Saturday 14th July

Today was going to be good because it was SHOOTING day!
Woke up to a brilliant morning and had biscuits and gravy for breakfast.


At about 10.00 we assembled to ride out with John, to a farm about ten miles away where a small range had been set up.


John had bought various guns, for people to try, and bags of ammo to buy at cost - $9.00 for .38, $7.50 for 9mm, etc,. Others had taken their own guns and ammo, so there was a wide range of equipment, from all sorts of handguns from .22 to a Magnum 500, to a selection of semi-automatic and one automatic rifle and even a Barrett M82A1 50 calibre rifle, accurate at over 2 miles (in the right hands, of course)!

Kevin was quite good from the start, but I was shit - not helped by not having my glasses - and when I tried a little 38, Glock> Ruger?, with a laser and still did shit, 

I was ready to give up. However, it turned out that the laser sight was over a foot out at the distance we were using, so John gave me two clips of ammo to replace the bullets I'd wasted, which was more than fair of him. Using a 38 Glock this time, my grouping was much better, with a few in the bull. I was quite proud of my target and was going to take it home. 


People were now starting to try the 50 calibre sniper rifle. I didn't really want to have a go, as it was such an expensive piece of kit, I just wanted a shell case. The guy who owned, though, wouldn't let me have one without first trying the gun. So I fired off a clip, and really enjoyed it. The noise was shocking, but great. I was very happy with that target, too, so put it in a bag, on my bike, with the other one.

Kev with Barrett

Rich with Barrett

Me with Barrett

We then rode up to the Rusty Rooster, where a ride out to Louisville was leaving at about quarter past one. This was to enable people to visit the cemetery where John and Tasey's sons are buried, after they both died when they were involved in an awful traffic accident. It is only possible to imagine the devastation that they felt at the loss of their sons. 


We stopped at the Good Times Bar in Louisville, where there is a similar cold counter-top to the one in Yutan.

After an hour, or so, when people had had the opportunity to visit the cemetery, we set off back to the Island, for  another night's nonsense. Kelly Devault was performing again, with a couple of local lads performing beforehand. Although it was a generally quieter night than Thursday or Friday, it was the night when everyone took their drinks to share with everyone. I took a bottle of Calvados and a bottle of Kenyan rum, Kev took some spiced whisky which tasted like cough mixture and Clive took round a bottle of Cockburns. When we first got back on site, we saw Dave (Bent Valve) from Melrose, Iowa. He'd lost his glasses, so felt that he needed to head for his sister's rather than staying at the Island. Shell also turned up, this evening, and it was lovely to see her. She'd bought a local dealer tee shirt each for Rich, Kev and me, which was really kind of her. Thank you very, very much, Shell.

We had a nice sociable night, but went to bed a bit earlier as everything had wound down a notch, as many had to travel home, or towards home, in the morning. Happy days!