I made it home safely to Redding, CA late this afternoon. The almost-straight, two-day shot home from Payson was 1059 miles. I went the 40 miles from Tonto Basin to Payson on Sunday afternoon. Arriving in town I swung through WalMart for some groceries. Right next door to WalMart I noticed the Firestone garage was open for business, on Sunday, no less! I swung in and in a matter of minutes I got a replacement for my house battery that died on me during the Tonto Basin stay. Then a mile away I plugged in the RV at my sister-in-laws house, and took a long, hot shower.
My whole trip, with a few days of family business in PHX and Tucson prior to the Campfire rendezvous, lasted 13 days and I put 2518 miles on the RV.
I routed my return trip yesterday (Monday) through Prescott in order to drop in on Dan Pedersen at Classic Barrel and Gunworks. I missed him. Due to health issues he is only working 4 afternoons a week and he is not open on Mondays.
The drive got interesting last night in the dark driving from Mojave through the mountains, through Tehachapi, then down the mountain to Bakersfield. The rain started at Mojave, and by the time I got to Tehachapi at 4,000 ft. elevation it was snowing fairly hard. The air temp was right at 32 degrees, and the snow wasn't sticking to the road yet as I passed through about 20 miles of snowfall before dropping back into the rain nearing Bakersfield. I am glad I wasn't doing that stretch a couple of hours later due to the many steep grades on that route. This morning driving up through the Central Valley some of the higher ridges of the coastal mountains were dusted with snow. It was sunny and clear all day today, but rain is arriving again tomorrow evening and forecast to continue off and on for 5 days.
Today I took a lunch break in Oroville and dropped in at Huntington's gun shop, (affiliated with RCBS). They usually have some interesting used and consignment guns in their racks. I did buy some Sierra bullets that were on my want list, that they had in stock.
To sum up the Tonto Basin get-together, I would say: great people, great food, and great memories. A very fine group of folks with diverse backgrounds and stories, who all appreciate the fellowship of the shooting sports. The cold wind made this gathering a bit more challenging than in the past, but the spirits were high and everyone had a good time. Thanks again to Kent, Cheryl, Mark, Marcia, Joy, Dennis, and everyone else for chipping in and making the event a success.
