Flash Report! East Wenatchee, WA Apr 5-6, 2008

[Fred]

     After battling thru the snowdrifts (while it was snowing, too!) of the higher passes of the Cascades, Fred and golfer7080 arrived in the high desert valley of Wenatchee in some pretty nice weather (yep, it was drizzling in Seattle when we arrived, and drizzled all the way to the Cascades, where it turned to snow) - sunny, brisk, dry.

     With only 11 pre-regs, it was nice to have another 11 show up - and a fair percentage of prior Appleseeders among them.

     Sat was a sunny day, by noon the coats were coming off, and we rode them hard all day, right up to near 7 PM.

     golfer7080 waded right in to his first instructional experience on the Appleseed Trail, and doubt anyone picked up it was his "first time" ( .

     The shooters included five kids as young as twelve, and some of them were putting the adults to shame.

     The day itself was the usual deal of trying to get used to uncomfortable positions, beating the old noggin into remembering the Six Steps - and all the other stuff we poured on them - and trying to get it to all come together - which, according to the targets, was, for most of the 'em, happening on Saturday. In fact, we had our first Rifleman score of 217, and the presentation of a "rifleman" badge.

     Today, the blasted weatherman is calling for rain and snow, so we'll see if people out here are as tough as the two RWVA instructors from Texas and North Carolina who will be out there, in it. Teaching marksmanship.

[Fred]

    Sunday was supposed to be showers until noon, but it turned out to be a nice sunny day - all day!

    Great! As no one wants to get wet.

    And all 22 Appleseeders showed up for Day 2! No slackers in this crowd!

    After the Redcoat startoff, and a ball-and-dummy drill, we started the AQT grind, "hammering out riflemen on the anvil of the AQT."

    The bad news: we made no new riflemen. The good news: we saw tremendous improvements in marksmanship skill.

    Even as Fred took the top six shooters down to the 100-300 range for a session on the full-distance AQT, golfer7080 threw AQT after AQT up on the target backers as the shooters engaged in a frenzy of AQT-shooting, including a run to the firing line for a little RF AQT-ing.

    When they showed up Sat, we had 8 who fired total zip on the redcoat target. By Sunday PM, there was only one (and he was a good shooter who simply flaked out on the last redcoat of the shoot).

     We went from 0 shooters who scored three hits on the "400" [yard] redcoat target to 3 by Sat evening, but couldn't better that figure on Sunday.   Even as the number of "300-yard" shooters increased from 2 to 6.

      Most everyone by the end was turning in 170s, 180s, and 190s on the AQT.

     Fred gave the 'end of the day' talk on Sat evening, asking for the Appleseeders to think seriously about committing to the program.

     As usual, most people (the instructors not least) were sorry when Sunday PM came, and it was time to shut down and go home. In fact, we promised them Sat we would finish about 4-5 PM on Sunday, but in actually ran to about 6 PM.

     Now, your intrepid instructors will have to get up in the middle of the night and fight their way over the Cascade passes (rumor today was that it was snowing in the passes and that conditions might be such that "traction tires only" conditions would exist).

    However, the locals assure us we should have no trouble, and can reach SeTac in time to catch our planes to Texas and NC.

[Fred]

    Just to enable you to be able to breathe again, here is posted the exciting news you have been waiting for, with bated breath!

    Fred and golfer7080 made it thru the snow (yes, it was snowing as I-90 reached max elevation in the Cascades, just like it was on Friday when we arrived) to Sea Tac in time to get outta Seattle.

    And it was close: I-90 Cascade pass was shut down for hours on Sunday, with a ten-mile traffic backup, because of a massive snowslide - they must've just cleaned it up in time for us to go thru.

    BTW, it was gorgeous! Looked like a Christmas card - the snowy mountains, the fir trees, looking like Christmas trees - all framed in the falling snow - but if you lived near the pass, I bet by April you are sick of it.

[Josh]

Thanks Fred and Golfer7080 for a great Appleseed!  It was the most enjoyable weekend I have spent in a long, long time.

Your stories and talks were inspiring.  It was cool to see so many kids there -  I can't wait until my 2 boys get old enough to attend an Appleseed.

My shooting improved a lot, as did that of the 2 friends I brought with me (one of whom made rifleman).  We had a great time camping at the range - good weather and beautiful scenery (and the camping was free!).  I really enjoyed the range and hope to shoot there again.  The folks who run that range were very friendly and welcoming.

We exchanged info with the other guys from Western WA and we will try like heck to find a range and get an Appleseed going here in Western WA.

See you in Yakima.

-Josh

[Wheeler44]

Glad to hear that you were able to get across the pass and catch your flight.  We spent about an hour Sun. afternoon stuck there, oh well.

Thanks for doing this "the Appleseed Project" my son and I learned a lot about shooting.  My wife and daughter appreciated the lunch time history lessons, so much so that my daughter will be attending an Appleseed soon.

I am working hard trying to line up people and a place to shoot.  I am amazed at the shooters that I know that can't see the value in the program, but after reading some helpful suggestions on this site I will redouble my efforts, after all "A rifleman is persistent" is a phrase I heard somewhere.

Thanks again Fred and Golfer

Wheeler44
working hard in SW Washington