I was very disappointed in myself and that probably didn’t help with the next 2 days of shooting.

Shelleen had a decent day, no main event wrestling matches with his shotgun and good times. Madame as always looked good and was shooting a decent string of stages to boot. We didn’t posse with Santa Fe River Stan this time so I didn’t see him shoot very many stages but the report on the ride to the South Carolina Gang’s house for dinner was that he shot decent too.

The SC Gang invited us over for some good food. Sue Render, Dancin Angel, Jesamy Kid, Kid Ray, Whiskey Mac, Light Horse Pete, Slippery Stew and Bo Dacious made the trip and had a really nice place to stay while in town. The view from the deck was something else. Defiantly the best food we had the entire trip.

Day 4:

Up and at’em on the range in the mid day flight. My train continued to come off the tracks missing targets. Shelleen had a couple tough stages and Madame Moog put up her best time of the match, 29 and clean. Santa Fe River Stan reported that he did o k.

After shooting we dropped our carts off at Deadly Dons Camp loaded them 2 cowboys  in the truck and headed up to Sandia Peak. The cable car carries you up 10,332 feet on the top of the mountain. The view was literally breath taking. It really thins out up there but some great visibility allowed us to se 80 miles in any direction. I was glad to be there with such good company.

Day 5:

Day was our early flight, breakfast, loaded the truck said hi to the prairie dogs again and on the range. I figured I would stay consistent and let my match go through its death throws and I didn’t disappoint. Madame Moog kept playing her game and making steel ring and finished pretty strong. I don’t think I have ever seen her smile so much after shooting. Shelleen again with a decent day no real bad stages and finished pretty strong. Santa Fe River Stan had a hiccup on his last stage. All in all everyone had fun.

The dinner Saturday night was something else good food, spirits, music and dancing. A great time to socialize and meet new pards or looking for your bounty. I know 1079 was hiding out somewhere and 1078 was helping him.

Day 6:

Last day on the range. The shootout started around 9am and it was world championship shootout. Deuce Stevens and Hell Cat had some razzle dazzle getting lost along the way and ending up at each others rifle, good fun. I stayed up front and reset and painted targets, which gave me a front row seat. I have been playing this game for 6 years now and still amazed how fast and accurate some of these guys can be. I need to spend some time on the practice range.

Awards followed the shootout, Misty had asked if I wanted to do the drawing for the ASN Bounty Hunt at the awards. I did and didn’t, I admit I was nervous to get up in front of everyone and then talk… forget it… I sat at the table and rehearsed what I was going to say then the time came. I went up, didn’t say anything that I rehearsed but in the words of my biggest fan Shelleen “It wasn’t horrible” Oh yeah the winner of the First ASN EOT 2019 Bounty Hunt was Roamin Shields. He got a commemorative knife and sheath and I bet a whole bunch of new cowboy buddies. I will have a picture of Roamin and make a post for that soon I hope.

With that out of the way it was on to the awards. Let’s see, Santa Fe River Stan took 6^th place 49er, Lil Man took 1^st place in young gun and 6^th place overall. Way to go Lil Man. Deadly Sharpshooter got 2^nd place senior Gunfighter and Purdy Sharp buckled in her category too. Kay Sadeeya and Hollifer A. Dollar got matching EOT hardware. Cowboy Jon was second place buckaroo and my favorite out of towners got some bling as well. The came Lady Wrangler, they started with in 10^th place from Florida and at that point I think Madame Moog lost her sunburn and turned white. Yep, Florida was followed by Madame Moog. Her first trip to EOT and she brings home a buckle and a set of new pistols she won. Way to go MM I think you had a good match and maybe a better time.

I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. I had time with friends and good people playing cowboy. Beautiful views from the top of the world and I left with my hat.

Sure, I traveled 1807 miles, chewed sand for a couple days, had to use minty Chap Stick to keep my lips full and sexy and shot a real crappy match. It was better than a good week at work.