We found out our 6:45 am flight was cancelled but they had us on a 9am flight. Did not really expect that one to go but we went to the airport anyway. Pushed back from the gate at 9;10 am, took off at 10:10 am back home in PA at 3pm. There were no planes coming in at all and they nwere trying to get everything out of there. The jet ways were deserted of planes.

We had an absolute blast this year. Thursday nite with Retreever and family, Pierre, Wink, phurly5, DOJ at the Brazil place. Friday nite AR dinner, and the 107th birthday party Saturday nite.

Very special thanks go to Frank and Joyce Beller who saved Ed, Pat, my wife and I from the wrath of the Ethiopian cab drivers we have come to love. Need a ride call Frank and off you went to the show or back to the hotel.

I know they are driving home to W Va right now and they have phurley5 with them because of his messed up travel plans, it just does not get any better than that.

Just think Saturday nite we had people from Europe, Africa, Canada, and the US at the gathering.

The room was not full and part of that was because Christer was not there, everybody missed him!


Dulcinea

Glad Y'all made it home allright! We really enjoyed visiting with you and your wife at the party and hope to see you again next year! Lee.

Well, wife and I just got home...A special thanks to all who attended the AR events...Great to meet friends and make new friends also...
There were a few new rookies and I must say, Peter you won't be the same after shooting a double and making your first safari to Namibia this summer...Great to meet you...
To the party clean up crew many kudos...
Will post a few pics tomorrow and a link to all of them...
The Comfort Inn was great to us...
Frank and Joyce Beller, what can one say who unselfishly transported AR members to and back from the convention with a phone call...
Met our BillC who had to leave Saturday morning...Missed Will...Spoke with Kevin Robertson as convention was opening ...Much much more...


Mike

Made it home at 8:00 pm. Like most others my original flight was cancelled. Left 4 hrs earlier than planned and got home 2 hrs later than planned. Had a great time and now to work to pay for Zim this spring.

It was great to see everyone and thanks for stopping by the booth.
I am glad no one drown or froze out. You can't say we did not offer you a variety of weather this time!
The ice storm that was always coming really did Sunday night and now everyone is slipping and sliding and wrecking and ....you get the picture.
Some exhibitors tore down early and were starting out the door at 4 PM due to what was coming weather wise. Some roads were already closed. The storm went much more to the south than first expected. Even the San Antonio crowd had an adventure getting home or at least Texas Zebra did.
I spoke with friends that were trying to get to Abilene, TX (west on I20) and they were down to 20 MPH. Hope they made it.
Anyway...glad everyone came, hope you had a great time in spite of the weather. I bet Freeman Decorating is still shoveling the BS out of the aisle left over from some of the AR bunch that was encamped between my booth and Champlin Arms. Hopefully some of you had brown socks on already!!!
Come back again next year and I will see some of you again in Reno in 2 weeks.
Better tomorrows.

Shannon and I made it home last night. We had a great time with everybody and are looking forward to next year!

Dulcinea ----- I am very happy to report that Frank and Joyce Beller delivered me directly to my truck parked at the Nashville Airport last night sharply at 8:15 PM. We left Dallas at 8:AM and drove in hard rains all day until just East of Jackson Tenn when sprinkles fell the rest of the trip. Frank and Joyce Beller are the consumate AR friends willing to rescue a fellow AR IDIOT in need. I fly standby because of a daughter who flew for a major airline and provides old dad with that privilege. It is indeed quite a perk, that is until you have a situation like Dallas, when all most flights are canceled and the big backup occurs. The standby's go last after the rush to serve the paying customers. Frank and Joyce simply said, you would be welcome to ride with us and we are going right through Nashville. A very gracious AR gesture, and many thanks to them. ----- Strangers who become friends through AR once again point out what a good group Saeed has managed to creat here. Good shooting.

phurley5, I can only say AMEN to your comments! What great people! I hope they made the balance of their journey safely.

I think most men would kill for a wife like Joyce!

That is service with a capital S!

As with everyone else, Randi and I had an adventure getting home but it worked out fine. Many thanks to Judge G for the ride to the airport and glad to hear you made it home safe. We had a great time and enjoyed meeting many more AR folks and the show was great.

You're welcome.

BTW, anyone who contributed to the Saturday night party and wants an accounting, I'll be glad to do so by p.m.

My first trip to DSC was a great experience and I enjoyed the company of each and every one of you. My special thanks to Mike and Cherie Podwika, as well as their son Matt, for taking me under their wing as I walked through the doors of the Comfort Inn. To Steve for that first Friday together at the convention (we enjoyed listening to Kevin "Doctari" Robertson's seminar together) and to Forrest Bruch and Jim Sherman for acting as Designated Driver and riding shotgun as the weekend got wetter. When it looked like the airport was cancelling flights I accepted Forrest's offer for a ride down to Houston with Jim (jjs), rebooked my flight back to Paris and am now safely at home. By the way, French customs officers only asked me briefly what was in the gun case. When I told them it was a rifle for Africa they just waved me through. Lastly, thanks to Pierre van Tonder for keeping me company on our cigarette breaks in the freezing rain.

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
Lastly, thanks to Pierre von Tonder for keeping me company on our cigarette breaks in the freezing rain.

So you two were the ones I kept passing at the loading dock! Just kidding as I would have recognized Pierre -- I did see him at Ray's booth Friday as I was passing by.

Wink: IT was a pleasure sir, and I hope if you come next time, I hope I can spend some more time with you as well as the rest of the AR folks. jorge

I'm still trying to get home. Flight on Sunday canceled. Flight on Monday canceled. Shooting for Tuesday morning...

Had a great time though!!

-Steve

I had a blast, again at DSC. It was very nice to get to put more faces to AR user names.

Just to let EVERYONE know, Wink is not French. He just works there.


Too bad these get togethers are not at one big, Big Bore Plinking session.

Keith

Steve,

I hope this find you home at last. We thought we would be the last of the AR crowd to get home... Just got in less than an hour ago, more than 36 hours behind schedule. If you have to be stuck, being at DSC with the AR crowd is about as good as it gets.

Bill

It was so good to see everyone!

We got out and are safely back home. The problem with driving on ice in south Texas is that we are just not used to it. Today, the whole city of San Antonio is shut down and it shows no hope of opening up tomorrow.

snow day, snow day

In San Antonio we haven't had ice weather like this in 2 decades. So, time to put on the stew and get ready for the Houston Safari show.

Melody
www.long-grass.com

Hey Steve,

Have you made it back to Or-Y-Gun yet?

As a board member of DSC, I would like to thank you all for coming and despite the weather, making our convention a success. I hope to see you all there again next year.

Robert Studdard

PS - I booked a hunt for buff at the convention. .375 or .416 - any suggestions?

Bob, if you are comfortable with your 416 by all means...


Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Caretaker:
As a board member of DSC, I would like to thank you all for coming and despite the weather, making our convention a success. I hope to see you all there again next year.

Robert Studdard

PS - I booked a hunt for buff at the convention. .375 or .416 - any suggestions?

Why not take both? If Murphy visits then you have an adequate back up.

I'm ashamed to say that I only have a "Texas DGR" which is a 45-70 guide gun. So I'm shopping for decent sized bolt gun that will run 9.5 pounds or so. I met Kevin Robertson and got one of his books. He seems sold on the 416 over the 375.

Robert, call me; my #'s in the DSC book. Did you get a chance to visit with all the custom gun vendors? If you were like me, you were too busy with the show to do much else. The silent auction went well, and I did get to run around a bit on Sunday once we got it closed out. I was most impressed with one maker in particular. I'll fill you in.

Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by Lhook7:
Hey Steve,

Have you made it back to Or-Y-Gun yet?

FINALLY! Whew. Hell Wink made it home sooner than I did.

Landed smack dab in the middle of a snow storm here. If anyone can give the Dallas folks a run at bad winter driving skills, it's Portlanders. Abandoning cars in the middle of the freeway. Not knoing how to stop. Sideways across intersections. Chaining up in the middle of the road. Pedestrians gawking in the middle of the road as cars slide by. You name it, I saw it on my drive from the airport.

Took me 2+ hours to work my way home from PDX. Usually takes 30+ minutes.

Anyway had a GREAT time. The extra day there Sunday only allowed me time to pull the trigger on 470CapstickA2's 475NE.

-Steve

I'm glad to hear you finally made it.

Congratulations on the rifle! Welcome to the DRSS!

We made it home in great shape & very good time; MAN !!! that was a great weekend. Thanks to Pat, I didn't have to drive home. And, yes, Joyce is a GREAT wife (she's standing over my shoulder & making me type this). I'm already anxious for next January ...... you folks are all wonderful to be with. Thanks for being great friends.

Well we made it home on tuesday night. Great trip as expected.

It was great putting a face to a name. Well worth the trip.

I didn't have much of a problem at the airport, our flight was only delayed 1 hr.

Sounds like we made it out of Dallas just in time. We heard a rumor that the ground was white on Wed. morning?

quote:

Originally posted by Graylake:
Sounds like we made it out of Dallas just in time. We heard a rumor that the ground was white on Wed. morning?

Indeed it was, much to my surprise. The roads were not bad by late mornong or noon, but it was slippery early.

Well we made it home on Monday, it only took 19 hours. We had a 6:30am flight, went to the hotel lobby at 4:45am to get a cab. Cabs weren't running. Had to wait until 7:45 to get one, and almost had to take some asshole out who jumped in the first cab that showed up, but had only waited 15 minutes. Anyway, our flight left on time, but we weren't there to be on it due to the cabs. Changed flight, had a 4 hour layover in Phoenix, arrived in Spokane at 7:30 pm (9:30pm Dallas time). It was about 10 degrees with snow on the ground, and the battery on the pickup was dead, got a jump start from the airport cops and drove home, arriving at 10:00pm.

We did have a great time, thanks to all who visited our booth. It was great meeting everyone, and we will see you next year.

It was great meeting you in person Karl and I was very impressed with your product. I sent you the photos you requested via email. See you next year for sure. jorge