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My Trip To Front Sight: Part 1: Getting There
Evil ATF
Member Posts: 1,195 ✭✭✭✭✭
My Trip To Front Sight Firearms AcademyPart One: Getting ThereI left home at approximately 5 pm on Wednesday, February 20th for the long drive to Front Sight, which is located about 15 miles from Pahrump, Nevada. Since I'm located in southern Washington State, I had a good 24-hour drive to look forward to. After putting down I-84 for several hours, I hit some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen. The large amounts of snow in the mountain passes on the Oregon/Idaho border made me a little nervous, since I was driving my wife's brand new little Ford Escort ZX2 and didn't have chains on me. I would have taken my Ford Exploder, but it has a hair over 100,000 miles on it and didn't want to risk a breakdown so far from home. I am, after all, a gun nut and not a mechanic. I'm lucky to have the know how to put gas in my tank, let alone troubleshoot an engine problem hundreds of miles from nowhere!After coming down out of the hills and into Idaho, things went a lot faster. I was lucky not to encounter any of Idaho's finest on my trip. The straight streches of road were perfect for flying down the freeway at 95+. It was about midnight local time when I reached Boise. I stopped for gas and was getting a little tired, not to mention hungry. Knowing that I had family and militia friends in the area, I pulled out my cell phone and gave mom a call asking if she knew anyone close by that I could get a hot and a cot from for an hour or two. As it turns out, I had completely forgotten about my uncle who is stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base. I would be driving right by the base after I left Boise. I would have called him from the get go, but thought that Mountain Home was up north in Idaho's "Aryan Country". Lucky for me, my map skills suck and the Base is in the SW end of the state. Anyhow, I gave my uncle a ring and he said he'd love to have me. After getting directions to the base, I made use of the facilities at the gas station and hit the road again. 45 minutes later, I was pulling up to the front gates of the base. Now, I'm no fool. I made damn sure to unload my handgun and place it in the glove box. However, I neglected to remove my holster or mag pouch from my belt. I had a heavy vest on and figured that there was no sense in shedding all my gear, as I was only going to be at the base for an hour or two tops. I wanted to make good time, after all. Well, the front gate guards looked like they meant business. I rolled up and informed them that I was there to visit my uncle. They had me pull off to the side and wait in the second guard shack, located twenty feet inside. I called my uncle from inside the heated shack, where two men and a woman were running guard duty there. One man and the woman both sported M9's, while the youngest of the crowd at what looked to be no more than 15 sported an M-16, sans magazine. The woman was finishing up my visitor's pass and asked me to sign the forms. As I bent down, Junior with the 16 spotted the bottom of my holster protruding slightly beneath the vest I was wearing. As I turned around from signing my forms, I was looking down the barrel of the kid's 16. Luckily for me (or perhaps for the kid with the unloaded rifle), my uncle rolled up at that moment and was able to straighten everything out. My luck took another turn for the worst as they declared that new base policy required all visiting vehicles to be searched without fail. So, I went outside and opened up my trunk, car doors, and glove box. Remember me mentioning the unloaded 1911 in the glove box earlier? Well, it made an encore appearance. I was once again looking down the barrel of Junior's 16, only he had loaded a mag for the occasion. Once again, my uncle saved the day by pointing out the unloaded mag well and locked back slide of the weapon. So, that problem solved, they moved to the rear of my car and looked into the trunk. After explaining to the nice security people why I had an unloaded M1A and 5,000 rounds of .45 ACP and .308 in the trunk along with enough MRE's to equip a small army, they let me pass into the base. I had a good time catching up with my uncle, whom I hadn't seen in 5 years. He sent me on my way a few hours later with a fresh thermos of coffee, some more MRE's, and a brand new woodland camo Gortex jacket. I love being the same size as my uncle! I haven't bought BDU's or any other gear in eons! Idaho sure is beautiful country, though it was cold enough to freeze the balls off of a brass monkey! I don't think it topped 15 during the day! Needless to say, I was glad to have the Gortex. Let me just say that Nevada sports some of the strangest, most rude people I have ever encountered, while I sincerely liked every soul I met in Idaho, with the obvious exception of Junior and his 16.The most difficult thing about traveling through Nevada was finding places to gas up. Once you get into the desert areas and "No Man's Land", gas stations are few and far between, which is another reason I chose the ZX2 instead of my Explorer: Gas Mileage. You'll see nothing for 200+ miles, then encounter a small town that had burned down years ago. It was quite hard to tell if the gas stations were part of the debris as well, or were functioning and just very dirty. I stopped at one particular station about 100 miles north of Ely. I wasn't sure if the place was abandoned or not, so I made sure my pistol was in plain sight (Nevada is open carry: God bless `em!) and stepped into the front doorway. Notice I said doorway and not door. After being startled by Bubba and his Deliverance-looking friends who were playing poker in the back room, I was gassed up and on my way again. I hit Vegas at about 2 pm on Thursday. I stayed at Saddle West Hotel and Casino in Pahrump, which is about an hour's drive west of Vegas. Talk about ****holes. The place was thoroughly trashed: Even the showerhead had been stolen! But, I didn't care. At least the place was clean. After dead bolting the door to my room and propping a chair under the knob, I unpacked and got some well-needed sleep.To Be Continued...
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