Having A Blast With Friends

Since Daleen has been out of town, I have been running around like a madman.

She and Colin have already been gone a week but it feels like they only left yesterday. I now have three more weeks until they return and I am already getting concerned I won't be able to finish all the projects I am working on before they get back.

However, I realized in order to keep going and be expeditious and efficient with my work, I needed to take a break; a day of rest if you will. So yesterday I took off to go do some clay pidgeon shooting with a couple of friends.

I am a member of Cavalier Rifle and Pistol Club in Montpelier, VA. As you can guess, it is a club devoted to the shooting sports. We have various rifle ranges, pistol ranges, and sporting clay and trap ranges. In addition to the shooting activites, we have other ammenties such as a campground and two fishing lakes. One of the things I really like is that the club doesn't allow shooting after 3:00PM on Sundays so members can have cookouts, go fishing, take nature walks, etc.

So yesterday I took my friends Rob and Josh to the club. Our first event was shooting clay pidgeons. There is a manual clay launcher on our trap range and I like to go when they're not running the automated system. The reason is when the automated trap range isn't operating, there aren't any other shooters there, so we can just relax and have some fun. If we miss a bunch of times (which usually happens) there isn't anyone there to roll their eyes at us.

Now, shooting a little clay disk flying through the air isn't terribly hard, but it isn't all that easy either. The problem is most folks use their shotguns for hunting big game animals, where you point, aim, and shoot. When shooting clays, the process is completely different and most people have to break some serious habits, which is what generally provides the most difficulty. My biggest problem is instead of swinging through the target, I stop when aimed at the clay, which is bad because as I mentioned, the target is continuing to move. Everyone had a lot of fun on the clay range though. Josh was on fire and I had a much better day than I have seen in a long time. It had been a long time since Rob had shot clays, so he had a bit of a learning curve at the beginning, but was doing really well in the end. Isn't that how it always goes with any sport?

After the clays, we headed over to the pistol range where I was reminded of how good a shot my friend Josh is. Remember in the first Lethal Weapon movie when Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are at the police pistol range and Mel shoots a smiley face in a target at some ridiculous range? Yeah, my boy Josh can do that. Rob and I on the other hand.... not as good. But we still had a lot of fun getting our bit of practice in.

Our final stop was the 100yd rifle range. Everyone brought a couple of rifles to sight in. I brought two myself. One that is easy on the shoulder and my Africa rifle which is somewhat of a bruiser. I proved again that all my stuff was dialed in and any innaccuracy was definitely caused by me alone.

All three of us needed a day off to go out and act like guys. Everyone needs a break from time to time so they can recharge their batteries. I especially needed this as I am looking at the lack of empty spaces on my calendar for the next three weeks until Daleen and Colin come home.

Cavalier is one of my favorite places to unwind. And contrary to what you may think, it's not a bunch of redneck guys standing around plinking cans with daddy's shotgun. A large percentage of our members are female (they're typically the better shooters by the way... more patience). We have every type of age and income group you can imagine. I think it is the variety of people at every skill level I like the best about our club. I love seeing one of the "good ole boys" in a ratty pair of overalls with a ratty old hand-me-down shooting iron sitting next to a real blueblood in brand new crispy safari wear, sporting a polished new custom-made rifle, chatting away as if they were next-door neighbors.

I feel better this morning and I am definitely well rested. After we left the club yesterday, I did some grocery shopping and headed home where two Netflix were waiting on me. I can't remember the last time I just sacked out in front of the TV for an evening, but it was nice; the end of a great day. But the best part though was spending some guy time with my friends Rob and Josh. It was a real blast....