HITTING THE MARK

Before leaving Illinois I wanted to tour at least one historical spot.  This is the Land of Lincoln.  In fact, second to Springfield, IL the city of Normal was where Lincoln spent most of his time while in these parts.  Although he was already dead by the time the David Davis Mansion was finished being built he did spend a great deal of time on the property when there was only a meager farm house.  Later David Davis would construct a beautiful house.  David was a lawyer and Lincoln's great friend, his campaign manager, and a Supreme Court Judge.

I went over yesterday and toured both the inside and outside of this grand home.  Photos were not allowed inside but there was an original building in the back with a display of the era's circuit court system where I was free to snap a few.  Knowing I was slotted to shoot my first firearm in the evening I found this piece of the display interesting.  I will type part of the narrative below.

"When we think of the settling of the frontier,  we think of gunslingers, like the one portrayed by John Wayne in the western movie "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."  But the reality is that lawyers, such as the one played by James Stewart in the same movie, were the ones that truly tamed the West and created the modern American landscape.  More than the church or the gun, or even the state legislature, in frontier Illinois it was the men of the courts who imposed civil order and developed the laws that would help Illinois to transition to a market economy."

Later in the day when my CS host Doug finished work we went back to the Gun Club where he and his coaches have been constructing a separate building and the target boxes needed for Olympic style marksmen shooting.  I may be getting these terms wrong but what I am attempting to do is to make it clear that this is not a loud "BANG BANG SHOOT 'EM UP WIPE OUT THE COMMIES" environment or a training spot for hunting though I have no idea what goes on in the other building.  I have no experience with guns but I do have (or had) many misconceptions about things and people.  That is what I am enjoying so much about traveling through my own country, meeting and talking with people and doing so with an open more journalistic mind.  I am seeing that in reality we are more alike one another than not.

The media, especially in this election year has polarized many of us and we hook onto the differences and get blinded to just how similar we all really are.  Our good basic values are the same, our desires for the welfare of our children, neighbors and country are THE SAME translated and tweaked just a bit differently on certain aspects of certain subjects.  We all want the same basic things and if we would only focus on the SIMILARITIES and let the DIFFERENCES blur I believe that we would become a stronger country/world overall.

So yes, I was I was shooting pellets at a NRA target and I didn't care one bit whether it was politically correct in some circles or not.  And if I was hitting a little white ball into a tiny round hole in the ground I wouldn't care if anyone saw that sport one way or another either.  It was sport, it was fun and standing up and shooting with that heavy $1600 pellet gun was challenging.

Doug is a coach so we didn't skip any part of the lesson.  We went through a full explanation of everything from gun safety and operation, loading and positioning and more.  I began in prone position with the gun supported on some rolled up mats.  It was not easy for me to line up the scopes even with my contact lenses in.  In fact, through all of the shooting I feel that was the hardest part, focusing.  But I did very well.  I nailed all my shots into the target's black holes from that position.  Such was not the case standing up.  The standing position was really awkward, the gun heavy and my eyesight a true hindrance.  But I did it.  I missed all the black bull's eyes but I did hit the paper.  Success!




So that was a DO NEW for sure and a great experience in the Heartland of America.  I continue on today to Indianapolis where I will be staying with my friend Chris from CS.  I had the pleasure of being hosted by him on my way to Wisconsin and now... Patt's coming back.

See ya on the flip >>>>>>