Myakka City, FL. (Manatee Gun & Archery Club) Jan 10, 2009

[PHenry]

One pre-reg and the event is two weeks away??!! Aaaaaghhhhhh!

Well, thanks to much effort on the part of many - we ended up with 11 Patriots on the line Saturday morning!

We had Florida's fantastic new State Coordinator - ItsanSKS and a handsome young couple that attended the last Hernando event - Tim and Jill, who are signed up to attend the IBC in Hernando later this month, along with ItsanSKS, and are also Florida's "go-to" couple for gun show promo and getting the word out in general.

Some new faces and some familiar faces as well. There was John with his M1A scout and a nice couple that I have been working on bringing in for some time - Jeff and Nancy. ItsanSKS's dad Chuck was there with his new SKS. Gene took a pounding with his Garand on Saturday and continued same with his M1A on Sunday, pulling some of the smallest 30 cal groups I have seen. We had a young fellow named Chris that was down from Indiana on vacation and stayed a couple extra days to borrow his dad's AR for the event. David also did a fine job and Stephen worked hard on Saturday. Jesse was shooting very well with Thor's LTR, but had to leave early for a previous commitment - ouch!

We had four that came close to getting a patch, but only ItsanSKS pulled it off in the end. Congrats to him on his much deserved Rifleman status. Tim came very close and Jill did very well, but was much hampered by a wrist brace she was forced to wear from a work-related injury (talk about persisting!)

I was a bit under the weather and so my crew of IITs did most of the work - a fine job of it I might add. I apologize to all for my lack of energy and focus. I will be back to my usual hyper-active self in no time.

Despite the low turn out, we still had a good event and I know I speak for all of my fellow instructors when I say that it were a pleasure and an honor to work with each and every one of the good people that made the time to attend. I hope that we made it worth your time and effort.

The weather, well, it couldn't have been better - the Sunshine State at its finest for sure. Cool, dry and clear - other than some very thick fog early Sunday morning. This is a great time to be in Florida and a great time to attend an event here.

From Redcoats on Saturday morning through Ball and Dummy on Sunday - not a discouraging word was to be heard (beyond my own whining anyway  ).

At the end of the weekend, all of us left better for our time together and I look forward to seeing each of you on the trail again soon.

Please remember what I said about the 7th step - it's the most important one. Go forth and gather your family, friends and co-workers to our cause - The Heritage of the Founding Generation. So long as we embrace their ideals and traditions, we shall forever remain free!

PHenry