Eddy Brown Memorial Metal Match trip 2012

Thursday afternoon we left Whidbey Island in our RV for Smelterville Idaho, to compete in the Eddy Brown Memorial Metal Match. On December 28, 2000 the man responsible for bringing the Steel Challenge Shooting event to Canada and the Northwest died of a massive heart attack at the age of 37 in his home in Cranbrook, BC. His name was Eddy Brown.
The drive was long but uneventful, and around 9:30 pm we finally pulled into a place beside the river near our destination, to catch a few hours sleep before driving out to the range in the morning.We thought there would be guys at the range, who would need some help sometime on Friday to set up the steel targets for the match to held on Saturday, but later on we learned the targets would be set early in the morning.

This interesting old mine is located in the valley,down the road from the range.

We decided to hang out at the range for a while on Friday, and the only cool spot we could find, was up in the covered shooting area for the rifle range. Every so often a cooler breeze would find us, giving us a little relief but it was still uncomfortable, especially as there were also pesky, annoying flies buzzing around. As we rested, we noticed the clouds rolling up over the hills in the distance, and knew an electrical storm was in the making. We decided a nap was in order so we went back to the RV, opened all the windows and settled in for a nap. Pretty soon the wind was gusting, and thunder rumbled in the distance. A few drops of rain pattered on the RV roof so I closed all the windows and settled back down to listen to the thunder and lightening storm which surrounded us. All of a sudden there was what I thought to be very heavy raindrops pounding us, but looking out the window we saw dime sized hail coming down. Wow! what a storm, with wind, thunder, lightening, large hail, then it all passed over us, the sun came out,and finally we had humidity. Gasp!

The morning of the match dawned cooler with fog drifting down over the hills, and those pesky flies were not around to torment us, although we do carry bug spray to protect ourselves.

It wasn't long before the fog dispersed and it became quite hot. We were thankful for the canopies which were placed for our comfort. This photo is taken from the uppermost stages, and I can tell you it is quite a walk up the hill in the heat carrying heavy equipment.

As you can see, the range is located in a valley surrounded by very high hills, but the photo does not really show just how high those hills are.
We had a great time shooting the match, and as usual we met some new people who also enjoy the sport as much as we do, and we hope to meet up with them again next year.

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You ask, how did you do?

A picture or two speaks a thousand words

Yes indeed, we brought home five trophies

These are mine

These are Mike's