Out and About

The weather was a cool 68-degrees when we rolled out at 9:45, no clouds. We went down Bass Lake Road through Serano onto White Rock Road, and took that way out to Scott and hung a left out in the middle of nowhere. We drove past the backside of the Hangtown MX National Track.
Scott is a quintessential crowned two-lane blacktop hoot-and-holler blind-turn decreasing-radius roller-coaster ride. Be careful, there’s no shoulder and the barb-wire fence is right there after the ditch. Surprise! Some heavy-equipment came past in the opposite direction, wide-load stuff that was too big (and slow) for the freeway. One rig was pulling a flat-bed equipment-trailer, with a well-used, giant-yellow, earth-moving dumper riding on it. It was like a super-giant Tonka truck. Wide-Load indeed, the rubber of the tires bulged-out off the side of the flatbed and I thought it might brush-off my side-mirror. Be careful for what you find out there.
We drove on down, up and down, through an arbor of old oak-trees to Jackson Road (Hwy 16) and (right turn) thence through Rancho Murietta to Ione Road and on down to Meiss Road. You can guess where that leads. Forty-odd miles later we arrived.
Waiting outside in the truck my wife had observed the “changing of the guard” protocols: the RO calling the Cease-Fire over the PA system, then checking down the line, calling safe, and everybody (what few were there this morning) standing back behind the yellow, or going forward to change targets. I had briefly explained the touch/no-touch rules, but for a non range-rat it really helps to actually *see* it in operation and understand the safety involved. My biggest gripe going shooting the very first time was that nobody told me what to do or not to do, and I got yelled-at by an RO because I was out-of-line. I didn’t think my wife would appreciate that kind of baptism by fire-breath. It’s something we should all do for newbies. We put eyes-and-ears on, and entered the Main range-house/Pro Shop for some orientation.
The Staff is friendly and facilities are HUGE! They operate the facility and have some 40-different vendors who teach and train there, lotta classes, lotsa public matches – and somehow I gotta get back into my CMP groove.
Upon entry to the facility, by the front gate, are separate Skeet, Trap, and Clay ranges. Up By the main-range house are the 100-yard Rifle and 50-yard Pistol ranges – with a 300-yard rifle-lane for the public (if you can shoot a 100-yard group).
Next to that is a whole Silhouette set-up, with chickens (200 M), pigs (300 M), turkeys (385M), and rams at 500 meters – huh, metric guys. Further along there are six action-pistol bays for the SASS crowd, and then you get to the 1,000 yard long-distance range…
We joined. My wife wants to go back and shoot her Model 90 Winchester, and revolvers. Maybe try the AR too…
On out way out we went back up to Jackson Highway and took a right, then after a few miles a left on Old Sacramento Road and another left when we crossed Latrobe. We drove up Latrobe back to EDH and had a pizza at a little place in the newly built “Towne Centre.”
We could have gone right on Latrobe to Plymouth, and from there up 49 to El Dorado, or taken South Shingle off Latrobe right up to Durock Road (my buddy Pete told me “Durock” (durak) means idiot/moron in Russian – take that Putin.), and that’s the way I’ll probably go on any return trip since it leads right home… Rain forecast for Wednesday.