DAY 2 OF THE SOUTHWEST REGIONAL

On Saturday, Nov. 1st, we woke up to heavy frost on the pumpkin and in the low 30's! By late morning the sun made a welcomed appearance and it became comfy and perfect weather for the shooters.


Here you can see a few of the different shooting stages. Most of the stages are enclosed so even if it is raining, they can still shoot. It just makes it a little difficult for spectators to see everything, but we can go up to windows and doorways to watch

Here Ralph (Lefty Rhodes) listens to the Posse Leader. The job of the Posse Leader is to read the scenario at each stage and make sure that the cowboy shooters understand it. He also runs the timer.

At each stage the shooters use their single action revolvers, their period correct rifle and shotgun. On average a total of 24 rounds are shot on each stage. So for example at this match, they will have shot 10 stages and times that by 24. Total rounds shot is 240. There will be many shooters that will have "Clean" matches.

Speed is a factor, misses are an added 5 seconds, safety and procedural are 10 seconds and they are added to your time for that stage.

Here  is Ed, known as "Nuttin Graceful" is riding his nice sorrel quarter horse mare. He is one of the top shots in Cowboy Action Shooting.

He enjoys riding through the crowd just checking on everyone and making sure things are running smoothly and that we are all having fun.



It is a thrill for the spectators to see a cowboy on his trusty steed.

This is Dooley, he is the ranches dog. When we first started coming to this match in 2002, Dooley was 2 years old. He is now 14. He is one of the most kindest and laid back dogs I have ever met. Nothing bothers him.

He is like an Ambassador here on the ranch. Everyday you see him go around to people as if he is greeting them and saying "Welcome to the Badlands Bar 3 Ranch".

There are several competitors that stay in tents. Back in the day, working cowboys used these heavy duty cotton range tents on the prairie. When folded it would fit behind the saddle.

This tent had a small cozy little fire going with a little coffee pot making real cowboy coffee.

T-Bone had this monument made after 9-11 and it sits under the Flag pole. Each morning before the match begins, all the cowboy shooters say the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Inscription reads:

WE WILL TAKE IT FROM HERE
It shows a fireman in the midst of the Twin Towers wreckage and he is
handing over the U.S. Flag to a soldier.

In case it is hard for you to read, it says:

UNITED WE STAND
"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American Resolve". President George W. Bush

In between Ralph's turn shooting, I wandered around the ranch and caught the reflection of Nuttin Graceful and his horse.

This cute little frog pond is in the middle of everything. It was nice to pull up a chair, relax and just watch everything.







The cowboy on the right was showing folks how to crack a bull whip. He showed several different ways to crack a bull whip. He did a forward crack, overhead crack, sidearm crack, figure 8 and a coachman's crack. It is quite an art and not easy.

T-Bone had put up several pens under the trees for the cowboy's horses to take a break.

Most vendors put up canvas tents, but this vendor has a beautiful trailer that is stocked to the hill with beautifully made Victorian style dresses, skirts, blouses, shawls, parasols, carpet bags, petticoats, corsets, bloomers, wigs, jewelry and all the other accessories that would outfit a lady back in the day. It also had a big dressing room for all those hoops and bustles.

You could go in the back door looking like a someone from 2014 and come out the front door looking like a fashionable lady from the 1880's.

On the 2nd day of the match, Lefty had 2 misses. With yesterdays 9 rounds lost when his rifle locked up plus 1 single miss on the very first stage, well you time 12 misses by 5 seconds and that added 60 seconds on his total time. He knew that put him way down in his Senior Gunfighter class and the Overall Standings.

Lefty Rhodes guarding the Old Santa Fe Stage.

After the shoot was over, we headed back to our rolling ranch house and gathered with friends for a slice of coconut cream pie.

Soon we headed to the barn for a catered dinner by a local Mexican restaurant and the awards ceremony.

These are the Senior Gunfighters that placed. Lefty managed to get 7th place. They all received buckles and the 1st place winner got a beautiful pair of chaps.

Afterwards, we headed down to the 20 acre pond and watched professional fireworks. How pretty it was to watch the colorful fireworks reflecting off the pond. I wish I had a camera that was able to capture it.

Well, you are going to have to tilt you head sideways on this one. Even though I rotated the photo when I loaded it into Picasa, some pictures for whatever reason still come out sideways.

Anyway, I can tell this cowboy is pretty tired here. We both were, but what a great 10 days we had.

The Comin' At Cha Southwest Regional Cowboy Shoot has always been our favorite of ours. Not just for the match itself, but the camaraderie of the competitors we have met over the years, the entertainment, the delicious meals, T-Bone, the ranch owner who is a colorful character, very talented and quite the showmen and the beautiful setting of the Badlands Bar 3 Ranch.

All the Cowboy shooters have badges with their alias names on them. Since I don't shoot, I wanted a badge too. In the beginning, I wore a badge that I made out of colored paper. It was in a plastic sleeve and I drew a cowboy boot on it with spurs and it stated my name and that I was the Personal Assistant to Lefty Rhodes. Our cowboy shooting friend, Chuckeroo from Maryland saw it and made this badge for me. I wear it proudly to all of Lefty Rhode's matches.

On Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014 most everyone pulled out. We are staying another day to rest and will leave tomorrow and head for our "winter" RV resort northwest of San Antonio, TX. about 450 miles away. We will take 2 days to do it.

A funny story...........We got up this morning and looked at our phones. Ralph said, "the time on my phone is wrong". I looked at my phone and said "my phone is wrong too".

Well I shut them completely off and turned them back on thinking they would reset themselves with the correct time. Finally after several confusing "what is going on" minutes, the light bulb went off in my head and I looked at the calendar. It was daylight savings time!

We don't watch TV or read the newspaper, so we don't hear the constant reminders. Oh how we love "Retirement and living in our rolling ranch house where every day is Saturday".

Stay tuned for our next adventure and Happy Trails...........