GBR RENDEZVOUS- Banquet

Saturday night we all congregated in the Mandalay room for a prime rib dinner. After we had eaten Terri and I sold envelopes with a playing card in each one. These were for donated prizes of gift certificates, a very nice range bag(I was lucky to win the bag) and the top prize a Hi-Point pistol. A photo copy of the winning card for the pistol had been sealed in an envelope and mailed to MrC by Hi-Point Firearms, to be opened once all the envelopes containing the playing cards had been sold.
The funds from the raffle were given to Charles "Chuck" Ziegenfuss our guest of honor and founder of Project Valour-IT, towards another voice activated laptop.
Project Valour-IT provides voice-controlled software and laptop computers to wounded military men and women, who are unable to use their arms or hands because of injuries or amputations.
Chuck, told us the story about how he was injured while serving in Iraq and how a voice activated laptop computer changed his life. He also told us about the idea he had, to get more laptops for injured military men and women resulting in the inception of Project Valour-IT

Some of the gang waiting to see if their number is going to be drawn for a prize.

We also had many door prizes, some are pictured below.

And the lucky winner is........

Chuck and Terri

Terri was the lucky winner of the Hi-Point 9mm pistol which she graciously donated to Chuck. Like her husband JimmyB says "my wife rocks" and indeed she does.

Chuck Ziegenfuss also told us a story about a wounded soldier who had lost both legs and one arm, and how his life has been drastically changed from the moment he received his voice-activated laptop. He is able to use voice commands to activate the laptop, to send and receive emails from friends and loved ones, surf the ‘Net, and communicate with his friends still in the field without having to use his one remaining arm. How wonderful is that?

I sure was choked up hearing such a touching story and know, this is one organization I will support. I encourage all of you to donate to this very worthy cause. So far over two thousand laptops have been donated and many more are needed.

You may make a donation Here

I don't know about any of the other Gun Bloggers, but I returned home exhausted a combination of too much good food, lots of conversation, gambling, shooting, and not enough sleep. I am looking forward to next years Rendezvous.

Range day in Reno

On Saturday before driving out to the Palomino Valley Gun Club for a day of shooting many different guns, most of us went back to Flavors for a buffet breakfast. This being our third day in Reno and my having eaten way too much last night at the seafood buffet, and the previous two days, I was not feeling overly hungry. I decided to tag along with MrC as he made his selection from the buffet and had him place a small muffin on his plate so I would at least have something to go with my coffee. As I was snacking on the delicious muffin I heard a waiter ask, " anyone for some champagne?" "Yes please" I said, and was given a small glass of the bubbly stuff. There is nothing quite like a bran muffin, orange juice, coffee and champagne to start the morning, right? *chuckle*
Off to the range we drove, paid our fees and set up for a day of fun. MrC and I did not bring any guns of our own to Reno, but there were plenty there to shoot.

There were many shooters lined up at the stations at this very nice facility.

Chris setting the sights on the target

Chuck Zeigenfuss, our guest of Honor at the banquet Saturday evening. More about this wonderful young man in my next post.

Notice how far out some of those targets are, and there are more you cannot see in the far distance. US Citizen had a 50 caliber conversion on an AR-15 which was hitting a 12" target at 965 yards, that is around half a mile. When I was standing about six feet behind and to the right of the gun when it was fired, I swear the concussion parted my hair. It was awesome indeed and when MrC asked if I would like to shoot it, I was thankful he was just joking.

Fodder shooting his 45 caliber Thompson Tommy gun, which I got to shoot, and had a blast, pun intended.

Larry has just fired one down range.

Mel getting her sight picture before blasting a few holes in the target.

Is MrC having way too much fun or what?

Joe Huffman of Boomershoot fame, well at least the back of the tee shirt he was wearing.

Kevin appears to have plenty of ammo to keep him busy for a while!!

After a fantastic day of shooting, we packed up and returned to Circus Circus to make ready for our banquet.

Gun Blogger Rendezvous

We arrived in Reno, Nevada around 12:30pm on Thursday 11th October for the 2nd annual G.B.R. Grabbed our checked luggage from the carousel and made our way out of the terminal to find the shuttle to transport us to the Circus Circus hotel where the rendezvous was to be held.

MrC and I checked in at the reservations desk, then took the elevator up to the 18th floor to our mini suite. Of course the first thing I do upon arriving in our room, is to open the curtains and check the view from the rooms. As usual it is parking lots, rooftops and casinos I see.

The globe houses the Mining Machine in the Silver Legacy hotel/casino.

The lights on all the buildings cloak the ugliness of all the rooftop parking lots.

After getting our bags unpacked, we rode the elevator back down to the third floor to the Tahoe Room. This room we had booked as our hospitality room, where we could all hang out, use as a meeting place before venturing out to meals or the range, and somewhere for our meeting with the NRA on Friday afternoon
On Thursday evening, over pizza in the hospitality room, all the gun bloggers who had arrived so far, sat around for a story swapping/BS session.

Friday morning, many of us gathered at a buffet for breakfast. I was somewhat confused when we approached the restaurant as the name of the place was not as I remembered it from last year, and the front seemed to be missing some of the decorations I remembered. The mystery was solved when I noticed a signpost with the old name, The Victorian still clearly visible. I wonder why they changed the name to Flavors.

Some of the gang enjoying their first, second or perhaps third plate of wonderful food from the buffet.

Have you any idea how difficult it is for a Weight Watchers member, such as myself, to show restraint when making good choices. Choices? heck, it was like placing a bowl of chocolate, whipped cream topped, ice cream in front of me and saying " you can have just one bite!
I was not about to choose. Instead I had everything I fancied, just a smaller portion, and loved every mouthful, and not one feeling of guilt. *grin*

Eggs, sausage, and lots of bacon for JimmyB

Donuts, coffee cake, sweet rolls and much more to choose from.

Yes, they also had fruit and cereal for those of us who wanted to watch their waistlines, though I can't remember anyone in that category on this occasion.

Cakes of every kind. Drool!!
I suppose by now you have figured out that I have a sweet tooth, and no, I did not have cake for breakfast, I waited until the evening meal.

At 2pm on Friday afternoon the Gun Bloggers met back in the hospitality room for a meeting with Glen Caroline and Ashley Varner of the NRA. Glen's job is to encourage us to not only pay our yearly dues to be a member of the NRA, but to become actively involved in speaking out for the Defenders of the right to arms. Ashley's job is to be a "public face" for the NRA and gun owners.
There was much discussion, with both sides, NRA and us gun bloggers and gun owners. voicing our views and opinions on various topics. I got the impression that it was somewhat heated at times, but not in an angry fashion. After the discussions were over, notes written down by Glen and the dust had settled the gun bloggers had a "show and tell"
Larry Weeks from Brownell's, brought us some great tee shirts, hats and other products and also talked to us about some magazines the company is manufacturing for the military, and other things about the company he has worked for, for I think he said, 26 years.
There were guns all of kinds proudly shown by their owners. I must admit, I do not know much about the different kind of guns, but I did get to shoot several wonderful weapons on Saturday out at the range. There will be more pictures of our "day at the range" soon.

Reno-day four

I have not been posting, as we have been way too busy running around, and generally having a great time.
I never thought the day would arrive, when I would voluntarily skip breakfast, but today was the first. There is a very good buffet where we have been enjoying a healthy breakfast and then dinner, then last evening we had our banquet. OMG waaaaay too much food for me. This morning, many of the bloggers and spouses were to meet for breakfast, but the thought of more food made me feel nauseous, so I stayed up in our room and MrC went down and probably ate my share as well as his own.
The weather is beautiful, so Mrc and I are meeting up with friends in 30 minutes, to go and visit the automobile museum then for a walk along the river. I have taken many pictures and will be taking more to show you when we arrive back home.
We will be back home Monday evening, so I should have something for you to see probably Wednesday.

From Reno Nevada

Hello folks, here we are sitting in our mini suite at Circus Circus on the 17th floor, looking out at rooftop carparks and other casinos in the distance. We left Whidbey Island at 7am this morning and arrived in Reno around12:30pm.
As usual there are many, many folks throwing money in the slot machines hoping for the "big win" In fact as soon as you leave the plane, and enter the airport in Reno, there are a couple of rows of slot machines. This time I plan on saving my cash for next month, when I visit New Zealand. OK I will throw perhaps $10 in he winning slot machine and come home a millionaire (chuckle)
That is all for now, we are going to finish up our sandwich, the go explore a little.
bye for now.

Rendezvous Saturday evening dinner

Rivrdog and Dan

I was honored to meet Dan McKown, guest and speaker at the dinner Saturday, who has a sense of humor which never quits, even in a situation that would make most people think of anything but humor.

Jill, wife of Kris (not pictured) SWWBO & husband John of Argghhh!

Rivrdog and his wife Blanche

Fodder from Ride Fast & Shoot Straight and his wife the Commandress,
Kevin from The Smallest Minority

US Citizen from Traction Control
Dave Duringer of the new World Examiner blog
Cam Edwards of NRAnews

Joe Huffman (left) from The View from North Central Idaho, and Boomershoot.

SayUncle on the right.

Conservative UAW Guy and wife Terri

Chris Byrne( in rear) Anarchangel, his wife Melody, and their friend John

Blanche, Mr. Completely, Dan McKown, Rivrdog

Mr. Completely, and his better half Keewee
Dan McKown

The dinner on Saturday evening was a great success. We had door prizes, and everyone went home with something. There were three major prizes. Third prize of a $50 gift certificate from Natchez Shooters Supplies, won by og of Neanderpundit, Second prize of a very nice leather range bag from Brownells, won by SayUncle, good thing he kept the bag close as I would have snitched it from him, and the First prize of a High Point pistol from Highpoint, won by Rivrdog, who graciously gave it to Dan McKown. Dan's gun was still being held by the police until the investigation was complete.

Dan told us the story about the shooting in the Tacoma mall which happened just about a year ago. He related how he was shot and all events surrounding the whole episode. What really impressed me was his ability to use humor in the telling of the story, and apparently when he was very seriously wounded he still managed to find some humor in the situation.

Now that I have met Dan in person I am definitely a huge fan, he has so many wonderful qualities, one of which is his love of children. At breakfast at the Victorian buffet on Sunday morning, Dan would talk to any child who walked past him, he would get smiles and giggles from all the kids.

Saturday evening, the dinner was consumed, stories were exchanged, there was much laughter and of course plenty of BS going on, but most special of all was the making of new friendships. Folks, we only knew as a Blog name, are now real to us.

I am looking forward to making more new friends next year.

See you all at the next Gun Blogger Rendezvous in 2007

Mr.Completely's last Rendezvous post Here

Saturday in Reno ..... Part one

Saturday morning the guys and a couple of the gals went out to the range to make noise. I had just about run out of steam at this point and decided to take my time getting my day started.
I wanted to have a light breakfast and wander around for a while checking out the sights I had not seen yet.

After breakfast I went to take a look at the El Dorado and throw a few more dollars in the slots just in case it happened to be my lucky day, it wasn't.
I had spent quite some time looking around and decided I would go back to my room and perhaps take a short nap. On the way back to Circus Circus I met up with Blanche and Terri who were both hungry and looking for somewhere to eat. I took them to the food court at The Silver Legacy where I had enjoyed my breakfast. After they had eaten we hit the casinos some more.

Terri and Blanche

We ended up back at The El Dorado. That is quite some fountain they have.

yours truly

Outside the hotel an Italian street fair was being held. It seemed all we could see were food stalls and many stalls selling jewelry. The aroma of garlic was in the air, folks were wandering around eating spaghetti, garlic bread, some kind of yummy looking ravioli, and washing it down with wine.

There was music coming from up the street and as we walked closer I could hear a song which is sung by Andrea Bocelli, one of my favorite singers. I stood and listened to the rest of the song, then we moved on back inside the hotel, fed a couple more slot machines before returning to our rooms to get ready for the Rendezvous dinner. So much for my quiet day and the nap I was going to take.
I will have pictures from the dinner tomorrow.

For Mr. Completely's latest report click HERE

Thursday & Friday at the Rendezvous

Thursday afternoon we arrived at Circus Circus for our first annual Gun Blogger rendezvous.

After getting settled in our room and taking care of some rendezvous arrangements we *duded* up and went on over to The Eldorado Hotel and Casino to attend a fundraiser for The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
We dined on culinary delights, such as crabcakes with mango sauce, scallops, beef, pork, sushi, porcinni ravioli, and a dessert table to kill for. All this was washed down with world class wines.

Friday morning was clear and sunny, though not all that warm first thing in the early hours.

The dome can be seen from quite a distance away, and is part of the Silver Legacy complex.

This huge structure, called The Mining Machine, is located under the dome.

Left, front to back, Mr.C, Mr & Mrs Rivrdog
right, front to back, Mr & Mrs Conservative UAW Guy, Smallest Minority

And right across from the Mining Machine is the Victorian Buffet. If you went away from this buffet hungry, it was your own fault, and if you could not find something to suit your tastes then you are waaaaay too fussy. There were so many different choices and lots of each, I had a feeling there were some belts loosened after breakfast.

Just to prove, I did manage to win something the first day, but it went back into a slot machine later that day.

Come back tomorrow for more on our exciting time in Reno

Mr. Completely has his first post up on the Rendezvous HERE

Kick back day

This morning the guys and a couple of the gals are heading out to the range. I am staying here at the hotel to catch a litte R&R . All the gambling, shopping and touristy stuff yesterday, and staying up until midnight plumb wore me out.
We are having a fabulous time meeting and getting to know all the bloggers. I will have pictures when I get back home. Sorry you are not here too.
PS the slots and I are battling it out, they are winning by about $5

we have arrived at last

Yesterday we arrived at Circus Circus Reno Nevada around 5pm. a couple of posts ago I mentioned we are here for the Gun Blogger Rendezvouz.

After checking in we went up to the 3rd floor to check out the Tahoe conference room, where all the attending bloggers will be meeting over the next couple of days, to see who all had arrived.
At this point I am not going to use names, just the blogger names, as some folks prefer to keep their ananomity. K from Smallest Minority was there as was another bloger who's name escapes me at present, ( I am VERY tired and am lucky to remember my own name)

After getting our luggage on and off the elevator and into our room we changed our travel clothes into "business casual" attire and headed over to the Eldorado to attend the "Vine for life" in honor of breast cancer awareness month.

What an event, it was very classy, the food outstanding,the wines delicious and warming giggle !!
well it is time to get ready for breakfast.
more later.

Coming up, four days of fun

Some 25 years ago Mr.C and I visited Circus Circus in Reno Nevada. On Thursday we will be back there attending The Gun Blogger Rendezvous.

Mr C has put a lot of time and effort in planning this get together. There is a dinner planned, time at a range for those shooters who would like to go, and a hospitality room where we can all get together for social time.

Even though I am a competitive shooter, I do not want to spend three days standing around talking guns and shooting, and I am sure some of the other ladies attending feel the same way., So I think us gals could find something to do together, after all there are casinos, shopping, and who knows what else we may find to entertain us. Mr.C is wondering if the guys should take along extra money to *bail us out* Anyone would think we are going to get into trouble or something, He He He !

Most of the bloggers attending I only know by name, now I will get to meet them and their spouses in person. It is always interesting to meet people who you only know from their blogs as you have a pre-conceived idea on how they look, sometimes you are surprised, a blogger friend of mine described it as surreal.
We are taking along a laptop so hope to keep you udated on our activities. I will have pictures to post when we get back on Sunday.