Thursday, August 31, 2006

Schedule and Jam Session

The question has come up as to exactly what the schedule is for the Rendezvous. The schedule is deliberately very loose to accommodate everyone with different things they want to do.

Here's the basics:

Thursday, October 5th:
A number of folks are arriving a day early to get in an extra day in Reno, see a couple more of the sights, and, I suspect, get in a little pre-function partying! The Circus Circus also is offering a half price room rate for the Thursday, which is also an incentive!

Friday, October 6th:
There are no formal events scheduled for Friday, although the Hospitality Room for the Rendezvous will be open from 5pm. to 11pm. I suspect the Hospitality Room will turn into something of an event all by itself!

Saturday, October 7th:
From approximately 11am. through 4pm., those interested in getting in a little range time will be gathering at the Washoe County Parks Department Regional Shooting Facility, which is about 20 miles out of town. I am hoping to get some of the manufacturers and those in the trade to bring some of the toys they would like to showcase out to the range for some hands-on show and tell. More on this soon.

6Pm. at the Circus Circus Mandalay room we will have our banquet. The default dinner will be Prime rib, but there are a couple of other menu choices if you don't want prime rib. Those of you with reservations will be contacted about your dinner preferences.

The Hospitality Room will also be open from 5pm. to 11pm. on Saturday night.

Sunday October 8th.
Get in a little last minute gambling and or tourist stuff in the morning, then it's time tocheck out of the hotel and head back to the daily grind. It's probably going to go by way to fast!

Jam Session: I talked to the Circus Circus folks, and they said that acoustic guitars would be OK in the hospitality rooms on Friday and Saturday nights. No amplification and no drums, however! That seems reasonable. Since a number of you are also guitar players, you might just drag your axe along!

Monday, August 28, 2006

Help With The National Rifle Association Needed

I need a little help from some of you out there. I'm trying to get the NRA to participate in the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, but I haven't been able to establish communications with anyone at the head office who was able to be much help.

The rendezvous would be a great public relations venue for the NRA, in addition to having a chance to meet a number of gun bloggers and broaden NRA communications throughout the gun-blogosphere.

I think it would be entirely appropriate for the NRA to send someone from the head office to attend the Rendezvous. I think it would also be appropriate for them to present a letter of commendation to Dan McKown, our guest of honor, as a token of appreciation for his risking his life to protect others from a mall shooter.

I contacted my local NRA rep, and he contacted the head office, and they vaguely suggested that perhaps the local Reno area rep might be able to stop by. Since the Rendezvous is not in my local rep's territory, it's unfair to expect him to spend a lot of time on this, but he did what he could to help. In fact, the Rendezvous isn't a regional event at all, but rather a national event.

I've telephoned the head office, and got bounced from one person to another without much result. One NRA person wanted to know how many new NRA members I expected to sign up for them! When I suggested that just about everyone who would attend was probably already a member, they sort of lost interest. One person promised that the'd have someone call me back right away. That was several weeks ago..............

It seemed to me that I just wasn't reaching the right people at the NRA. If any of you know anyone at the NRA would you give them a call or drop them an email and see if you can help me out on this? If you don't know anyone there, send them an email anyway, or give them a call at 1-800-672-3888 and tell them that you think that the Rendezvous is definitely a place where the NRA should be well represented.

Thanks!!

Thursday, August 24, 2006

More on Who's Going To Be There.....

Registrations have come in for two more bloggers planning to attend the Gun Blogger Rendezvous.

Kevin, proprietor over at The Smallest Minority, has signed in. For Kevin, it's a 12 or 13 hour drive each way to get there from his home stompin' grounds, particularly since he's going to take a route that bypasses California, even though it's a little shorter to go through! Kevin has been blogging, and gun blogging, since May, 2003, which in the blog world, makes him something of an old timer!

I'm sure a lot of you already know, or have heard of Joe Huffman. Joe Writes The View From North Central Idaho. Joe is also known for the Boomershoot Rifle Festival and his exploding targets, as in

- - - K A B O O O M - - -

type explosions!

If you aren't already reading their blogs, go check them out, and then make your plans to come on out to Reno in October to meet up with them in person!

Scroll down this page to find out more about the Rendezvous, including how to register, and how to get the special room rates at the Circus Circus hotel in Reno.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Will Ronald Be There?

Kevin at Smallest Minority has also come up with a great way to publicise the upcoming Gun Blogger Rendezvous!

Kevin will be there at the Rendezvous, so if you'd like to meet him in person, maybe even pick up an autograph, here's your chance. And if you aren't already reading Smallest Minority, then you ought to go check it out!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Reservations and Registration Info

Just a short reminder that there are two parts to the registration and reservation process. Reserving your accommodations at the Circus Circus hotel only gets you a place to sleep. The registration for the Rendezvous itself is separate.

Your Rendezvous registration pays for the hospitality rooms on Friday and Saturday night (maybe one on Thursday night too, we'll see) air transportation and accommodations for our guest of honor Dan McKown, and last but not least, the Saturday night banquet itself.

Any Rendezvous registration funds beyond the Rendezvous costs themselves go directly to Dan McKown's recovery and rehab account.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Van or Car Pooling to the Rendezvous

Rivrdog, out favorite ninth level black belt curmudgeon, will be driving a passenger van from Portland, Oregon to the Gunblogger Rendezvous in Reno, so if you are anywhere along the route you should get in touch and join in on the ride. It will be a "Share the cost" deal so if a number of you jump on board, the cost to and from Reno will be very reasonable. Rivrdog plans to leave for reno late Wednesday night so you will be able to get in on the Special half price room rate for Thursday night at the Circus Circus. He's got a big post up with all the details here. Even if you aren't exactly along the route, a bunch of you can probably car-pool it to a place somewhere that IS along the route to jump aboard the Rivrdog Gun Blogger Express!

Earlier this year Tam at View From The Porch was looking for riders from the Knoxville, Tennessee area, so if you are somewhere along that route, you might want to go to her blog and drop her an email and see if the car is full.

If YOU are planning on driving to the Rendezvous and would like a rider or so to share the cost, drop me an email and I'll get the word out and see what we can do.

Be sure to get your registration in right away,
as the Rendezvous is only 8 weeks away ! ! !



Thursday, August 10, 2006

Some of Who's Gonna Be There:


Here's a partial list of some of the blogs and companies planning to attend the Gun Blogger Rendezvous. If you are planning to attend and I've missed mentioning you, please let me know so I can get you added to the list.

These are in no particular order, and more will be added to this list, but here's some of the folks you will get to meet at the Rendezvous:

Monday, August 07, 2006

It's a "No Brainer"

Fodder at Ride Fast - Shoot Straight has done it again in promoting the Gun Blogger Rendezvous coming up the first week in October in Reno. He and his better half are going to be there, along with a bunch of other bloggers, blog readers, and other interested folks.

Have you sent in your registration yet? Better get it in today, the Rendezvous is only ten weeks off!!

Friday, August 04, 2006

Dan McKown - Some Great News!


I just got an email from Dan McKown with some great news! As you may remember, Dan was the fellow who intervened in a mall shooting last Fall in Tacoma, Washington. Dan's intervention prevented any further people being shot by the perp, but unfortunately Dan ended up being shot five times at close range. For a more complete background story have a look at this article in the Seattle Times. Unfortunately, one of the bullets hit Dan in the Lower spine. The doctors told Dan he would never walk again. While in the hospital Dan started to recover some function in his right leg and with the help of a walker, he was actually able to walk out of the hospital. His left leg, however, was basically non-functional.

Just in the last few weeks Dan has started to get a little bit of function in his left leg!
Not a lot, but he is now able to move it a little tiny bit, one to three inch kicks at the most, but that's a start! WOOO HOOOO!!!

For all of you out there who have been praying for Dan's recovery, keep it up!

For privacy reasons I'm not giving out Dan's personal email address, but if you'd like to leave a comment to him in this post, I'm sure Dan will read it.

If you would like to meet Dan in person, he will be our Guest of Honor at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous in October.

GO DAN!!


Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Gun Blogger Rendezvous - Latest Update


NOTE: This post will stay on top for a while,
so please scroll down for the latest posts.


The Reno Gun Blogger Rendezvous is a little over two months away, on October 6th., 7th., and 8th. We are rapidly approaching "Crunch Time" where we absolutely need your registrations in hand, both for the hotel accommodations, and for the Rendezvous itself. In the next few weeks I need to be able to tell the Circus Circus exactly how many dinners we will need (there's a little flexibility here) so we will have the right sized dining room reserved.

The Rendezvous is open to any and all gun bloggers, military bloggers, blog readers, shooting sports enthusiasts, competitors, manufacturers, gun shop owners, and anyone else with an interest in firearms and shooting sports.

All the info you need about reservations and so forth are found on this site. Just scroll down the page.

There are a number of regional gun blogger and military blogger meets throughout the year, but this is the only national gun and mil blogger meet of the year. This is the first year it's been tried, and future of national gun blogger gatherings will depend on the success of this first attempt.

If you are a blogger, your attendance is crucial to the success of this event. Manufacturers, associations, and others in the shooting sports industry will adjust their level of participation and suppoort to the size of the event, and if we have a small turn-out, their participation will be limited and their future participation questionable.

If you are a blogger, I hope you will make every effort to attend. If you can't make it, see if one of your guest posters, or even one of your favorite commenters can attend. We want to have representation from as many blogs as possible so we can kick off this event in style!

All blogs represented at the Rendezvous will be given recognition, both at the Rendezvous itself, and on the Rendezvous website.

If you are a blogger, please help the Rendezvous by reading this site from end to end, and then do a post on the event.

If all you have time for is a one line link, we appreciate that too, but we need articles and posts about the event on every gun and mil blog out there if this is going to be a success.

The first year is the tough one, but after the first successful Rendezvous, the second one will be a whole lot easier, since everyone will have an idea of what to expect.

Thanks in advance for the help, and we'll see you in Reno!!