What’s an adventure?
When I was a little kid, an adventure was anything that was a little bit scary or out of the ordinary.
My mom would let us know, it wasn’t anything to be afraid of, it was just an adventure.
Usually driving in a thunderstorm or getting lost on a vacation road trip.
Not really adventurous, but mom made it seem so.
To some people, it’s climbing a mountain or jumping out of a plane.
Surfing giant waves off of Australia, or scaling a rock face.
Racing high performance cars or motorcycles
I’ve reached an age where I know enough about physics and my own physiology to know that none of these are good ideas for me.
And I’ve watched enough YouTube videos to know, fast cars or fast boats or fast motorcycles or any horse, well, there is nothing good that can happen for me there.
So, where does that leave a soft in the middle 50 something that would still like an adventure?
A friend posted a comment on Facebook that set me up for an idea.
“Try something you know you suck at” was the gist of it.
I thought I would make an adventure out of this by adding one more variable.
“Try something you know you’ll suck at, and try it with people who are really good at it”
That is my adventure.
And that is what brought me to my first competitive rifle shoot.
Now I shot a 22 rifles as a kid, but never did much more the shooting cans, and certainly never shot competitively. And it was something I hadn’t done in years.
But when my dad, an accomplished skeet shooter, passed away, I decided to join the local gun club as a way to stay close to my dads memory.
I’ve really enjoyed it, it was fun to be on the range or the skeet field.
But it wasn’t an adventure.
Then I saw that there were monthly shoots at the club. I went and watch one and was very impressed with the skill of the other shooters, they were amazing. Putting 10 shoots in a 50-cent piece size spot on a target at 100 yards was very common for them.
They were all very nice and encouraging and said I should shoot with them at the next shoot.
Sounds like an adventure.
So, there I was, using a barrowed rifle shooting against a group of guys with customer rifles that cost thousands of dollars. They had shooting glasses and shooting jackets and shooting mats and custom shooting gloves.
I had my barrowed rifle and an old egg shell foam mattress.
I stood out a bit.
But everyone was again nice and helpful and encouraging.
We walked are targets out to 100 yards and walking back to the firing line, I actually considered just walking right to my truck and driving home. This is crazy, I shouldn’t be here, these guys are basically professionals.
But this way my adventure.
So I took part in the shoot.
There were shots fired prone (laying on you belly) sitting (that hardest ones for me) and standing.
The rifle I used was basic, with just open sites, no high powered telescopes like the others.
I think it was 50 shots (I was shaking some, and don’t remember all the details) and a perfect score would be 500.
I think the winning shooter scored around 400, the average score, for the others, was around 350.
And me, 34.
But I had done it, and I felt great. Instead of mocking me, the other competitors congratulated and encouraged me, offering advice to improve my score.
I was hooked.
Two weeks later I tried a different shoot at a different club against even better shooters.
But there were multiple classes this time, and in my class I finished 2nd!!!
In a group of 2.
295 to 17
But I still felt great and enjoyed the adventure.
Tomorrow the adventure continues as I enter my first Sporting Clays Shoot. (it’s kind of like golf with a shot gun, shooting at clay disks flying through the air at high speed) I’ve been practicing on Pond Road, where as a kid I spent lots of weekend watching my Dad shoot.
I thought about entering the shoot there, or another small town club, but decided to be a real adventure, you need to try something new you suck at, with people who are really good at it, and what the heck, do it at a high level place.
I remember going to a skeet shoot with my Dad at Rochester Brooks Gun Club and what a big deal that was. So, I’ll have my first shoot at one of the most prestigious clubs in the area. (Think Oak Hill for shot guns)
I don’t expect much of a high score, but it will be an adventure.
What will yours be?
