Happy Memorial Day!

First, another video from a couple of nights ago…

I was out and about on my California Scooter when I saw a couple of dual sport bikes with much bigger engines. My little California Scooter has the 150cc engine, so I thought I would play around a bit and chase them around the neighborhood. I think I kept up pretty well.

When I was at the shop on Friday, things were hopping and everyone was having a good time. We’re getting a lot more folks in the store than we did at the airport location…being right on old Route 66 sure has its advantages.  During a lull in the customer traffic, Steve told us a story about trying to scare off the deer from eating his roses.  He had us laughing so hard we couldn’t stop.  Seems he installed a motion-activated water sprinkler system to scare Bambi and friends away, and the first victim of a good soaking was none other than Steve himself!  Good stuff, Steve!

I hope you are enjoying this Memorial Day weekend as much as we are.  I always make it a point to get out to the range on Memorial Day.  Part of the reason is that it reminds me of my time in the Army (some of the best days of my life), and part of it is that I just like shooting.

A first-year-of-production Ruger Blackhawk....check out the serial number!

I like the older style guns a lot, especially the Ruger Blackhawks.   Made in America, they’re styled like the old Colt .45, and as kid who grew up watching TV westerns (Gunsmoke, Maverick, Hop-Along Cassidy, The Lone Ranger, Bonanza, and more), I guess I just feel comfortable with them.  Ruger Blackhawks are a real draw for me, and when I see an interesting one, I’m a goner.

Anyway, when I was at the range yesterday with my old pal Jim shooting my Ruger Blackhawk, I suddenly felt somebody tapping on my shoulder.  I guess I was concentrating so hard (sight alignment, breath control, trigger squeeze, you know the drill), it took me a few seconds to realize it was my good buddy Josh. Or maybe I’m just getting old and I had a senior moment.  Whatever.

Turns out that Josh is a real pistolero.  He was connecting real well with a steel gonger way down range.  I shouldn’t be surprised.  Josh is a world class trapshooter, and I guess those skills carry over to doing well with a handgun.

You know, another funny thing often happens at the range that takes me back to an earlier era.  I reload my own ammunition, and I never miss an opportunity to pick up spent brass cartridge cases.  Steve pays me pretty well and I guess by most measures I’m relatively successful, but if there’s empty brass laying around…well, I’m on my hands and knees rooting around in the grass like a pig looking for a truffle.  My buddies all behave the same way, too.  It’s pretty funny, actually.  I do it because I still feel like I’ve hit the lottery when other shooters don’t want their brass.  Old habits die hard.

This business of picking up brass is interesting.  I do it because it’s a thrill for me and because I can reload it.  I remember another time in another land, though, watching people literally risking their lives to pick up spent brass.  When I served in Korea, both the North Koreans and the US frequently shot up the DMZ (the thin strip of land dividing the two Koreas).  Both sides were careful not to interfere with each other doing this…both the US and the North Koreans were just flexing their muscles.  We’d fly our helicopter gunships along the DMZ firing the Gatlings and spent brass would rain down into the heavily-mined land below.  The North Koreans would do the same.  And all the while, folks from both sides would literally be out in the DMZ hopping between the land mines picking up the brass.  They wanted to melt it down and fashion it into brass ornaments, candelabras, and other stuff.  It was an incredible thing and a powerful reminder of how lucky we are to have been born in the good old USA.

Just a few weeks ago I was in upstate New York, and I while I was there I toured the battlefields at Saratoga and Fort Ticonderoga.  These areas are the birthplace of our way of life.  It was the start of a modern form of government that would have worldwide ramifications for the next several centuries.  And last year I visited the US Army Infantry Museum outside of Fort Benning, Georgia, where we took in the heroics of the Revolutionary War and all of our other conflicts right up to today.  I watched an interactive exhibit on Medal of Honor winners, including the story of Jack Jacobs (a Medal of Honor winner whom I personally met in the 1970s).  Awesome stuff.

I guess all of the above is part of the privilege of living in this great country and being able to enjoy our freedoms.   Freedoms like being able to vote, speak out against things we don’t like, owning our own homes, owning firearms, and riding motorcycles.   I’ve been in countries where these freedoms are not allowed.   Our freedoms are all part of living in what is unquestionably the greatest country the world has ever known, and the folks who made it possible are the ones we honor this weekend.  So as you enjoy your Memorial Day weekend, think about that.  And then do what I’m going to do…go for a motorcycle ride!