2/15/11

Frerbrurary 15, 2011 Sunday morning Larry called as I was about to finish up a book I'd been reading on the toilet. He was about to head to downtown for the gun show. I said I'd meet him at the credit onion, as usual, and got dressed. I thought I was going to make him wait so I hauled ass. He wasn't there yet. No worries. I waited for him and then we went to the show. It was as packed as the gun show immediately following the debacle in November 2008. You know the one of which I speak. The one which put Comrade Borat Osama in office. So we go nut to butt with the rest of the “Right Wing Extremists” and walk the show. I'm feeling pretty good about not having anything in particular to look for, especially since I'm totally broke at the time. I did see a few items which piqued my interest, but not so much as to ask Larry for a loan. OK, that’s not entirely true, but I'll get to it. About the third or fourth row, I saw a guy carrying a Ruger 10/22 rifle with a bitchin’ full length laminated stock. I was smitten but didn't quite realize it just yet. We kept walking. When we got halfway through, we stopped and chatted up the cutie-patootie selling T-shirts at the front door. She didn't convince us either way on where to go for lunch. We decided on Dairy Queen after looking at the four concession stands. We worried a bit about giving up our parking spot but left anyway. The hamburger and fries were quite tasty and the dipped cone was pure, weapons grade awesomium. Back in the parking garage, we got the exact same parking spot we’d just left. We went in and walked the rest of the show. Eventually we found the guy who has “my” Mosin Nagant rifle. It is the “sporterized” unit I'd seen at the last two shows but this time they had installed the scope mount and long eye relief optics. It was way cool. They wanted $200.00 for the whole shebang, which is fair since that is about what I'd wind up paying for all the parts on their own. We kept walking. When we got to the Travel Agent’s booth, I saw “my” 10/22 with the full length stock again. I picked it up and fondled it and asked what they wanted for it. “Four hundred dollars!” the guy barked. At first I thought he was yanking me but he never wavered so I figured he was serious. When he admitted that it wasn't his but he was trying to sell it for someone I understood. I set it back down and said I'd bought from them before, and would be back. We finished out the rows. We went back to a few spots Larry wanted to see again and he bought another CZ pistol. We went back and looked at “my” Mosin Nagant again and I had a look at it. I really like the LER optics. I fought the urge to borrow the money and we walked off. When we’d decided we’d had enough, we left. As Larry was peeing, I decided I wanted to see the 10/22 once more, just in case. We went back in. It wasn't there. I asked and was told the guy had picked it up and gone home. I figure it’ll either be back at the next show or it wasn't meant to be. Finally we left and went home. I took a nap and woke up at about the time I wanted to leave for the Japanese Old School car show. I quickly got ready and rolled the car out. I wasn't late yet but I should have called John as I was leaving. I also should have put the Blue-Tool ear thingy on to catch his call when I was actually late. I hauled considerable ass around Loop 820 averaging 75 to 80 the whole way. I rolled up to John's house to find him sitting in his car waiting. We rolled to Freebird’s World Burrito on Pipeline, the new home to the event. Waiting for us was Tim, the guy who rides the Honda Cub all the way from Lewisville. We parked next to him and hung out. Eventually more cars arrived. Let me see if I can remember them all. There was The Seven of course, John's B-210, I'm counting Tim’s Scooter as a car, Jeff’s MR-2, a bitchin’ Mazda RX-2, a “door stop” Celica, a beautiful mid ‘70s Celica, a Subaru XT-6, and John is going to have to fill in the rest. We hung out then ate and went home. The Seven performed perfectly to and from and it was only slightly too cool for comfort on the way home. So, that’s about it for now. We’ll see what the rest of the week has in store for us, I guess.