The Journal of Joe The Peacock. Yay.: MI Vegas Recap

4.21.2008:

MI Vegas Recap - Day 3

10:35 PM

Everyone - and I mean EVERYONE - was excited to hit the very famous automatic rifle range in Vegas. So, that's what we did yesterday.

Even the timid and uncertain among us got into the act and rented crazy, exotic weapons. Mike and Jeremy pretended they were in Rainbow Six and chose MP5's. Nick fired a Desert Eagle .50 cal, while Kelsey went to town with a 12 gauge pump-action Mossberg 500 (and she went NUTS with it - I've never seen such a small chick do a load-and-fire cover sequence so enthusiastically and with such expertise...). Jessie took care of business with an uzi, while her fiancee John tore things up with an AR18-A. Me? I had to try an AK-47 and a SAW.

The best of the day, though, was Sean (Loki). The gun range was all he talked about from the moment he landed, and it showed when he got his hands on an M-16. He's a small, thin guy, and the weapon was a bit overwhelming at first. He took his stance, got the gun positioned the way the rangemaster suggested, opened fire, and immediately took out imaginary helicopters flying on the ceiling. It was entertaining, but not in a "Haha, he screwed up" way - it was great to see him finally get to do what he wanted to do all weekend. He ended up with a little gunpowder residue on his cheek from the discharge, and wore it with pride back to the hotel.

There were a few MI'ers who are ex-military who stood down, mostly because... Well, it's pretty much boring to them. But they enjoyed the excitement everyone had. I just wish some of the folks who had to leave earlier could have made it. And some of the crowd got more enjoyment out of observing, so they didn't fire... But overall, it was the most unifying experience of the weekend. And all of us learned one very important lesson - do NOT piss off Kelsey, especially if she gets her hands on a shotgun.

After that, we all kinda split up and did our own thing. I gave back to the Paris casino a few of the dollars that I'd won from it's sister, Bally's, while other groups went touring and sightseeing. Jeremy, Mike, Nick's dad and I had a charming dinner with Kelsey and William, then Jessie and John and I hopped a cab to the airport, where I met with Mike and flew home. I got to say goodbye to everyone who's still out there today, and look forward to hearing what kind of fun they had in my absence.

Overall, this was one of the best gatherings / trips I've been part of in a long time, if not ever. Everyone got along extremely well, there was much fun and laughter, and the weekend flew by entirely too quickly.

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