On the ground at Blogorado

Miss D. and I have arrived safely at the fourth annual Blogorado celebrations after an interesting journey.  We flew out of a comfortably mid-70-degree-ish Nashville on Thursday into a mid-30-degree-ish Denver, wearing T-shirts - and with our warm clothing safely stowed in the belly of the aircraft!  Not good planning . . . but we survived.

We picked up our rental car (whose quoted price over the Internet miraculously almost tripled once various fees, charges, taxes and imposts were added to it . . . but by that stage we had no room to maneuver or argue.  Grrr!), then headed for Colorado Springs, where we spent the night.  We visited one of our favorite authors there, taking her and her husband out to a Thai restaurant they chose for supper.  (Yummy!)  She gifted us copies of several of her books, which pleased us enormously and has given us plenty of reading material.  (We brought our full baggage allowance of ammunition to shoot at Blogorado, and don't expect to take any home with us;  so the books will nicely replace that weight on our return journey!)

We woke yesterday morning to find our car covered in a light layer of snow and ice.  Only then did we discover that the rental company hadn't provided a scraper!  We warmed away enough of it (and Miss D. chipped enough away with a handy plastic membership card) to see where we were going, then drove to a local supermarket, where we bought a scraper and more warm clothing.  Once equipped for the much colder conditions here, we headed for our destination.

Last night was assembly and reunion night, as Blogorado participants rolled into town from all directions.  It was lovely to see old friends again, and make several new ones among participants newly invited or whom we'd missed due to not being able to attend last year's event.  Many hugs were exchanged, many guns were handed round in extended show-and-tell sessions (I lust after Farmdad's CZ 452, which has the best trigger I've ever encountered on a rimfire rifle), and much good food was eaten (addictively delicious jalapeno summer sausage home-made by FarmDad, beef brisket courtesy of Phlegmmy, pulled pork courtesy of FarmMom and FarmGirl, New England lobster flown in by another blogger participant [whose identity I regrettably didn't confirm, but I'll add here as soon as I find out] and boiled in a very non-New-England turkey fryer [using water, not oil, of course], and lashings of other goodies).  It's a good thing Blogorado calories don't count . . . right?

It's also the opening weekend of hunting season, so all the hotels are filled with eager hunters ready for the fray.  Since about four this morning the parking lot of our motel has resounded with the clatter of gear being loaded, the roar of engines being gunned, and the eager chatter of wannabe pronghorn eaters.  (As a result of their influx, our hotel booking had been 'lost' - presumably to be filled by eager, deeper-pocketed hunters - so Miss D. and I had to grab the last available room at a lesser, very basic fleapit.  It's not great, but at least we have a bed for Blogorado!)

Blogging will continue to be light until we get home on Monday evening.  I'll put up a couple more articles for scheduled posting, and try to update you on what happens when a couple of dozen bloggers and their partners get together to shoot scores of weapons and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition.  Despite the cold weather, it should be a blast - literally!

Peter