Fireworks with IFGian's in Michael IL, USA

[xl_target]

Haji,
That bridge-out photo was brilliant.
The idea, the composition; just great.

[conty1]

A quick note on those kabobs Deepak is talking about: That was supposed to be hamburger meat... and Brandon(Mark's eldest) and I didnt want any of those... so we add whatever spices we could gather around from Mark's house and make Sheek kabobs. From what everyone else had to say about the kabobs, they were yummy!!!


Cheers,
Amit

[Baljit]

Guy's ,here is some pictures and i would like to add these with XL's story.

This is the place where his Tomtom GPS take us.



Here is a picture where CK and Xl try to find the right directions to Mrak's place.

This is the gas station finelly we found and from here XL make a phone call to Mark for the right directions.

Finally we are on the ferry.



Enjoy
Baljit

to be continue...............

[captrakshitsharma]

Those black pilots were called Tuskegee airmen. Flew mustang p51 d with red tails

[xl_target]

Good observation, some of the pilots depicted were, but not all of them were "Redtail Angels". I recognized Benjamin O. Davis; once as a young pilot and later as a general.
The time line went from 1917 to the present day.

[Hammerhead]

We finally went down to "the Village" where we slept. There were two buildings there surrounded by a fence resembling a palisade.

That how they looked from inside.



We left this signed Canadian flag by all IFG's for Mark and family as a souvenir. If you zoom in on the left top white portion you can see IFG 2012 written in there.

[ckkalyan]

Fri 21 September:

I rose at 0400 hrs and started off bright and early at 0600 hrs from Richmond BC in my nippy 2008 Honda Civic DXG Coupe, headed out on to the close by Hwy 99 (speed limit 100kmph) which becomes I5 (speed limit 70 mph) in WA, USA. The roads were mostly empty and I made it in record time to the border at Peace Arch. Customs and Immigration was a quick 10 min job, a few basic questions and then I was through. I switched the odometer and speedometer from kilometers to miles, which I thought was a very handy feature to have.

I arrived at Bellingham WA Airport at 0730 hrs well in time to catch my Alaska Airlines plane at 0930 hrs. I was a bit taken aback when I saw the aircraft that I was supposed to fly in. It was a small Bombardier Q400 (DH4). In any case it was a very short 45 min flight to Seattle Airport.

As soon as I landed I could see that Baljit had texted me updates on his situation and location. He told me that I would have to take three trains to reach the departure gate. To my amusement I had to board a small electric train for a very short three minute ride to my gate. The announcements on the train were in Japanese and English that told me plenty about the origins of the vehicle!

I was able to find Baljit quite easily, where we had some much needed brunch before boarding the plane for St. Louis MO. To my relief the plane was a much larger Boeing this time. The trip was uneventful - I was asleep most of the time, to make up for my very early rising.

We arrived at St. Louis late by half an hour and found that XL was already there waiting for us over an hour. It was great to meet up with him, someone with whom we had exchanged many a PM and bantered with frequently, on the forum. He told us that his road trip took him about 8 hours. We exited the arrival area after collecting our luggage in short order and took an elevator to the open parking lot where XL’s trusty Dodge Intrepid was parked. We did not have much luggage as we had planned only for a three night stay at Mark’s place, Baljit had a suitcase and I had a backpack.

We lost our way several times and zigged and zagged to satisfy the insistent voice of the lady on XL’s Tom-tom GPS. After a few make it or break it attempts where we kept ending up next to nowhere, we came to the conclusion that Ms. Tom-Tom was hell bent on seeing us ford the Mississippi in XL’s Dodge, without the benefit whatsoever, of a water-craft!

......more later - rushing off to work now

[xl_target]

The night that we got there (Friday night), after eating, we settled down outside to chew the fat. Haji was there with his wife and two of his kids. Conty was there with his mother and father and his son Ethan. We all had a lot to talk about and lots of questions for each other. The bottle of Crown Royal that Baljit brought along was broached and talk flowed till four in the morning. We finally went down to "the Village" where we slept. There were two buildings there surrounded by a fence resembling a palisade. There were even raised areas where you could watch the outside or shoot from.

It got pretty cold at night but I was warm in my sleeping bag. Baljit and Kalyan were well lubricated and didn't feel a thing. Next morning Haji came in and woke us up and Conty's mom had some hot spiced tea for us. We then showered and headed down to Cabelas. Haji and family very generously treated us to a delicious lunch at a nearby restaurant. Haji's wife and daughter hit the shopping mall and the guys went to Cabelas. We had to pick up some Black Powder for the mortar and cannon (more on that later). Kalyan got a great deal on a camo four-in-one parka and Baljit bought a Nikon scope. Haji found a nice spotting scope. I bought a brick of Wolf Match Target .22 LR ammo also. There were all kinds of mouth watering deals there but you now how it is; so much stuff and so little money.

We then sadly said goodbye to Haji and his family as they began their long drive home. Haji gave me his card so if I ever want real estate in Toronto, I know who to go to . Baljit, Kalyan and I headed back to the ferry and went back to Mark's place. Unlike the song, we had to pay the ferryman (or ferrywoman in this case) before we reached the other side. By this time we had some familiarity with the roads and it wasn't quite as daunting or unfamiliar in the bright light of day. Just as we were leaving town, Conty (Amit) called us and asked us to pick up some groceries. We also stopped at a liquor store and picked up some more Crown Royal and beer for the night. Amit and Jennifer (Mark's wife) had created another great meal. If you ever go on a camping trip, make sure Amit goes along as, apart from his friendliness, he is an awesome chef. We had a sit down meal and then we retired to a cozy parlor in Mark's house and chatted till quite late before heading back to "the village" for the night.

I must apologize as I didn't take many photos over the weekend as Kalyan and Baljit were snapping away like crazy. I'm sure Baljit and Haji will be along soon to post photos to illustrate our accounts.

[Sakobav]

Great folks having fun

Cheers

[ckkalyan]

Thank you all for the interest and encouragement, we appreciate it tremendously!


Sat 22 September

I know I am repeating a few incidents here on this post, as we never really got around to deciding on who would pen what. I am glad that XL is posting whenever he has the opportunity, whereas if it was just me doing the penmanship, it would be quite a while getting to where we want to reach. Thanks XL-ji I appreciate your effort (great work on the write ups – you should take up writing as yet ‘another’ hobby) since it gives me some respite from my crazy, retail store, work schedules. Thank you!

Baljit also needs to find time to upload all the pictures so that we can insert resized, appropriate ones in the right time lines and areas. Many thanks Baljit!

Basically in this joint effort we are all sort of flying by the seat of our pants!

However, I am sure I echo the thoughts of all of us that attended that we had a superb fun experience. Thank you once again Mark & Family (especially Jennifer – Chef Par Excellence) for your hospitality and generosity and having us all over!

Trip to Cabelas and BassPro: Baljit, XL and I set off followed by Hammerhead his wife, son and daughter in his Chevrolet Impala. We landed up in time for lunch where we agreed to head for the Robert Evans Restaurant, nearby Cabelas and plenty of ‘other’ shopping venues. After a satisfying repast Hammerhead (thank you Haji for taking care of the bill) and son Sundeep joined us for the foray into Cabelas – the world’s foremost outfitter – as they call themselves, while the rest of the family peeled off to shop at other more normal shops!

However, by the time we finished exploring the delights of Cabelas, we discovered that we had over shot our scheduled timing; we decided to head back to Mark’s place (D2D = Dare To Dream) and skip the ‘fishy’ place – BassPro! On the way we stopped off at a fuel station to pick up essentials like what else - beer, cigarettes and water – in that order of priority!

Here I would like to list the IFG’ians that attended the meet at Mark’s place:

Besides Mark & family (Host at Michael, Illinois), there was XL_target (Minnesota), Conty1 & family (Chicago), from the US; Baljit (Kelowna, Okanagan Valley, BC), Hammerhead & family (Toronto, Ontario) and ckkalyan (Richmond, BC) from Canada. Plus, there were a couple of friends of Mark’s who dropped in from time to time, Ken the Movie Maker and John the Trapper / Hunter, Survival Specialist / Woodsman and shooter. Thank you all for the effort and passion!

John brought along a part of his own collection of weapons to shoot at the ‘range’ on Mark’s property. More on that later…

John came up one day with a long gun case, which contained a very old, beautiful Pietro Beretta shotgun that was in his family for perhaps more than 50 years and asked the gathering if we could come up with provenance and details. XL promptly shot close ups of the amazingly well preserved weapon and certificates. I’ll leave that part to XL to post in the right place with photos asking for information. Fascinating! It should make for some very interesting discussions in the shotgun pages.

Cheers! More on the way....

[prashantsingh]

Here I would like to list the IFG’ians that attended the meet at Mark’s place:

Besides Mark & family, there was XL, Conty1 & family, from the US; Baljit, Hammerhead & family and ckkalyan from Canada. Plus, there were a couple of friends of Mark’s who dropped in from time to time, Ken the Movie Maker and John the Trapper / Hunter, Survival Specialist / Woodsman and shooter.

Cheers! More on the way....

Hat's Off to you guys who (in todays times) took out time (travelling thousands of kilometers) and organised such an event.

I can't wait for the snaps of the cannon going "Bang" and all the weapons you all fired during your stay.
This post should be nominated for "The post of the Year 2012". and the award given to not just xl,CK and Baljit for their contribution in jotting down their experiences ;but to all those who put in the effort to attend the meet and made it a grand success .

[TC]

These guys are having some serious fun....



More pics please

TC

[Baljit]

OK Guy's, as you all know how we are lost on our way to Mark's place , thank's to Mr. Tomtom GPS and Mr.CK who giveing the directions to XL.Anyway finally we are on the ferry and we all make to the Mark's place.
I allready post some of pictures for you so here is some more pictures for you guy's,dinner time and when we meet each other.





Here when Mark show us his Colt 1911 in .45






Mark with his daughter.

CK , playing with Mark's Colt .45

Here is Mark's Colt .45


Ok Guy's these are the very first day (Friday night) picture's many more to come.

Enjoy
Baljit


to be continue...............

[conty1]

Time for my first report!!

We left from home at 11:30 AM on Friday, the 21st. My dad, mom and son Ethan who's 5 and half with me. After making a couple of pit stops for lunch and gas, and driving for about 5 hours, got to the (now) infamous bridge that was out for construction. Talked to the guy there about what other route we can take and he recommended we could either go back on the highway we came from and went further down the road to cross the river or we could take a ferry down the river. Having never been on a ferry that transports cars across a river, the choice was easy for us. After getting off the ferry on the other side, Mark's house was only about 10 minutes. And having read Mark's comments about how Google maps 'now' had pretty accurate directions, I didn't bother to even look at the GPS. We were the first ones to get to Mark's place. I think Mark is as good a host as any and he stopped whatever he was doing and took us on a tour of his property. After we got back to his house, Haji and his family showed up. We had already begun cooking dinner by now as we introduced ourselves to each other. XL, Ck and Baljit didn't show up until later thanks to the differences between Ck and TomTom(At least that's what I heard) !!

Check out the pictures for the ferry, the first night and the next morning!

Cheers,
Amit

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[captrakshitsharma]

This seems like an amazing get together and wonderful esprit de corp on part of IFGians in us and canada.... Wonderful people having a wonderful time.... Wish many more to come and hope it inspires some more of these in other places. I sure wish I was there....