Trucks, Guns and LOT'S of MUD

June 2-6, 2008

Yee haw I feel like a redneck now! I spent the week driving too fast, smashing cars, driving in the mud, shooting guns and learning to kick *ss in "physical combat". Some of it was fun, other parts... not so much. But I did have a week with my hubby and NO KIDS! Now I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my kids but a break was definitely a good thing. Since we stayed in a hotel we got to go out to restaurants and movies with no interruptions from the midgets.

Okay, onto the topic at hand. The first day we did the physical combat. You know. karate choppin' each other and other dirty tricks. It was fun but I think we should have spent more time on it. Ah well, no biggie, there is a WHOLE day on that later in another course. After that we did some shootin'.

This is where things got a bit ugly, for me anyway. I don't know about you all but I was NOT comfortable shooting a loaded weapon five minutes after being given an explanation of how it works. I did it for about a half hour the first day and an hour the second before calling it quits. It's not good when you holster a weapon in an "unsafe position". Thank goodness for calm hubbies who say "um honey, it's no big deal but carefully take out your gun and..." You get the picture.

Here we are all in a row.

Meet bad guy #3... I think he's dead!

And FYI, when you shoot a gun REALLY HOT COPPER flies out of it and can LAND DOWN YOUR SHIRT! Yes, I have 2 burn marks, one on each of the girls, as proof. No there are no photos of that!

The last day we also shot rifles and shot guns. Well the class did, I did not. Same reasons, 3 guns and 3 minute explanation then firing loaded weapons. Do I have IDIOT written on my head because that just seemed like a really bad idea.

But here's Mike taking no prisoners.

And the Weddles... a family that shoots together stays together. Stacie had some prior training and for some reason, thought this stuff was fun. I don't think she's really a girl :o)

Day three of the course we did some off roading. Not my thing either. Perhaps I am too much a girl for all this! There was LOT'S of MUD and plenty of stuck vehicles. There are a few videos but it's hard to get the feel of how big a hole you were in sometimes. Should have taken video IN the truck because sometimes you felt like you were gonna tip over.

Mike stuck in the mud. See his arms up "um, what now?"

Here's Mike driving through the mud and NOT getting stuck.

Then there's the driving over logs. Scary in thought but in practice it wasn't too bad for the driver. Really ALOT more work for the person giving directions.

Finally there's a video of me getting stuck in a hole. Watch it, it's short.

Doesn't seem like a big deal, right... WRONG!

Here's the truck with the AXLE RIPPED CLEAN OFF! I did hear a pop but had no idea that it was the reason I was NOT gonna make it up that slippery slope. OOPS :o)

Tomorrow I'll post some more of the fun stuff. I REALLY liked the "hard surface" driving. Basically driving really fast and smashing cars. Sooo fun. It was kind of unexpected. I had a bad accident as a teenager and it has stuck with me but this showed me how to handle a car even at crazy speeds while making turns. Enough... I'll post the details tomorrow.