Blogorado version 3.0: getting there is half the fun

Blogorado III was filled with the usual good shooting, good conversation and good food, and a few things were different this time, too.

Wednesday night, Matt G and the lovely Tam (much jubilant inner squeeing on my account) arrived and spent the night at my house so we could caravan out early on Thursday. Thursday morning, Ambulance Driver arrived in time for coffee and I got my crap together and we hit the road, stopping at a fabulous junk store in Quanah (where Himself gallantly secured for me my blue goat) to comb treasures of times past. It was like the Smithsonian of junk, srsly. Ambulance Driver tastefully exercised the time-saving measure of killing a deer with his car a couple days before the trip, so that was already out of the way this time.

We sallied forth and got to Amarillo where we joined OldNFO and aepilotjim for lunch at a steakhouse, of course, despite my whining to go to Kabuki Bonanza (don't ask). Our caravan having grown to 4 vehicles, we pressed on through the Panhandle where we were sandblasted at a gas station stop. The weeind! The Weeind!** The remainder of the drive was uneventful, but punctuated with the occasional road work delays. Passengers switched occasionally, and I enjoyed a pleasant chat for the last leg of the drive with OldNFO, who is a dear gentleman and always a charming conversationalist.

We arrived late afternoon to Sooper Seekrit location where we were warmly greeted by Farmmom, FarmDad and MeMaw. My wicked cohort Holly and her dearly beloved JPG hit town a little ahead of us. Later, Sci-Fi and his Mrs. and Christina arrived. Then came Salamander replete with knee-beards, FarmGirl, Spear, Atomic Nerds and Evyl Robot and Jennifer with chirrins in tow.

To name one singularity of this Blogorado, Lord Humungus of Mad Max fame was scheduled to make an appearance as channeled by Stingray. Stingray's comely wife, LabRat, mentioned to me she was considering a show of solidarity in the costume department, and more of us thought it would be fun to dude up for a photo with the BattleBot. In the months leading to the event, texts, phonecalls and emails were exchanged with breathless queries of "what are you gonna wear?" and "I dunno, what are you gonna wear?" We generally settled on a non-theme theme of post-apocalyptic to steampunk. Generally, though, there was no unifying theme to the cozzies, save the mental unwellness of those sporting same. We had a red-shirt, a pirate vixen and a host of other costume delightments to please and befuddle the onlookers who abstained from making a spectacle of themselves but made free to laugh at those of us decked out in our ridiculous finery. I made a chemise and of course had my fabulous new boots for that, but the corset I ordered came in the day before we left for Colorado and I thought I wasn't going to have an outfit to join in the madness. On Friday, the adorable Mrs. Sci-Fi helped me to fashion a duct-tape Brunnhilde get-up with the assistance of the ever-fetching Christina. The resulting duct tape piece was even better than what I'd envisioned for the other outfit, so all's well that ends well.

To much ceremony, AmbulanceDriver presented MattG with a kilt on Friday night and that was a lot of fun to see. Matt bore up manfully and went into the house and changed into his kilt, which looked right fetching with his pith helmet and size 18 feet. Wow. Saturday was windy on the range and I'll bet it got a bit ooshy for him, but he never complained.

As mentioned previously, my birthday was Saturday and the crowd presented me with a gorgeous pair of lacy spike-heeled booties which I can't wait to wear. Thanks again to all you sexy people for the shoes. I love them!

The shooting was a hoot, but all the other elements of the event are superlative to the degree that the shooting is almost an afterthought. I love my new Judge revolving rifle. I wanted to shoot some clays with same, but there were too many things to fit into the precious time at the range. I shot a lot of .45 through it, and it's a scream. I am glad to have the rifle version, rather than the handgun, because it's easier to aim. I didn't shoot the .50 cal, or the Tactical Schmoo™, but I did look on as they were being put through their paces and I was satisfied just to watch.

Farmmom's cooking is absolutely gorgeous. Her gravy is amazing, her fried chicken is amazing, her chicken-fried steak is toe-curlingly good-- not enough can be said of the glory that issues forth from her kitchen. Thanks, Farmmom!

I'm sorry if this sounds like bragging, because it probably really is. We are a disparate lot of people in every sense, but we are a big family and I know we've all gotten into the habit of looking forward to the next gathering. During the event I got text messages from absentees Carrie, Gay_Cynic and TD and we all hope they'll be able to come again next year, along with all the other folks who could not join us this time.

*diphthong pronunciation of wind