Trip to Alabama 2015

We got up the morning of the 19th of February to discover that it was 2.2°. We decided to wait to leave until it “warmed up” and once it got to about 10° we loaded Nana’s vehicle and left to go see your Uncle David. As it turned out, the temp varied from about 12° in Staunton to 7° at the Tennessee border to 15° when we got to Sevierville to overnight.

Lucy, has had quite the time. She did well riding in her crate, we had it arranged so that she could see us and she napped most of the ride. However, every time we stopped, she got to sniff for a bit, despite the bitter cold. Sometimes she was so excited about sniffing that she forgot (?) what she was there for. I had to cut things short a couple of times to ensure that neither of us got frostbite.

Frostbite has been a real concern with the temperatures in the single-digits and the wind blowing at 25+ mph. I’ve been in such weather before but that doesn’t make it pleasant!

It was supposed to get down to -7° the morning of the 20th. Actual temperature was 2° which is cold enough. By the time we left it was up to 9°. Note all the talk about how cold it was. We were afraid that we’d have ice on the roads. Apparently, part of I-75 north of Knoxville was still covered with ice and one lane closed but not on the southbound, south of I-40. We had clear sailing all the way albeit with crystalline trees (all covered with about ¼” of ice) down to Birmingham.

We did have a bit of excitement, the left turn signal bulb died AND we had a thump develop for some unknown reason. Detailed examination of the vehicle failed to determine exactly what was causing that and a trip to the dealer appeared to be necessary.
On Saturday we enjoyed 70° temps in Atmore and Cantonment while we visited with our son and got some things cleared up. Sunday was also gorgeous and while the women went shopping, Mickey and I went to see the sights going to Red Eagle’s grave, Hubbard’s Landing (and a bunch of other landings, i.e. fish camps), Fort Mims and Blakeley. That was pretty interesting.

Monday we were back at David’s and discovered that he hadn’t actually been paying rent since January 2014. Normally this is an automatic deduction from his weekly check but some small glitch had stopped the process and neither he nor we caught it. A trip to the credit union fixed that, lunch and some grocery shopping later, we left him for another dinner with friends at our every gracious hosts’ home.

Mickey and Sue go all out every visit. They don’t need to but they do. We always have a great time.

Winchester Model 47 in the basement...

It ain't got nuttin' to do with cool revolvers, doesn't involve a white-out, and no hogs were harmed but my Winchester 47 is a fun gun. This is especially so on a cold (for Virginia) day or night, in my basement with ammo the wife can't hear fire even though she is only one solid wood door and a floor away.

The penny is for scale. 5 shots each of Aguila Colibri and CCI Quiet 22 solids (not the segmented bullet) at 27 feet from standing using a Winchester Model 47 with the issue open sights and with light on the target and behind the shooter. There is one pulled shot but the gun is backyard squirrel-head capable with either load.

I mostly shoot the Colibri and this has deposited some crud at the front of the chamber. It is highly advisable to clean the chamber before shooting ammo with a "regular" bullet in it. For those who might not know, the Colibri bullet looks more like an airgun pellet and it is commensurately short compared to the standard 40-grain RN of the Quiet22.

Spring ahead...

No, it isn't the day we set the clocks forward for daylight savings time (an archaic response to old infrastructure deficiencies) but rather the time of year I change from my hunting guns to my range shooting season guns.  Out comes the varmint pistol and 50BR rigs and my summer time carry guns. The squirrel rifle, muzzleloader, etc have had their final maintenance and been safely locked away.  Another change of season has come and gone.