A well-rounded weekend

Hey hivers, how y'all doing? I hope your week has started well and you've got a productive one planned...Or that happenstance makes it that way; Either way I hope you have a good one.

Mine has started well, and has been travelling along quite quickly to be honest; I've just come home from work on Tuesday night after a fairly long twelve hour day although Faith and I convened in the mid-afternoon for a sneaky Tuesday coffee and cake date which was nice. It's hump day tomorrow and then the run to the weekend starts. Yay!

So, everything is on track for a good week, but it's last weekend I want to write about right now.

As you may know I headed north of home for a two-day shooting event in the Southern Flinders Ranges. I go to this location quite a lot, mostly for camping and hiking with Faith, but this weekend she stayed home and I went to compete in practical run and gun shooting competition.

The location is a working sheep farm, a very huge one, that consists of open plains, rugged mountains, creeks and scrubland. It's a great place to camp and hike and I find it very peaceful. Of course it's not peaceful when a hundred or so competitors are running and gunning, but when the guns go quiet...It's just lovely. It's a licensed gun range of course, otherwise shooting events would not be permitted.


There's many gum trees on the property, the largest of which are beside the creek that occasionally flows. I'm not sure how old this one is but it's big and stands near the access road to the campsite and it's always good to see it...It sort of says, "welcome, come in and relax."

I had a great weekend personally, I mean from an enjoyment perspective and also from the competition point of view.

As one of the event-organisers, an event we run several times a year at locations around the State, I am ineligible to take a placing; If an organiser wishes to shoot the event, as I did on the weekend, they are removed from the overall results prior to the paying competitors seeing the them but we get to know where we finish prior to that happening...The scoring system prints two sets of results with the second set omitting any event-organisers.

I'm happy with the way I went over the weekend; I was sitting in second at the end of the first day, just by a couple of points, and ended up third overall. Of course, like I said before, only a couple of people actually know that result; It's inconsequential in truth.

I went for fun this weekend, and as a working-organiser, and whilst it was a little annoying having to do my official job whilst trying to compete at the same time, I managed to get it done.

For me, when competing, I focus on improving on my own performance, beating my personal best; I don't worry about the other competitors. I don't find any hint of motivation from the thought of beating them...The thing is that I can't influence how they perform, but I can influence myself, so that's what I do. In fact, worrying about how well others are doing often destroys my focus and makes me perform worse, so I block it out.

Anyway, the shooting was good and I enjoyed it.


Here's me after the shooting finished on the first day. I had to drive up here to get enough coverage to answer some replies on the #weekend-engagement topic post. So this is an action shot...Hive action. A mate took this without my knowledge and he text-messaged it to me today. That little track to the right is the track I used to drive up here - 4x4 only of course.

Overall the weekend was pretty good. I got to see some people from interstate that I only generally see at events and we got to tell lies around the campfire - An activity that always seems to be enjoyable.

Of course all weekends come to an end and I saddled up the Big Dog for the drive home. It was a straightforward run south on Highway One with only one stop off at a little place called Harry's Home Made Fine Foods at a tiny map-dot place called Nelshaby. It's a little roadside shop that makes all sorts of home made foods.


A couple things I grabbed at Harry's. The other stuff all got eaten over the last few days. 😁

Harry's has been around for thirty three years and they have ninety different products like jam, honey, relish, chutney, pickles, olive oil, and cured meats like salami, peperoni, chorizo, hams, prosciutto and the like. They also do some pretty cool pickled seafood like prawns, calamari, muscles, razor-fish, scallops and so on. They have take-away foods like pizza and burgers with such exotic meats like crocodile, camel, kangaroo and buffalo - All made on the premises.

I called in grabbed some goodies, threw them in the fridge in the back of the Big Dog and got them big wheels rolling home to Faith; Job done.

I had a fairly hectic weekend but it was enjoyable, well-rounded.. I would have liked Faith to come along but her recent operation meant she had to stay home...But that's ok, we'll head up there again soon, just the two of us, and do some camping...And probably stop in at Harry's for some more goodies.

I hope y'all had a great weekend, tell me about it below and write a post in the Engage the weekend Community.


Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.

Be well
Discord: galenkp#9209



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Glad it was a great weekend and that view from the place you are on the phone is amazing 😃

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Yeah man, had a pretty good time and it's a great spot. When competing most of the views are like this, not always as high up though, but mostly pretty much this. It's a nice place to be.

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Buen dia, mi bonito el paisaje, que bueno que disfrutaste el viaje, y lo fundamental te enfocas en lo tuyo, evitando distorsión en los demás, como tú dices se bloquea, es cierto.
Lo comparto en mi cuenta. Feliz martes productivo.
https://hive.blog/hive-168869/@galenkp/a-well-rounded-weekend

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Thank you for your comment - Google translate didn't do a very good job of translating it to English and I don't speak Spanish, but I have a fair idea what you were alluding to. I appreciate you taking the time to read my post and comment.

!ENGAGE 25

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Siempre a la orden, uso mucho el traductor de google, feliz martes productivo.

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(Edited)

Por favor, disfrute de su día y de la semana que viene.

This means, *please enjoy your day, and the week ahead also. (That's if Google translate got it right.)

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Awesome photos. I would give my last shirt to sit at that spot you sit right now. I´m in turkey at the moment what isn´t too bad, at least better than germany, but the circumstances why I´m here could be better. Anyway, making the best out of the situation.

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It's a really cool spot and I was lucky it was still pretty green this time of year; We've had a fairly wet October though so it won't start browning off until early-mid November. I hope things are as well as can be there in Turkey, it seems you've got a few circumstances to work around judging by your text; I hope things work out.

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Hey! Glad to see the weekend ended well and you picked up treats on the way home. What a gorgeous place to have the competition. I was expecting bulldozed built dirt mounds and more scrub like any of the shoot meets i used to go to. Instead i was greeted with emerald hillsides and sweeping meadows.

That gumtree is massive. I could see him becoming a welcoming friend as you come and go from the range. I tend to humanize trees and landmarks making them friends of sorts.

Out of all the stages which one did you do best in?

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It's a pretty good location for an event as it has the views you see here, plus some interesting gullies and creak beds to use for the longer run and gun stages. There's also a camp site there, it's a working public caravan park, when not being used for a range. It's in a bush location and is very basic but is also very popular with those looking for a little privacy and a caravan park that blends with the natural environment. They have a lot of bush camping sites too, non-powered which is where Faith and I usually stay. It's a unique place.

The comstock-scored run and gun stages is where I excelled. I was simply faster than others and so my hit-factor (the score) was better. Remember, they obtain that by dividing points gained by the elapsed time. So, completing the stage faster is an advantage. There was a stage that required the shooter to run up a shale gully shooting left, right and in front at hanging steel targets of about fist-size. There was 18 in all. I worked out the best strategy, a mix between shooting and moving and shooting stationary in certain points. Worked nicely. I can't recall my time, but it was fast. A couple of other stages were like that also, and there were a few more precision stages at reasonable range which I managed despite having no magnification on my scope. It was a good event.

That old fella, the tree is huge around the circumference of the trunk - It would have to be a few hundred years old at least. It's always there to welcome us, a dependable landmark. I have a picture of me in it somewhere, as I climbed it to prove I still could...Didn't get too far. Lol.

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I love that open green land! For some weird reason, I feel like rolling there. Would be nice to succumb to childlike exaltation for once in a while!

Harry's jars look mouth-watering!

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You might find yourself rolling a long way if you rolled down these mountains...They're steeper than they look.

It's a nice spot and I was pleased to see that the green lingered this late in the season. They will be brown soon as the lush green gives way to the harsh summer...But they still have an appeal at that point. I go here a lot and love it in any season.

Yeah, Harry's is an iconic little place...I was lucky to get there when there weren't too many people and got to have a chat with the staff about some of the methods they use in the preparation of the products. It's a great little business...Out in the middle of nowhere on the side of Highway One.

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(Edited)

This section of Aussie is pretty green going into summer months, early rain fall, looks super healthy and that big gum tree, sure is welcoming!

Challenging yourself is always more rewarding, I don't do guns but can relate to the fun it must bring when out in the bush like that.

Picked fish varieties look exceptional, love getting out of town to these small stores that offer homemade goodies, great treat!

Thanks for awesome outing and green rolling hills photography, that is a sight to behold.

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We have had a fairly wet October and it actually rained quite heavily overnight on Friday and Saturday over the weekend...It was a bit muddy in places but we managed. The green will give way to summer browns soon though, weeks maybe, but this is as green as I've ever seen it this late in the year.

Harry's is a top spot to call in after a few hours on the road It's in the middle of nowhere between Port Augusta and Port Pirie and is simply a taste-sensation! So many great products and the staff, quite often family members, are always happy to have a chat about the produce and production methods. 90% of the foods there are South Australian and sourced fairly locally too. I'm always up for a visit.

!ENGAGE 25

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Always amazing to see the grasses bounce back after some good rain falls, transforms the region completely. Muddy weekender not too bad so long as you not camping 😄

Pickled prawns and seafood mentioned caught my eye, those must be so tempting to try.

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It's a very lush spot, at least as far as grasses go in the winter, but from now it'll dry up and become brown and very hot. It'll be green again around May, possibly earlier depending on rainfall and wildfires. By the way, yep, I was camping. All good though, just part of the experience. :)

It's really tasty, the pickled seafood. It has a nice pickled taste but the flavour seafood still comes through. I'm doing a platter over the weekend. Cheeses, cold cuts and the seafood. I'm looking forward to that.

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Platter sounds superb, being one for salty and pickled foods yummy with a wet one 😁 perfect sun-downer...

Living in a dry country, seeing green makes us giddy with excitement, enduring a couple of nights slushed up in mud is fun.

Green season only lasts a couple of weeks inland from us brown most the time, not to mention heat arriving now, it sucks!

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Ah yeah, you're in South Africa right? I'd love to get there someday...Seems a bit dodgy though right now. I hear things.

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Yup I'm in South Africa, when you live here you learn where to go, avoid the cities or go with locals.. who are in the know, it has become quite dodgy but no use dwelling on the negative, plenty positive and beautiful things here still.

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I'm sure there is and we would still like to get there for a look. We'd like to do one of those eco-tours, you know, when you stay in those plush tents at night and drive around looking at the wildlife in the day. Probably not an authentic experience of course, but something we've always been interested in.

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Depends on which province you wish to visit Cape/Namibia have winter rain season best to visit November to February, KwaZulu-Natal where I reside is summer rainfall best to visit May to August.

Each region will have eco-tours on offer, many do arrange to/from transfer from airports, always ask before making bookings. Some will offer camping or slightly cheaper accommodation, to more expensive outdoors tents on private game farms, all depends on how much one wishes to spend financially.

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Yes, it always comes down to the money I guess. We did some research a few years back and ended up going back to Europe instead on that occasion. I wish now that we had done the Africa thing, but we can't go back in time I guess. I hope it happens though.

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Whenever you are ready put out an ask here in Hive there are many South Africans spread across the provinces who I am sure will give you good information.

South Africa is a cheap destination for most countries, it all depends on what type of experience you are looking for.

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I will do so, there's a few South Africans around the place, certainly enough to give me a better clue about the place.

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Feel free to give me a shout if you ever decide on KwaZulu-Natal.

Personally I feel travel to airport, rent a car, go directly to spots outside of any city, like Australia a couple of hours drive to get anywhere.

Oh we drive left side of road like yourselves, automatic SUV for ease of travel through parks a good option. Have an awesome weekend.

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I will do so and thanks for the offer. This is why I like hive...People are nice. Good to hear you aren't crazy and drive on the right like some other weirdos! Lol.

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Always nice to get a little competition in and see where you stand compared to others, at least in some areas. Congrats on your placing, and I'm guessing there wasn't a lot of space from those other positions. Sounds like a lot of fun, and love that view from the hilltop. Those prawns look tasty. I love seafood, especially shrimp and lobster. Not my wife though, to her they are "bottom dwellers" lol.

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Haha, well more seafood for us if your wife doesn't like it! Faith is vegetarian mostly, but will eat seafood, so we tend to eat a fair amount of it. We have some of the best available here, a broad selection and great quality so we are lucky.

The competition was good; Everyone had fun I think, even the person who came dead last. I also managed to get out of packing up as I left almost immediately to come back home. Faith was feeling a bit down about stuff and her legs were hurting so I wanted to be there. I didn't even stay for the presentations.

The top 15 shooters were so close in overall points...I can't recall exactly but I think there were only a handful of points between 1st and 12th or so. It was good; That's the sort of event we like to run, one in which 20% of the field are neck and neck all the way.

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Wide open non-industrialized views, those are getting rare in the world. Great views and snapshots. Glad you enjoyed the weekend. that area does look like a good place for relaxing camp out. I take it the rancher does not mind the occasional camper, do you have to make special arrangements for a gate key or is it all just open range?

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It's a great spot.

The farmer actually runs a caravan park/campground there...Sort of like the eco-tourism thing. It's not like your typical caravan park though, no playground, swimming pool etc. It's a bush setting and is very popular with people who are seeking more solitude. The owner used to open up some land for use as a 4x4 track which one could pay for but he doesn't do it anymore. Also, there is a spot, the highest point, where they would launch hang gliders from although also I think that has ceased.

So, it's open to the public mostly.

The unique thing is that it is also a licensed gun range...The whole thing!

It's been used for 40 years for a big three-gun shoot called Bushranger which is cool. I 've shot it a few times. The police also used it a lot, for training. It's a very unique range and location with great facilities and not a bulldozed shooting mound in sight! It's all natural. Pretty spectacular really.

The park was closed for a private function on the weekend, the shooting event I run. Competitors came from all over, pay entrance fees which includes camp fees and a three course meal on the Saturday night and it's on like donkey kong. The operate a canteen for breakfast and lunch and charge for it so the farm makes a lot of money; Thousands all up.

We don't shoot there often and it's not a range one can go to weekly, just for showcase events. It's a privilege and is usually very popular as most shooters will never get to shoot in conditions like this.

Faith and I are planning a campout there soon, it depends on her mum's situation. We'll hike around and just relax. We need the break.

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Wide open vista make for a relaxing time, I hope you both get that opportunity, it does look like a nice spot for a break from the world.

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Thanks mate, I think most people in the world cold use a break right about now. It's been a challenging year for most. :)

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Reminds me of an old song; "Give me land, lots of land and wide open spaces" if you don't know it Google the song "Don't fence me in"
I sing it often when I am out and about.

Some beautiful spaces that you have there my friend.
Finishing third out of 100 hundred shooters is certainly something to crow about methinks!

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I did ok, but then I usually expect to do so I guess - I shoot a lot and have had professional training. I was there for fun though and no one will know where I came in the field. I'm ok with that as I don't want the attention. I had fun, and we ran a good event.

I googled that song and came up with this. Is this the one you mean? I see there's various versions but this is the one I listened to. Nice song.

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I like the way that you handled that shooting competition G-dog.

Now, this song "Don't fence me in has a lot of history.

Made in 1934 by Cole Porter and Robert Fletcher.
1944 sang by Roy Rogers in the movie "Hollywood Canteen"

1954 my favorite as my birth year, sang by Frankie Lane in the movie "hell and High water"
1961 theme song for Allied soldiers in West Berlin.
1974 World War ll documentary covering the American entry into the war.

Since then sung by many others it, but I doubt if they knew it's history.

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Oh yeah, I saw the Cole Porter one...It's cool that it has so much history but is still covered these days, don't you think? I guess a little like that Piaf song, La vie en rose. One of my favourite songs of all time.

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Yes agreed and amazing how different versions over the years shows the changes in the music genres of the times.
Personally, I am not a big fan of IT or computer generated sounds, as I am more of a classic rock and souls music man.
But of course a lovely clear voice like Edith's with that tune is incomparable.

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Yep, I like instruments that people have to play. These days...It's all computers and fabricated voices...No one needs to know how to sing, just look good...And even then they often fall short. Lol.

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Yes, you are 100% correct and it's all just a lot of electrinic drone music.
But then again it takes a lot of skille to play a perfect guitar riff that comes from years of practise.
Which means work and that's something that the new generations are allergic to.
They want everyting the easy and instant way.

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Glad you had a fun time over the weekend. An enjoyable weekend is always good.

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Yep, had a blast but it was good to get back home. I like home better than hanging out with loads of random people. I'm not very peopley.

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I used to be okay with people around. Since COVID showed up, not so much.

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I wonder how old is that gum tree, it looks wonderful

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Old I'd say, a few hundred years maybe I'd guess, maybe more. It's a long time to survive in such a harsh environment but then I guess they are perfectly adapted.

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First of all, congratulations to the third overall place. Although, you said that you don't compete with others, but to beat your best. That is a good logic.

Secondly, the view is stunning 🤩 those green hills are beautiful. You really must enjoyed it. Next time, when your wife gets better, that will be a relaxing weekend.

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Thanks, I was happy with the result. I mean I say I don't really care about it as long as I improve my personal performance, but I still don't enjoy finishing down the order so I was happy with the end result.

It's a nice place to be, very relaxing to camp there with some nice hikes and walks to take. Faith and I will go there together next time and do some camping in our camper trailer and wander about. Play chess, read, listen to music and sit around the camp fire. I'm looking forward to it.

I hope your week has been a good one so far.

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Are you allowed in your country to camp wherever you want? If yes, lucky you. I was very surprised when I learned that in Spain we could not camp where we want to. There are some camp places where you can camp, but first you have to ask for the permission 🤷 It was strange to me. A camp fire is strictly prohibited, but I understand that, as here the vegetation is mostly dry, so to prevent from forest fires.
My week until now goes very well, I mean perfectly fine 😇 Thanks

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Well, it's not anywhere we like, but it's a vast country and 95% of the population live on only 5% of the land so there's a whole lot of nothing out there to camp on. There's rules and regulations though and you'd not want to get caught on a farmers land, they tend to shoot first and ask questions later. Lol.

We have fire-ban months where fires are strictly forbidden, and mostly one must carry in the wood to burn rather than collect it, but that's more a National Park thing. IN the outback it can be collected generally.

There are loads of free-camp areas all over the place, even an app to find them with ratings and all. Generally it's a common sense thing though, do the right thing and there'll be no problems.

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So just avoid farmers land 🤪
Thanks for your explication, see you in one-two days in the weekend-engagedement topic 🙈

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Pretty much, except when you have permission. I know loads of farmers and have access to places most won't get. It's a happy scenario as I get to camp in places other people are not! 😉

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What a well spend weekend !! I'm glad that you had a great weekend. Amazing views, I remember it's spring there now. Views so green and fresh. 🙂

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had a great weekend.

Well, as per the post, it's yet to happen, but that's ok, I'm sure it will be good when it does.

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(Edited)

Ah this looks like such a nice place to visit, preferably without the thunder of gunfire but that's okay, that's acceptable as well!

We've had a washout of a week so far but that's okay. We had planned to take family pictures in the foliage but it seems this might not turn out as planned! The trees have mostly shed their leaves lol oh well, can't predict the way things will go so we will still go out to the locale we intended and take some photos.

Funny seeing you trying to get to the engagement, searching for any place that "OH OH I got a bar of service, don't move a millimetre". I haven't been in a place where we needed to do that, rather unfortunate if you ask me!

Placing third in the standings is pretty good, even if that's not public it's still probably fun to compete and be in an environment where people are looking to do things in a competitive nature. I don't get to do that very often but it's refreshing sometimes! Keeps you on your toes, I think.

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The weather doesn't always play-ball, but I'm sure you'll find somewhere for the snaps...Besides, it's the family that need to take the lime light. Some fall colours would have been nice though...There's always next year but by then E will be different so, get it done now! Lol.

The cell service was a bit dodgy out there; Two people standing side by side may have different coverage altogether. Quite strange, but it's a ways off the main highway and they tend to produce signal in corridors rather than in a wholesale way. The stations (farms) tend to pull it in with big-ass anntena's usually...It leaves the scrubbers like me scrambling down the side of a mountain to find service. But I like remote areas, and am usually pretty comfortable without phone service.

Just on the third place thing...Over the course of each shooting stage it becomes very clear who is a top of the field shooter and who is not. The field of just over 100 may not have seen the results including me and a couple of other organisers, but it tends to get out and become general knowledge. So, people know.

I don't care though to be honest, I have nothing to prove to them, or anyone. I had fun and that's what I was there for, outside of my official duties. I don't mind competing and do a lot of it, but I never make it about winning.

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