Author Topic: Tombstones on the road again  (Read 7151 times)

Tombstone

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Tombstones on the road again
« on: October 16, 2017, 12:00:27 PM »
Well, we are on our way out west again. Horse Doc, Appaloosa Honey, Cactus Red, Lady T and I will be traveling for a few weeks. Our first leg was to Wartrace for the TN State match. What a fantastic match. If you have not shot with the Wartrace Regulators you have missed a great bunch of folks and always a fun and fast match. The crew works to make sure everyone has fun. Put this one on your bucket list if you have one.

We left Wartrace Sunday morning heading west to Russellville AR, just one night so nothing but getting to camp, setting up the minimal amount and dinner. Early to bed and an early start this morning heading to Amarillo TX for a few nights. We plan to eat at the big steakhouse tonight, do a little sight-seeing and visit Long Hunters Shooting Supplies tomorrow. I plan to pick up a few things to go with my cap guns so I don’t have to borrow from Long Gulch and Jackalope.

From Amarillo we will head to Albuquerque for a few days, we plan to ride up to Sandi Peak at about 11,000 ft. on the bikes. We will meet the ladies at the top for lunch, they are ridging the tram up the mountain. Yesterday the high temperature at the top was a balmy 39 degrees. The forecast for the time we are looking to be up there is in the 50’s so much warmer we hope. We may shoot a match in Albuquerque. A small annual called Fall Fandango but not sure yet.

Anyway, I will report more later as things happen. On a side note, this countries interstate system needs major repairs but not how they can do much without messing up the traffic for years.
« Last Edit: October 18, 2017, 12:06:39 AM by Tombstone »

Sheriff Langston

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Re: Tombsotnes on the road again
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2017, 03:16:40 PM »
Trust you all have fun out there.  I'm envious.

And yes, please keep us posted on your adventures.

Sheriff L.
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Fast Harley

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Re: Tombsotnes on the road again
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2017, 07:24:18 PM »
Let me know if you don't like the steakhouse in Amarillo, because I think you will!
We saw an athletic Russian try to eat the 72 oz. I don't think he made it but he gave it as
good a try as a more or less average size man could do.
Ride safe.
Harley.

Tombstone

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Re: Tombstones on the road again
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2017, 12:06:58 AM »
We got into the campground last evening just as they were closing the office, we asked about the Big Texas Steak House. They told us it was pretty much a tourist attraction. We told them since we were tourist we thought we should go see what all the hoopla was about. Well, we were not disappointed. Between the gift shop, the shooting gallery, ice cream pallor, the rattle snake in a terrarium, over size rocking chair and giant boot. We had a hoot. The food was good, service was good. We watched a fellow eat a 72 ounce steak with all the trimmings. Ate too much, ate too late. Everything we should have done as tourist. Well worth the time. They also run a limo service from the restaurant to the camp ground so it was all good.

Woke up this morning to about 45 degrees and wind so did not get an early start. We ate lunch then Cactus, Doc and I went on a bike ride to the Palo Duro Canyon, which claims to be the second largest canyon in the USA. What a wonderful trip. About 75 miles round trip. They have a road that goes down to the canyon floor and wonders around for about 16 miles. Vistas were gorgeous. The weather could not have been better. We saw some deer’s, a few hawks, a road runner. Riding down in the canyon was a great experience. One small stream created the whole canyon over about 100,000 years. Amazing rock formations and colors. They have camping down on the canyon floor that would be fun to spend a few days in but that will have to be for another trip.

Got back to the camper, had a few drinks, dinner and heading to bed for the night. Tomorrow we hope to do a little more sight-seeing then we are heading to Albuquerque. Not sure what all we are going to do tomorrow but I am pretty sure we will have fun.

Hope everyone is having a good week, cant be as good as ours but still hope yours is good. More tomorrow after another bike ride.

TN Mongo

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Re: Tombstones on the road again
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2017, 08:56:07 AM »
Keep the reports coming.  Many of us are living vicariously through you guys.  I hope to make this trip when I retire.

Randy Saint Eagle

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Re: Tombstones on the road again
« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2017, 06:33:20 PM »
Tombstone, thanks for making Wartrace the first leg of your trip. I liked the pictures at the Big Texan down the hall past the shooting gallery.

We went up Sandia Peak in 2014, took the Tram up in daylight and came down after dark, the views were nice and the restaurant was appropriately named, High Finance. I think the sign at the restaurant said 12000 feet, I got tired  just chewing.

Hope y'all have a great time.
Randy

Fast Harley

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Re: Tombstones on the road again
« Reply #6 on: October 18, 2017, 07:12:15 PM »
Funny, everything Tombstone writes sounds like: Nyah, Nyah, something, something, I'm out west,
and you're not! :)
Harley.

Tombstone

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Re: Tombstones on the road again
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2017, 12:06:12 AM »
We had an incredible day today. We started this morning with a great breakfast prepared by chef Tombstone. Afterwards we headed to Long Hunters Shooter Supply. Great bunch (two folks) of people. Found out they were heading to Bordertown also, found out they had shot at Back at Cha...with a bunch of outlaws. Seems the young lady I was working with was on the Outlaw posse. Shot with Whiskey Creek, Copperhead and crew. Had a fun time at the small shop. Got my BP supplies except for powder.

After that we headed to the local Harley Shop, got some advice on a really nice ride so Doc and I decided to give it a try. (Cactus had to do a little work). We ran down to a few small towns, took a few turns we might not taken. We ended up on the south side of the same canyon we were in yesterday. We were riding along in flat plans country, nothing but wide open as far as we could see, I noticed the land to my right had a gap between us and the rest of the plans. We rounded a curve,(the few we had seen) and the road dropped. We rode into the South side the canyon. Down into the valley, some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen; and I have to tell you I have seen some wonderfully awesome sights.
   
I never thought the pan handle of Texas had much to offer but dang that canyon was amazing. I got to mark something off my bucket list, I had never seen a live rattle snake in the wild ( I know, kind of strange for an East TN Mountain boy but never seen one in the wild).  Doc and I ran across one on this ride, got some great pictures to show for it. Maybe I can figure out how to post one or two. It was live and pissed off. Any way we had a wonder full ride, dinner at the camper.

We are heading to Albuquerque tomorrow. On the road for the day may not be much to report but we’ll will see.

Tombstone

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Re: Tombstones on the road again
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2017, 12:18:28 AM »
We made it to Albuquerque by early afternoon, got set up at a really nice RV park that is about a year old. It is really nice and is connected to a casino.  It is really nice and has a shuttle that will pick you up at your RV site and bring you back so no more driving for today. Had a really good dinner and played a little poker, broke even so I think I won. It is kind of strange here, there is a state law that you can not drink at the gambling machines so it was kind of boring and not nearly as much fun as most of the other casinos we go to. They do have bars and restaurants but no alcohol on the casino floor. Don’t see us spending much time there other than to eat the sea food buffet tomorrow evening.

Lady T and I ran over to the range where they hold the Fall Fandango out here. It is their annual match so it is 12 stages over two days. The range is in the in a state park called Gun Range State Park. (I think) As we drove up Gun Range Drive there were multiple gun ranges set up and hundreds of police officers shooting and training. We got to the Cowboy town and met a few folks, it looks like we will shoot the match on Saturday and Sunday. Targets are smaller than we are used to but the distance is about right. They will let Lady T set up for a day or two, two of the folks we talked to even had Bullet Splat jewelry they had bought at EOT and Winter Range a few years ago. It is always funny when folks know her way out here where we have never even been before.

We plan to ride the Sandia Mountain tomorrow, Cactus, Doc and I. It looks kind of like the Dragoon with about a 4000 foot climb in elevation. Looks like a heck of a ride. I will let you know how it goes and how thin the air is at about 11,000 feet above sea level.

Well, it may only be 10:00 out here but my tired old body still thinks its around midnight.

More tomorrow.

Tombstone

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Re: Tombstones on the road again
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2017, 09:36:58 PM »
Well, it’s been two days so I guess I have a little catching up to do.

We got up on Friday to a cool start but a beautiful sun rise. Cooked a good breakfast and Cactus, Doc and I headed out on the bikes for the climb up the mountain. I started out leading (again) I had mapped out the route the night before and we decided we would run by the range and get registered for the Fall Fandango and take the Northern route into the park and up the mountain. After riding for about 30 miles heading towards what I though was the northern route up the mountain, we stopped for gas. I asked the ladies behind the counter how to get to the peak. After blank looks all around a very nice lady asked if I had a map and would be glad to point us in the right direction. I showed her what I had planned she looked at my bike and asked if I was hauling a passenger, I said no, she went on to kindly explained to me that the route I had planned was a dirt road and may not be the best route for a geezer glide like mine (my words not hers) After as short discussion with Doc and Cactus it was decided I was not going to lead again for a while. Doc took over as leader, after quite a few wrong turns, done only to make me feel better he claims; we got on the correct road to get to Sandia Peak. The road was wonderful especially if you have ever been on the Dragoon in our area. We climbed over a mile in 14 miles, temperature dropped from 70 to 44 at the top. We were freezing when we arrived to say the least. Albuquerque is one mile high and we were at two miles at the top. Wind was blowing like a banshee as we say in the south. Did I say we were freezing when we got there? Dang it was cold but well worth the pain. We were overlooking all of Albuquerque and points west. It was a most amazing view. After putting on all the warm weather gear we had with us we headed back down. Again, nothing like the Dragoon, the road was wide, with shoulders, and lines on both sides of the road, easy cruse for us. On a side note, coming back the let me lead down the mountain since there was only one way in and out, no chance for me to get us lost. Doc said he would get us back to “such and such road”, (it was a Spanish name so I can’t reproduce it since I don’t speak Spanish) I looked at my notes I had made to get us home and dang it, it was the road we had started out on in the beginning. I think Cactus put it best, it was a 45 mile ride home and it was a 170 mile ride. You would think that would teach them to let me lead. We had an incredible dinner at the casino with Cash Proffitt and Ginger Ale, very late by that time and incredibly tired, thus no post last night, got to bed late.

Another post shortly.

Tombstone

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Re: Tombstones on the road again
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2017, 10:23:25 PM »
Second posting today.

We got up early to head to the range for the opening day of Fall Fandango, not a really big match, there were 38 shooters there today. We shot 6 stages, I will have to post some pictures of the targets and I will bring Jackalope the stages. We shot some the strangest but fun patterns. I am pretty sure we will see some of them in the future. The folks offered us our own category of Outlaw but we declined claiming we wanted to shoot with the Gunfighters, when we got there, there were three GF’s, Doc, Cactus, and me. Seems we had our own category. Anyway, we had a good time; shot like one eyed, one handed GF’s with plenty of misses a few P’s. I was a little disappointed with our showing as a whole but we did have our moments and stages. I will try to post a picture of some of the targets. It was old days to me, I had 11 misses on 6 stages. I have been there in the old days but Doc and Cactus weren’t shooting back then so they don’t know the feeling of that many misses and still feeling good about the match.

We headed back to the campground had another good dinner at the Casino, back to the camper early for an early start tomorrow.

As a side note, the way we are with guest at both of our clubs makes me so proud when I visit other clubs. I will say nothing negative about this group, they are fine, but I know how much we do to make visitors feel welcome. There was a dinner tonight at the range that none of us was really interested in going to because we did not feel the draw. We would never let that happen to our guest, I know because I am one of the ones that push for involvement for everyone. Always go out of your way to make a stranger feel like family, it helps our sport and might make a friend down the trail. We want visitors to want to come back to be with us. None of us feel that tonight.

Enough preaching, more tomorrow.

Tombstone

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Re: Tombstones on the road again
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2017, 11:53:42 PM »
We woke up this morning to 29 degrees…. but it was a dry cold. Dang it was cold. If there was any moisture in the air there would have been a heavy frost.We really did not bring the cold weather gear but we persevered and it warmed up pretty quickly. We actually got a little warm by the end.
 
It was a little better today at range for the last day and last 6 stages, they must have warmed up to us. Of course it helped that when we arrived I announced that the entertainment had arrived. I also passed out about a dozen hand warmers which seemed to be appreciated by all. Targets were still small and the patterns were hard to keep straight but again we preserved. On the second stage of the day they had a Texas star, a 6 bottle plate rack with 4 inch wide bottles on it, and two flyers. It was the stage from hell. Cactus and Doc both cleaned the star, I left one hanging. We told them that kind of stage was a hanging offence in Tennessee. We ended the day with more misses then any of us had in many years. Doc and Cactus had never had that many misses and P’s. We did not stay for the awards but headed into the Old Town for dinner. Got back to the camper and started packing up for the trip to Tombstone tomorrow.

I understand Whiskey Creek and crew will be arriving tomorrow also along with Cash Proffitt and Ginger Ale. We also will be meeting Hombre Sin Nombre in Tombstone and he is shooting the match. It is about a 7 hour drive down.  After the targets we just left Bordertown should seem like shooting sheets of steel.

Tomorrow will be the first day in Tombstone, I can’t wait. I love that town and the atmosphere that is everywhere. True history for our sport.

Anita Margarita

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Re: Tombstones on the road again
« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2017, 10:14:27 AM »
Sounds like on your trip back to the old West, you made a stop in "SASS circa 1999." 

AM

Fast Harley

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Re: Tombstones on the road again
« Reply #13 on: October 23, 2017, 10:38:04 AM »
Sounds like on your trip back to the old West, you made a stop in "SASS circa 1999." 

AM
;D

Fast Harley

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Re: Tombstones on the road again
« Reply #14 on: October 23, 2017, 10:38:37 AM »
Tombstone, AZ. is a very spiritual place.
F.H.