Big Bells in the Belfry and a Sucky Shooting Day

Thursday, 11/3, we headed to the range to shoot the classifier stages. Although we’re already classified in ICORE, the revolver shooting organization that is sponsoring the match, we wanted some trigger time before the big match. Both Rog and I are “B” shooters (Classifications are: Grand Master, Master, A, B, C, D), The qualifier match was just four stages, but there were a lot of folks there so it took us a couple hours. We did as well as could be expected considering we’ve only shot once in the past four months and we got a little preview of shooting in the hot, Florida sun. The good news is the range is very nice, with a covered area at each bay for a little shade.

We also got to reconnect with an old friend, Shannon Smith, who used to shoot with us at home. Smitty left the PNW for sunnier climes and it’s been 16 years since we’ve seen him. He is a nationally ranked shooter and part owner of the range, Universal Shooting Academy, where our competition is being held. Nice to say we knew him way back when. Lol.

This classifier requires you to shoot weak handed. Looks easy, but it aint!

Maddy, our squad's ICORE fashionista. Lol. 

Friday, we had another “free” day so we decided to visit the Bok Tower and Gardens. In 1929, Edward Bok gifted a 50-acre garden designed by Frederick Olmsted to the public. The property includes a 205-foot tall Neo-Gothic Art Deco “Singing Tower” that houses a 60-bell carillon. The bells range from 16 pounds to 11+ tons! They have a world renown carillonneur (no, I did not know that was a word) on site that performs short concerts twice a day. Lovely! 

The gardens are pretty awesome too, with several walking paths and ponds and the absolutely best children’s garden I’ve ever seen. So many cool features and activities – wished I was about 6 again. Lol.

The Bok Tower houses 60 bells that together weigh over 63 tons. It was a treat to hear them.

The gardens were lovely too.

Our snakey karma continued - we saw three in the gardens!

Water lilies in the koi pond. 

Wildlife viewing window. 

The Children's Garden had so many cool interactive features - I wanted to play in the fountains too!

Most awesome sandbox EVER. Lol. 

We headed to the range early on Saturday for an 8am start to first day of the International Revolver Competition. Smitty and his crew did an awesome job setting up the match. There was a total of 13 stages – a combination of steel stages and field courses with lots of props and moving targets to keep things interesting. We were supposed to shoot 8 stages Saturday and then finish up Sunday morning with the awards ceremony in the afternoon.

Rog and I ended up in a small squad with the “good” shooters. I kid you not, we only had six people in our squad and they finished as the #1, #2, and #3 shooters at the match. We got off to a pretty good start, our very first stage involved shooting from a “moving” vehicle. Lol. The prop is on chains and sways when you move. The first array of targets you can hit from a seated position, but then you have stand up and move to the rear to get a clear shot at the remaining targets. So, while the targets didn’t move, we sure did! Our second stage was a fun steel stage.

Starting position - seated in a wiggly wagon. Lol.

Shooting into the sun - where did those targets go???

The third stage looked pretty straightforward. You had to push open a door which activated a moving target and then commence firing.  This is where shit happened. I loaded and holstered my weapon at the line. Ready? Ready. The buzzer sounded. I gave the door a shove and my gun popped right out of my speed holster and hit the ground. Automatic DQ. Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!!  I hadn’t even touched the gun; I can only speculate that it wasn’t seated properly in the holster and just the forward thrust when I hit the door was enough for it fly out. In all my many, many years of shooting I have NEVER had a DQ. To have it happen at the one major match that I look forward to all year long is a suckfest of epic proportions. You can image how pissed off and frustrated I was with myself. Didn’t change a thing though, so it was pack up my toys and go home.  To borrow from Judy Blume, it was Teddi’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Shooting Day. L

Stage 3 and the evil door than ended my match. 

Rog shot fairly well the rest of the match, he picked up some penalty points for mental errors (forgot to hit a target, oops!) and ended up placing #53 overall – exactly the same as last year! Lol. I hung out at the RV and got some stuff done around the coach. I know I said that I wanted more down time, but this isn’t what I had in mind! I’m sure some day this will be a funny story, but right now I’m still having trouble seeing the humor in it.

The kicker is very nearly the same thing happened to another guy in our squad on Sunday on the next to the last stage. I’m not sure which was worse – getting DQ’d early and not getting to shoot or shooting almost the whole match and getting DQ’d at the very end. As it was, Rog ended up finishing the match with just him and the three top shooters in the squad. Lol. He said they were all nice guys and he learned a lot watching and talking to them. I learned that I should go holster shopping – several people told me this is a known problem with the CR Speed Holster I use. I can screw up all on my own thank you, I don’t need to worry about equipment failure too. Lol.

We are having dinner Monday with Smitty and his lovely wife Kristen. They are expecting a baby girl in just two weeks!  Happy me got to go shopping in the baby department. I forgot how precious all those teeny, tiny little outfits were – it’s been a few years. Lol.

Fun shopping! Girlie on the right, not so girlie on the left. 

Speaking of itty bits, my baby will be here tomorrow! Can’t wait to see Randi and her fiancé Ryan. We’ll start out in a city park near Universal Studios with four days to do Universal. Then, on Sunday, 11/13, Rog and I will move the RV to Fort Wilderness Campground at Disney and Randi & Ryan have a room at the Disney All Star Movie Resort for six days. We figured after five days together in our little 33 foot box some alone time might be a welcome thing. Lol. I’m sure we will be spending as much time as possible in the parks, so don’t worry if you don’t hear from us for a bit. We will be trying to squeeze every ounce of fun out of the happiest place on earth. Lol.