The inaugural Indoor Amarillo Appleseed was successfully completed this weekend. An unexpectedly severe late season snowstorm with high winds and very low visibilities on Friday closed all the east, north and west roads into Amarillo and put the whole event in question. The snow quit early Saturday morning and after 'skating' out to the Club on plowed but very icy roads (20 mph max, and a couple of "wheee, let's do that again Daddy!" type maneuvers on the thankfully-empty roads) I was able to dig out the drift at the main gate to the Club and then dig through a 3' drift to the Indoor Range front door. Once inside: priceless. Four really nice overhead gas furnaces warmed up the interior with gentle warm breezes, got fresh coffee started in the kitchenette, and called the pre-registered shooters to let them know we were on for the Appleseed if they could get there. One could not: he lives in a town 60 miles west of Amarillo and not only was the Interstate closed, but he couldn't get past the 4' drifts in his driveway. Bummer; but we shifted his pre-reg to the April 18-19th so he'll be with us eventually.
Kudos to John, Tiffany, and Tyler for sucking it up and making it out to the Club. It worked well for them; their efforts generated one Rifleman (Tyler) and got John and Tiffany hitting the dreaded 200-205 barrier by late Sunday afternoon. (So close, so close, if only . . . . ). I expect them both to be coming to the Tuesday night mini-seeds held at the Club until the April 18 shoot. They'll make by then I'm sure. (Dry-fire, Dry-fire, Dry-fire O0)
I'd hoped to take some pictures of the event. A couple of shots of the well-lit interior, the shooters in the new Club loaner shooting jackets, on the new shooting mats, displaying excellent prone positions, would have done wonders for future recruiting. The pristine, well-spaced portable wooden target frames with the bright (sequential) numbers would have made Fred happy too. Unfortunately all I got were a couple of shots of the snow drifts at the main gate and the door to the building before the the batteries in my camera expired. I'd show them, but I think "Dad", who lives in south-central Kansas and was supposed to be Shoot Boss for this event, has even better pictures of snowdrifts. The ones which kept him trapped in his house (it snowed, with 50 mph winds, there from Friday morning through late Saturday evening) are supposed to be very impressive. About the only thing that went wrong with the shoot, other than the severe lack of shooters, was the PA system crapped out and the line had to be called the old-fashioned way. Improvise, adapt, and overcome . . ::)
Way to Go, ashrn O0 <:)
Sounds like a really cool time up there. We read about snow once a long time ago here in Corpus Christi.
Next chance you get grab a few shots of the indoor range and post'em. And, maybe a shot or two of the KD.
Are your future events going to be indoor for the 25m portion?
Again, Congrats. O0
POP
Good job on getting that snow handled ashrn03! And congrats Tyler on Rifleman status!
Kinda makes our Dec. Alamogordo shoot feel tropical by comparison. ;D
Kudus to all you guys who braved the blizzard! O0
Heck yeah.
ashrn03 will get the job done. O0
I betcha he would hold the shoot for even ONE shooter, and that is persistance A standard for ALL of us to meet.
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Congratualtions Tyler.
Sam