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Route 66

Spending the day in Joplin Missouri just off of the original Route 66. Have decided to make that and the surrounding area the focus of my images this weekend.

IMG_1166cp

IMG_1166cp, originally uploaded by benneplex.

In the middle of the city is a serene spot I like to visit. Thousands of people drive right by it daily and most have no idea it exists.

Time away from the Bolg

I haven't updated anything in quite a while. I have realized that the number of things that take up my time vs the amount of time I have is a little lopsided.

Focus away from the family is never good. Work has been a little more than demanding lately, requiring a lot of off hours attention and sleepless nights.

Church has become an important part of my life and my relationship with God. I have joined the Men's Ministry in an effort to reach out to the men in the congregation and help equip them to be men of God, warriors for a spiritual life. I am also still involved in the Kids Worship service every Sunday. We alternate every other month with another team so that helps some to keep from getting "burned out".


This year we have a Senior in High School as well as a Sophomore. With the Senior comes Project Grad, a ton of fundraising and working the School Events. You can check out our website here. In addition we are on Twitter and Facebook. We have really taken steps to reach out this year for volunteers and donations.

We are planning several fund raising events , including Trap Shooting, Motorcycle Poker Run, Golf Tournament, and more. It's going to be a wild year. We need to hit the $35k mark to cover it all and have a little left for starting it all off next year for the next group of parents.

I am still maintaining the website for Dutch's Firearms and selling firearms on the side.

At some point, I plan to get my Instructors Certification for CCW courses, but don't see that happening until next year at the earliest.

So, with all of this going on, I still have to find time to meets the family's needs and wants as best I can. The kids are back to school which should be a bonus as they aren't home bored, but it brings it's own level of demand for the extracurricular activities etc.

We just keep pressing on and wonder what tomorrow brings. With the current political climate and the Socialist agenda being shoved down our throats, one has to wonder where it will all end.

A Look Back

As I take a look back to past vacations, I remembered the trip to South Padre to see my parents. I don't know if it's just the weather recently or what, but I have been a little restless and longing for a warmer climate.

We spent an entire day driving down to Brownsville where my folks were living at the time. I think this was about the longest day driving ever. We left the KC area about 0400 hours and arrived in Brownsville about 2345 hours.

The next morning we headed to South Padre Island a mere 17 miles away from Mom and Dad's front door.

As we arrived in Port Isabelle , we stopped to take in the view across the causeway from the light house.







Our tour guide, (aka Dad) showed us around the island.





We spent some quality time on the beaches here, and the girls loved every second of it.





My youngest daughters passion is horses. So we were happy to find an outfitter on the island where we could spend a couple of hours on the beach riding. My ride for the trip was Vegas, he was a great horse. Willing to go anywhere I wanted as opposed to regular trail horses.



As the week progressed we spent a lot of time sight seeing on the island and surrounding area, including a great little zoo in Brownsville.





**more pics to come**

Sunday Plans

Sunday is shaping up to be a great day. We are starting out with Church Service and Sunday School, followed by lunch and an afternoon filled with shooting.



A friend had graciously extended the offer to come out to his place and partake in a little trap shooting. Looks like we will take some other targets out as well and make an afternoon of it.

I think the AR-15, XD45c, and my new Kahr CW9 will see some action. I plan to take pictures and will post them up in the next day or two.


*******

As it turns out, I took very few pictures on our outing. I spent the majority of the time discussing gun safety and working with my daughter and a couple of new shooters on their stances, grip and sighting. So Some day when I actually unload all of the ammo boxes, camera bag and other junk out of the back of the Xterra I will grab the SD card and post up at least one or two pictures.

All in all it was a good day, we all accomplished our goals for the day. I wanted to get my daughter used to the 12ga shotguns kick, action and sights. I also wanted to exercise my new Kahr CW9. I hadn't had a chance to run any rounds through it since I got it and have been wanting to carry it in stead of the XD45c. It did perform flawlessly as did my youngest daughter with the Remington 870 Express Super Mag.
Thanks again Roger!






BTW, we also were at Roger's house for this little get together. Thanks for the offer too! We will get to building that berm up at some point.




Here's a couple of pictures of my youngest feeding Roger's goats. I think she enjoyed that the most!

Been a while!

Well, It sure has been a while since I have updated my blog. Sorry everyone. I have been so busy. I have been spending most of my spare time helping a good friend start and operate his Gun Shop in Raymore.

This has been a real treat to spend the time with him and to get to know more about this business.

I plan to start adding adventures again soon folks so stay tuned.