Shooters Roundup

Our good friend Timmy called Friday night. He was all excited about some gun thing in Morristown on Sunday. Well we rounded up Dave and took a drive to see this gun event. And what an event it was. They had all sorts of guns available to shoot. M16's, AK's, belt-fed behemoths, shotguns, .50-cals, anti-tank, most of the guns from Rambo, and on and on. So we checked things out a little bit and then Timmy stepped up to the plate. I believe he went with an M16 and an AK-47. Nice. While we were standing around watching people shoot shit up, we got to see a pregnant lady shoot two AK's at once. And then she shot one of the belt-fed automatics. I kind of feel bad for the baby. Then Tim and I shot the FAL, a sweet semi-auto rifle. It wasn't too crazy but it was only a $1 a shot. And Dave E. pulled the trigger (literally) on a anti-tank gun from WW2. Sweet stuff. After that, we headed back to the "Police and Military" section. Dave and I got in line for all the cool stuff. We we're a few people back so we had time to decide which of the 15 or 20 guns we wanted to shoot. The simple answer was "all of them," but we weren't rollin' with that much cash. I was torn between a MP5, M16, or one of the belt-fed automatics. Dave was pretty much set on the Browning 1919 belt-fed beast. And after seeing that get shot a few time before it was my turn, I decided on that also. We each only shot 25 rounds, but damn, that was sweet. Then we went for a stroll through the wooded trail to see what was happening because we kept hearing a big gun shooting from that area. And keep in mind this is a 60 acre site we were at. So it was pretty big but small enough where you could hear all kinds of guns shooting off. The wooded trail was mostly shotguns (like guns that fire shots) and different raffle ticket things. But then we saw the .50 cal. Dude. Dave instantly got in line for that. Tim and I stood back about 12 feet and we could still feel it when someone shot it. That was pretty rad. And Dave got to keep the casing. The next stop was the 1800 something gatling gun. Yeah, the one with the crank. We watched one guy shoot it and then no one else stepped up, so I did. The guy gave me the full run down and a welders glove (you know it's good when you get a glove to wear). As you see in the video of me shooting that, you can go through 18 rounds pretty quick for just cranking the thing. Except for the dud that was in there. That slowed me up for a second. I think that's about it. It was a pretty neat deal that we weren't sure if it was going to be cool or not. And actually we weren't too sure about it until we got back in to it. I mean there were people dressed up like Civil War and the Ol' West. And an Indian. Basically it was an America, Fuck Yeah, kind of a day.

See, it runs

Here is the "official" it runs post. Yep, the SR500 is finally running and road ready. I actually rode it to work after lunch today. And I rode around last week with Dave E. Boy too. You might be thinking to yourself "hmm . . . I wonder if it's fast." Well, it's fast enough for me. And you're probably wondering "hmm . . . I bet it's loud." Uh yeah, it's kind of loud but I don't think it's any louder than most of the Harley Davidson® brand motorcycles. Most of the cops I've drove by or past didn't seem to care. Also, the video is from a few days ago. The exhaust pipe (aka right leg warmer) is painted black. Because I saw a red door and I want to paint it black. No colors anymore, I want them to turn black. Or something like that.

Holey Day

I spent holy day putting holes in things that didn't have holes before.

Domefield

They're out

New windshield for FJ

Finally getting a new windshield on the FJ.

John Deere Harvester Works

Oh my god, it's the entrance.

Oh my god, it's a deer statue.

Oh my god, it's the outside of the world headquarters.

Oh my god, it's the outside of the Harvester Works.

Oh my god, it's the inside of the Harvester Works.

Oh my god, it's our tour guide.

Oh my god, it's the waste paint consolidation system thing.

Oh my god, it's the built combine parking lot.

Oh my god, it's some guy welding augers for corn heads.

Oh my god, it's the "Thank You" sign.

Oh my god, it's some dudes from Renville.

Oh my god, it's the John Deere Harvester Works tour wrap-up. I was lucky to go with Haener and Buck to East Moline, IL last Thursday to go on the "Gold Key Tour." So we started off with roughly a 5.5 hour (from my house) drive to the John Deere World Headquarters. The first area you walk in to is a huge building that has a combine, a couple of tractors, a grater, a gator, and other misc. Deere equipment. Oh, and you come in on the second floor. So you're standing above all this. Very cool. Then we got to strap the feedbag on and take a little tour of the headquarters. The outside of the building is Core-10 steel. And yes, it is supposed to rust. And that seals it, so you don't need to paint. For a building that was built in the 60's, it still has an impressive look. The inside is pretty nice too (they could use new signs though). After that, we strolled around the "showroom" a little (and trying to figure out how they got these machines in to the building) and then took a short drive to the Harvester Works. This is, in lay man's terms, the combine factory. We watched a little video about the factory and then we headed out to the factory. Where we hopped on a trailer with seats while a John Deere lawn mower pulled us around the 80 acre (just one building is 80 acres, zoinks) factory and a little bit outside the factory. It's very impressive. Here's just some of the fun facts: 80 (I may be off on this number but it was somewhere around here) laser cutting machines, 70 robotic laser welding machines, a bunch of press', and a ridiculous overhead chain-driven conveyor system. The paint system alone is crazy. They dip each piece in 7 or 8 different tanks to clean the pieces, degrease them, and paint. And then these pieces go in the robotic painting booth. And then two people hit the pieces with more paint. And all the excess gets funneled into this huge waste paint consolidation tank thing. They only go through 30,000 gallons of paint a year. Damn. Roughly 20 gallons per combine. I could probably go on for hours, but I won't. Basically, if you want to see something awesome being made, check out the Harvester Works. You can just get a regular tour but if I were you, I would just buy a new combine so you can get the "Gold Key" tour. It's so worth it. You get free food, a hat (that says "Gold Key Member"), and an actual gold key to start your combine with.

Landing

We actually got off the plane onto the runway in Chicago. Cool.

We're going to get the squirts ...

One more from BPS

More BPS

Inside BPS

Few things from inside the Bass Pro Shop.

The Bass Pro Shop

Gettysburg battlefield.

Ghost of Gettysburg

Driving in Pennsylvania

Don't worry, I'm not driving and taking pictures.

4Ging in Chicago.

Finally got to use the 4g signal on the ol' Evo. Verdict: faster than 3g but it's no wifi's.

Best way to start your travels.

On the way home.

Just waiting for Buck to put gas in. We toured John Deere Harvester Works. It was the "gold key" tour. That's how Haener rolls. It was a pretty sweet deal. I'll have a full report next week, after Susie and I get back from Pennsylvania.

At Harvester Works.

We're here ... John Deere meca

Truck crash.

Traffic in Iowa?

Driving through Iowa.

Omg, omg, omg ...

Epic trip tomorrow. I don't want to give too much away but involves a trip to East Moline, IL and the initials JD. So sweet. There will be pictures. Oh yes, there will be pictures.

Go fly a kite