An adventurous day....

Yesterday was an exciting, adventurous day.  However, there is no poker content, with very little gambling content, just to let you know.

I started the morning texting a couple of my friends.  We had talked earlier in the week about getting together and going to my parents' house in the country to shoot some guns.  Specifically, my 25 caliber little handgun, 9mm glock, and Bushmaster AR-15.  The Bushmaster is the newest firearm I purchased, having bought it back in November at a sale price.  Unfortunately, due to the poor weather and lack of shooting ranges in the area, I haven't had many opportunities to get it out and shoot.  This was only the third time I've been able to shoot it.  I took a few hundred 5.56 rounds, about 200 9mm rounds, and about 50 of the 25 caliber rounds with me.  Our targets included a dozen 2-liter soda bottles, as well as some jugs of water. 

The one friend (we'll call him Matt) is going through a bit of a tough time, finalizing a divorce, and had delayed getting his taxes done due to knowing he was going to have to pay the IRS.  His brother (Rex) is the other one who came along.  I knew Rex was up for it, but Matt hadn't gotten back to me.  Rex and I went to the store to grab our "targets" and headed back to my house to grab the guns & ammo.  I told him I hadn't heard back from his brother, so he called him.  Matt was down but agreed to come out with us, hoping it would do him some good.  We got out to my parents' house shortly after noon.  Both of them are ex-military, so I knew it would be a fun, yet safe afternoon, as they both understand and respect firearms, and I do as well.  We proceeded to blow through most of our ammo in the next three or so hours, destroying the targets in the process.  Matt and Rex also did a great job of getting the AR sighted in for me.  Then I remembered that my brother had left some tannerite in my dad's garage recently while visiting from Texas.  If you're not familiar with that substance, it's a chemical compound made up of 2 harmless materials that, when mixed together, create an exploding target.  There were 2 little bottles of it.  I took the first shots, and once I was done, went to check it out as there had been no boom.  I had hit it at the lid, resulting in no impact with the compound but rendering the bottle useless.  We mixed up the 2nd batch, and Matt had the same result.  Rex suggested putting the compound from each individual bottle into the larger mixing bottle, which we did.  He took aim and blasted it, resulting in a nice little explosion.  It was very cool!  Matt was ready to call it a day, and headed home (we had all driven separately).  Before leaving, he thanked us for getting him out there, saying he had enjoyed himself and it had helped him to get out and have some fun.  Rex was about to leave also, when his wife called.  "Kara" had gotten out of work early and wanted to join us.  We headed back to town to get some ammo and targets, picked her up, and were back out to shoot.

We set up a few more bottles of soda as well as another of the exploding targets (we had purchased more at the local gun store while getting additional ammo), and I took aim.  On the first shot, I took out a 2-liter bottle.  On the next shot, I blew up the exploding target!  2 for 2 this time!  However, Rex, who had been recording all day, hadn't been ready and unfortunately didn't get it on video.  I finished off the magazine and we replaced the soda bottle and exploding target for Kara.  We had an old bowling ping which we were shooting at (the local gun store sells those as well), and we set it on top of the exploding target to see what would happen.  Rex filmed in slow motion, and Kara blew the target and sent the bowling pin into the air about 15 feet, twirling and spinning all the way until it came back and hit the ground.  Rex then had his turn and blew his 2nd exploding target.  We shot a little more, and then cleaned up our mess and left.

Rex and Kara, along with my wife and I, went to eat at Jersey Mike's, a sub place, before going to the Central Illinois Auto Show.  We looked at a bunch of new cars, and I found out that they are no longer making the eclipse.  I was somewhat sad to hear that, as I loved my eclipse.  Had I know that, I may have considered keeping it last year when I opted to get an Outlander Sport, rather than trading it in.  The auto show ended at 8pm, and we weren't ready to call it a night yet.  Rex suggested heading over to the Paradice Casino, as it was just a quick trip across the river.  I wasn't sure what gave him the idea that going to a casino might interest me, but I figured I'd go along with it. 

We headed in and the girls took off in search of some slot machines, while Rex and I sat down at a blackjack table.  We sat through 4 shoes of a 6-deck table.  I ended the session up $150, while Rex was up $15.  Something odd that we noticed was that through that time, the dealer didn't have a blackjack until midway through the 4th shoe, something I thought was odd.  Also, on the 3rd and 4th shoes, the first 6 hands the dealer busted, resulting in table wins.  We saw one guy early in the 1st shoe put out a bet of $150, and then was dealt an 11 against a 6.  He correctly doubled the bet,  and was dealt a 4.  The the dealer flipped over a 5, for an 11, and then received a 5, and then a face card for the bust.  We were all sure the dealer was going to hit a winner when he had the 11, but luckily he busted.  That was certainly fun, even though I didn't have the bug bet on the line, there was still some suspense for that moment!  Shortly into my blackjack session, I was tapped on the shoulder by Lightning36.  He had texted me earlier that he would be there playing poker, and apparently noticed me on his way to the restroom.  I had told him I probably wouldn't be able to get out and play poker due to my busy day, and hadn't even expected to be at the boat!  LOL  When we left the girls had been unlucky at the slots (surprise surprise) and we headed home.

All in all it was a great day and much fun!  I don't get enough days like that anymore.