Gun Blogger Rendezvous Report - Part 1

KeeWee and I arrived in Reno on Wednesday, the day before the Rendezvous. The shuttle ride from Whidbey Island to Seattle, the Horizon flight to Reno, and the shuttle ride to the Silver Legacy were all uneventful, in other words, just as I like it. We checked in at the hotel, and dropped our bags in the room. We stopped by the hotel offices and checked in with our account representatives to make sure everything was in order for the Gun Bloggers for the next four days. The tables, chairs, and layout were just as we had requested.

KeeWee had to try out the huge ornate chair in the lobby of the Silver Legacy.

After making sure we were all set for the Rendezvous, we headed back to the room to relax a bit before heading out to dinner. The view from the 28th. floor was spectacular.

Looking in the general direction of Virginia City.

28 floors up means it's a L-O-N-G ways down!

We arranged to meet for dinner in the El Dorado buffet with Monty from the Western Nevada Pistol League club to sort out the final details and logistics for Saturday’s Steel Challenge shooting. Monty had recommended the El Dorado’s buffet as being exceptionally good, and it was as he had described, good food, lots of variety, and lots of choices for deserts. I think I gained ten pounds in one meal!

After dinner we stopped by the hospitality room to see if any gun bloggers had shown up yet, and a few were starting to arrive. We visited a bit, then it was off to bed early, as Thursday the Rendezvous started up in earnest.

Thursday morning we had breakfast in the Americana Café in Circus Circus. After breakfast we wandered around a bit to get our bearings. By now more of the gang were starting to arrive. At 2PM. We stopped by the Hospitality Room to get car-pooled up for our field trip to Scheel’s, the largest “All Sports” store in the world. Is it? Don’t know, but at approximately 300,000 square feet, it truly is huge. We had arranged for an employee of Scheel’s to show us around and tell us a bit about the store. If you are in Reno, it’s definitely worth a look, and be sure to try some of their fudge. There must have been thirty or forty different flavors, and they’d give you samples to taste for free! Scheel’s also has quite a large gun department, and most of us spent some time there eye-balling their inventory.

After browsing through Scheel’s, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner. On the way back from Scheel’s Phil and David, the editorial staff from Random Nuclear Strikes, stopped and picked up soft drinks, mixers, and munchies for the Hospitality Room. By now even more of the gang had arrived, and we all headed back to the El Dorado Buffet for dinner. After another big dinner, we staggered back to the Hospitality Room for an evening of enlightened conversation, a spirited and enlightened discussion, OK, a BS session that went well into the night.

Not too late for me, however, as tomorrow was the first range day. Don’t want to be too groggy for that!

— To Be Continued —

GBR-IV Raises $8243.80 For Valour-IT

The Gun Blogger Rendezvous is over, and everyone has returned home safely. The work to finish it all up, however, still remains.

Yesterday Jenny at Barrett Escrow, an angel in her own right, and I sat down and went over all of the receipts and finances for the Rendezvous. As you know, Barrett Escrow has received all of the registration and donation money for the Rendezvous, maintaining a good paper trail of the receipts. Jenny, and the rest of the folks at Barrett Escrow have done this at no charge as a donation to Soldier's Angels and Project Valour-IT. It's a lot of work, but they did a fantastic job. (They also don't mind when I eat the candy in the big basket on their counter.....)

Anyhow, after sorting it all out, and adding in all money received from

• On line raffle ticket sales
• GBR-IV Registrations
• Donations
• Raffle Tickets sold at GBR-IV

We cleared a grand total of

$8243.80

and we had a ball doing so!

I should also mention that National Shooting Sports Foundation (AKA NSSF) at the last minute donated an additional $1,000 to Project Valour-IT. This is in addition to their buying us pizza on Saturday night! If you would like to thank them for their generosity, an email to

info@nssf.org

should do the job!

For all of you who attended the Rendezvous, it was great so see you all, and if you weren't able to make it this year, it's never too soon to start planning for next year.

I'm still wiped out, but a few more naps and I should be back up to speed.

Finally got back from Reno.....

Our plans to return from Reno and the Gun Blogger rendezvous didn't go exactly as planned, but it worked out anyway. We had reservations (but chose to fly anyway?) on Horizon Air from Reno to Seattle, then catch the Whidbey/SeaTac shuttle bus back to Whidbey Island. We were scheduled to leave Reno around 5:45pm and arrive in Seattle a couple of hours later. I checked the monitor at the airport before we went through security and our flight showed as on time.

Once we got through security (it seems that TSA has trouble differentiating between fudge from Scheel's and C4) I checked the a monitor and our flight was delayed 3 hours. That would get us to Seattle too late to catch the last shuttle of the day, and we'd have to spend the night at the airport, then catch the shuttle home in the morning. The guy from Horizon was great when I explained the problem, and he gave us vouchers for a night's stay at the Holiday Inn in Sparks (nearby) and also vouchers for our dinner and breakfast. He also gave me 4,000 frequent flier miles.

We grabbed the Holiday Inn shuttle and headed for the Holiday Inn. I was a bit apprehensive, fearing that the airline was putting us up in whatever was their cheapest option, but boy was I wrong. The Holiday Inn in Sparks was beautiful, nice people, great room, and a decent restaurant. Not having a gambling casino was nice, too ,as we were more interested in a quiet place to stay after the previous week's excitement in downtown Reno.

We took the free shuttle over to visit the Nugget casino to have a look, and I even managed to win about fifteen bucks! We only stayed at the Nugget for a short time, though, as we were both dead tired and needed to get some sleep.

We shuttled back to the Holiday Inn, got some sleep, and resumed our travel plans the next day.

This time, everything went as planned, and we arrived home weary, but glad to be home. The Rendezvous had been by far the best yet. We are already looking forward to next year!!

GBR Report - One

So far everything has gone smoothly here at the Rendezvous, although Mr. Murphy is surely not far away at all times. A lot of the attendees were arriving Thursday night late, so last night's hospitality room only some of the folks in attendance. Tonight just about everyone should be here, although some folks are arriving late Friday night.

Some of the gang after dinner at Thursday night's hospitality room.

Yesterday we went as a group over to Sheel's Sports store, which they advertise as the world's largest all sports store. At 300,000 square feet, it was really impressive.

KeeWee and I are off to breakfast with the gang, then we' head out to the range for some target shooting. Today is the long distance shooter's day, with targets out to 700 yards or so.

More later......

Good Morning, Reno!

It just so happens that this weekend is not only the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, but also the Reno Balloon Races. When we opened the curtains this morning we could see a few balloons starting to inflate in the park a short distance away. In minutes the sky way full of balloons, and more are rising by the minute.


As I sit here the balloons are increasing in number and in closeness. It's quite spectacular!

We've Arrived In Reno @ GBR-IV

The view from the hotel window.

Starting your morning at 4am. is bordering on criminal abuse, but at least we've arrived in Reno without mishap. I brought a full sized keyboard to use on the netbook, and it really makes typing a lot easier. I'm sitting at a table in our room for the next four days in the Silver Legacy. We're on the 28th. floor, and the view is quite nice through the rather large picture window.

That's it for now, so I think I might just take a nap.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............

On the Way to GBR-IV

It's four twenty (expletive) eight in the middle of the night, and I'm not even close to conscious. Yesterday was a long day trying to get work caught up and all the last minute details taken care of for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous that starts tomorrow in Reno. I'm sure I've forgotten something, but I'll just have to sort it out when I get to Reno later today.

Safe trip to all of you traveling to the Rendezvous, and we'll see you in Reno!

GBR-IV Driving Directions to Pyramid Range

Driving Directions from Hotel to Washoe County Regional Shooting Facility – Pyramid Range Friday for long Range Rifle and Pistol, Saturday for Steel Challenge Pistol shooting.

• Start at (Silver Legacy) 407 N VIRGINIA ST, RENO going toward E 5TH ST - go 0.3 mi
• 0.3 Turn RIGHT (East) onto E Maple St 131 yds
• 0.4 Take Ramp onto I-80 1.1 mi I-80
• 1.5 At exit 15, turn RIGHT onto Ramp 0.2 mi US-395 / Susanville / Carson City
• 1.7 Take Ramp (LEFT) onto US-395 1.3 mi US-395 / Susanville
• 3.1 At exit 70, keep RIGHT onto Ramp 153 yds N. McCarran Blvd / Clear Acre Lane
• 3.2 Keep RIGHT to stay on Ramp 0.1 mi North McCarran Boulevard
• 3.3 Keep RIGHT to stay on Ramp 87 yds N McCarran Blvd / Sparks
• 3.3 Bear RIGHT (East) onto N McCarran Blvd 1.8 mi
• 5.1 Turn LEFT (North) onto SR-445 [Pyramid Way] 0.3 mi
• 5.5 Bear RIGHT (North-East) onto SR-445 [Pyramid Lake Hwy] 11.5 mi
• 17.0 Keep STRAIGHT onto SR-445 [Pyramid Lake Rd] 9.8 mi
• 26.8 Turn LEFT (West) onto Local road(s) 0.7 mi
• 27.5 Turn RIGHT (North-East) onto Local road(s) 43 yds
• 27.6 Arrive Range

SUMMARY

Driving distance: 27.6 miles Trip duration: 31 minutes Driving time: 31 minutes

GBR-IV On Line Raffle Ticket Sales Ends Saturday Night

The Gun Blogger is now only days away, and the on line raffle ticket sales are about to end. In fact, tomorrow night (9/5/09) the on line sales will be shut down for the year.

Go get your raffle tickets and maybe YOU will be the lucky winner of the Para GI 1911 or the 4 Days of Training at Front Sight Academy. Here's the link:

Gun Blogger Rendezvous / Project Valour-IT Raffle Tickets

Remember, if you can't legally own the Para GI 1911, either because of the state you live in, or other reasons, and your name is drawn to win the Para, your entry will be disqualified. If your ticket is drawn for the Front Sight Training, however, you will get to enjoy four days of excellent training in Las Vegas. You DO have to get to Front sight on your own, but for a course like that, I think you'll be able to figure out something!

We all owe a big thanks to Brian and the gang at Lucky Gunner Ammo for hosting our ticket sales and processing the bankcard transactions for us.

GBR-IV - A Few More FAQ's

How about transportation? To the ranges, from and to the hotel, etc?
From and to the hotel there is a free Silver Legacy shuttle bus and it's perhaps a ten minute ride.
As to getting back and forth to the other GBR activities, in the past we have always had enough extra seats in various vehicles so everyone had a ride. Getting back and forth, however, is your responsibility. Ask around the night before at the hospitality room and make sure you've got a seat. In the worst case, three or four of you may need to pick up a rental car and split the cost. There is a car rental office a few blocks from the hotel, or you can arrange a car rental on line for airport pickup if you are flying in.

How about lunch when we're at the ranges?
There's no food available at the range on either Friday or Saturday, but most likely there will be food booths at the Virginia City Camel Races Festival & Cowboy Fast Draw on Sunday. We usually eat big breakfasts Friday and Saturday morning, and haven't really been very hungry! Something to munch on might be a good idea, though.....

Driving Thru SoCal With Guns? Read This.....

If you are driving up or down the Coast to get to Reno and the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, David at Random Nuclear Strikes has some good advice regarding routes and some areas to avoid due to local firearms laws. Be sure to check the comments too, as there's a lot more good advice there.

PARA Donates Gun Rights .45 To GBR-IV

With the current political climate, just about all of the gun manufacturers are building everything they can as fast as they can just trying to cover back-orders. Considering that, it's even more of a credit to Kerby Smith and PARA-USA that they were not only able to come up with a to donate to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, they were able to come up with a spectacularly nice example of their products, a "Gun Rights" high capacity .45, single action and in stainless to boot!

• Rounds: 14+1
• Barrel: 5"
• Weight: 40 oz.
• Length: 8.5"
• Height: 5.75"
• Hammer: Spurred
• Sights: Fiber-Optic Front/2-Dot Rear
• Receiver: Stainless
• Finish: Stainless
• Magazine: PNM45
• MSRP: $1,149.00

Someone attending the Gun Blogger Rendezvous is going to be the proud owner of this beauty, and if you are going to be there it could be you. Of course, you DO have to buy a raffle ticket, or perhaps a handful of them, but considering the money raised goes to Project Valour-IT, it's a double-win!

See you in Reno!!

Molly Smith - Shooter & Blogger

While KeeWee and I were down in California for the World Championships, one of the people we met was Molly Smith. It turns out that Molly is not only a very fine pistol shooter, she is also a Gun Blogger. I was on the same squad as she was in Rimfire in California, and I can attest to the fact that she can shoot well!

Molly Smith shooting in the Rimfire Steel Challenge World Championships
Photo by Yamil Sued

Everyone else walks around the hay bales. Not Molly.....
Photo by Yamil Sued

Her blog is The Molly Minute, and it is well worth reading. Her second post ever, on shooting "In The Zone", is definitely worth reading if you participate in any sort of competition, not just shooting. (Look in the January Archive to find it). Drop by and leave her a comment and let you know you enjoy her writing.

After we got home from California I got an email from Molly inquiring about the Gun Blogger Rendezvous as she not only loves to shoot, she'd like to meet some gun bloggers and learn more about blogging. It turns out that Molly, her Parents, and her brother Steven will all be attending this year's Rendezvous!

Welcome to the Mr. Completely blogroll, and we'll see you and your family in Reno.......

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Questions

Some frequently asked questions
about the Gun Blogger Rendezvous

Do I have to stay in the Silver Legacy Hotel, or can I stay somewhere else?
The Silver Legacy provides the Hospitality Room at no charge to the Rendezvous and gives us a discounted group rate on rooms, but it is based on having enough people staying in their hotel. It has happened in the past where not enough rooms were filled by our group in the hotel and it ended up costing us some money. I paid it out of my own pocket, but I really prefer not to have to do it again! This year it looks like we are OK, but I haven't seen the final numbers yet.

All Rendezvous financial considerations aside, to get the best enjoyment out of the Rendezvous, you really should be staying at the Silver Legacy. Folks who have stayed elsewhere usually miss out on a lot of the fun. The BS sessions go well into the night, and it's nice to be able to walk to your room. We usually eat most of our meals together at the various restaurants in the complex (there are 23!) and one of the highlights of the Rendezvous is getting to spend as much time with each other as possible. It really is a lot like a giant extended family reunion!

Do I have to Register for the Rendezvous and pay the $30 Registration fee, or can I just drop in?
If you want to stop by, you are most welcome. However, as a visitor rather than a registered attendee, you do not get any of the cool swag or door prizes. Every previous year attendees have gotten cool stuff worth far more than the $30 just in door prizes. By registering you also get to attend the All You Can Eat Pizza Feed on Saturday night put on by The National Shooting Sports Foundation. Steel Challenge shooting on Saturday, and the Cowboy Fast Draw Shooting on Sunday also require Rendezvous Registration.

Since just about all of the $30 registration money goes to Project Valour-IT anyway, there's no reason not to register.

Can I register at the door?
Yes, you can, but since the number of door prizes is based on how many we know in advance are attending, you may miss out on some of the door prizes if we run out. You will definitely get some swag, though! If you are planning to register at the door, PLEASE email me ASAP, so we know you are going to be there.

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments.

See you in Reno!!

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Schedule

Tentative Schedule For
The 4th Annual
Gun Blogger Rendezvous

Thursday, September 10th

2:30 pm. Leave the Hospitality Room to car pool to Scheel’s Sports Store in nearby Sparks.

3:00 pm – 5:00 pm. Guided tour at Scheel’s Sports and browsing/shopping. Pick up munchies and soft drinks on way back to hotel.

6:00pm. Leave the Hospitality Room to go to dinner. Location to be determined later.

Thursday Evening until midnight: Refreshments and conversation at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. Bring your own refreshments and munchies.

Friday, September 10th.

8:00am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room, then downstairs to one of the restaurants for breakfast.

8:45am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room to car pool up and head out to the Washoe County Shooting Facility, the Pyramid range for rifle and pistol target shooting out to 900 yards.

9:30am – 2:00pm. At the range.

3:00 pm. – 5:45pm. Show-N-Tell at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room.

6:00pm. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room to go to the ground floor to Gecko’s BBQ Restaurant for dinner.

Friday Evening until midnight: Refreshments and conversation at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. Bring your own refreshments and munchies.

Saturday, September 11th.

8:00am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room, then downstairs to one of the restaurants for breakfast.

8:45am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room to car pool up and head out to the Washoe County Shooting Facility, the Pyramid range for an introduction to Steel Challenge Action Pistol shooting.

9:30am – 2:00pm. At the range.

4:30 – 5:15pm. Rachel Parsons of the NRA

5:15 – 6pm. Bill Brassard of the National Shooting Sports Foundation

6:00 pm. NSSF all you can eat pizza feed at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. After dinner will be the fund raiser raffle for Project Valour-IT and the drawings for the door prizes.

Saturday Evening until Midnight: Refreshments and conversation at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. Bring your own refreshments and munchies. .

Sunday, September 12th.

7:30am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room, then head downstairs to one of the restaurants for breakfast.

8:15am. Leave for the Virginia City Camel Races Festival and Cowboy Fast Draw Blogger Match.

9:00am – 10:00am. Cowboy Fast Draw Shooting.

The Cowboy Fast Draw shooting is the last scheduled event for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, but many attendees will be staying Sunday night and returning home on Monday. The Camel Races Festival, The Reno Car Museum, the Downtown River Walk, the new Reno Museum, and a number of other things should be considered for the rest of the day on Sunday.

Note that many of the times shown are departure times. Plan on being there a little earlier than the departure time.

Steel Challenge Shooting Association to Sponsor GBR-IV

While I was down in California for the Steel Challenge World championships, I got a chance to talk a bit with Dave Thomas, the head of USPSA and Steel Challenge Shooting Association. Dave decided that since the Gun Blogger Rendezvous raises money for Project Valour-IT, a very worthy charity helping our injured Vets, and since we were going to be featuring Steel Challenge shooting at the Rendezvous, that the Steel Challenge Shooting Association would like to help out a bit by donating some door prize and/or raffle items to the Rendezvous.

A big Thanks is in order to Dave Thomas, USPSA, and Steel Challenge for helping us out!

Cowboy Fast Draw at GBR-IV

I've got some more great news about the upcoming Gun Blogger rendezvous. On Sunday morning at the Rendezvous we have been planning for some Cowboy Fast Draw fun under the watchful eye of Quick Cal Eilrich, the head of the Cowboy Fast Draw Association and multiple Cowboy Fast Draw National and World Champion.

We were going to do it out at Cal's place, but those plans have changed. We are now going to be having our mini fast draw match at Virginia City as part of the Virginia City Camel Races Festival. Yes, Cal will be there showing us how, and we'll all get to "Shoot it out" Sunday morning in Virginia city. The rest of the day we can check out the festival and watch the camel races.

Sunday is going to be a lot of fun!

GBR-IV Raffle Tickets Now Online

In spite of efforts to shut down our Fund Raising Raffle for Project Valour-IT , raffle tickets are now available. Thanks to the hard work of a number of people, and particularly to Brian of Lucky Gunner Ammo, Lucky Gunner is now providing us a shopping cart and ticket buying process on their website. Brian put in some long hours after his regular work day to make this all happen. What are they getting out of this? Nothing! Every penny, less the 3% processing fee by the credit card processor, goes directly to Project Valour-IT.

Go get your raffle tickets and maybe YOU will be the lucky winner of the Para GI 1911 or the 4 Days of Training at Front Sight Academy. Here's the link:

Gun Blogger Rendezvous / Project Valour-IT Raffle Tickets

Of course, while you're there you might browse through the ammo they have in stock and see if there's a good deal on whatever you might be getting low on.

Gunnies REALLY ARE the nicest people.

Raffle Ticket Sales Update

It's looking like Friday we will be able to announce the Gun Blogger Rendezvous on line raffle ticket sales as up and running. We are awaiting the final approval from the credit card processor, just to be sure we don't end up getting shut down again, like Paypal (sucks!) did to us. I'll announce it here as soon as it's underway......

Ticket Sales Back Online Tomorrow (I hope!)

It looks like we've managed to come up with a way to get the raffle ticket sales for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous/Project Valour-IT effort back on line, and it should be up and running tomorrow morning. Check back tomorrow for the full info and the link to take you to the raffle ticket sale page.

In the mean time, why not go have a look at Lucky Gunner Ammo and see if they have some of that ammo you've been looking for?. Why am I mentioning Lucky Gunner Ammo in a post about the Rendezvous raffle? Well, it looks like a lot of the credit for getting the raffle's on line ticket sales going again will be earned by the Lucky Gunner folks! Thanks, Guys!