Posted by Barb Wire on Monday, 7 December 1998, at 8:14 p.m., in response to Victorchille and Anthony de Longis., posted by Godiva on Monday, 7 December 1998, at 4:36 p.m.

Good Report Godiva!

To bring this into prospective, the Cowboy Christmas Event is a timed mounted shooting event. I liken it to barrel racing with a gun. There are mens, womens and jr.s brackets, and everyone dresses in authentic western garb. There are set patterns that the rider must navigate, and from horseback shoot (with blanks) balloons stationed along the way, using 2 guns they switch in between barrels. Pictures coming will hopefully make sense of this.

I arrived in Victorville on Saturday morning. It was clear and nippy, cool but not cold, and a gentle breeze. There had been a christmas parade (led by Dale Evans herself) early in the morning which I missed. Upon entering the museum parking lot, and seeing the parade ground all set up I wandered in to see if I could find Anthony and Mary. This ended up being very easy since they were sitting right outside the roped off area having a late breakfast. He and Mary were surrounded by the two Vicki's, Maureen Russell and the *other* Barb aka BJ or Brigit. Having spent a fun weekend with them on the cruise, it was a warm welcome from Mary, Anthony and Maureen. I was introduced to Hollywood (the rent a horse as Anthony would joke about during the weekend). Hollywood isnt a huge horse but he has a lot of heart! Hollywood was a bit tired from the parade, and seemed to be dozing, but man does that horse know when a camera is focused on him! During multiple photo op's Anthony most graciously afforded us, Hollywoood would not be hidden behind us fans, and in one hopeful picture to be developed he has his head leaning on my shoulder just to get in the frame (snerk).

Saturdays event was to be 4 different patterns to shoot, but due to the parade and a event/party inside the museum later for the Desperados they cut the saturday legs down to 2, with the thought that they would get 4 in on sunday (which was not to be). Anthony did well, for not having ridden western for some time, as he told us he does this type of event maybe every 6 months but I can say he was the only one with a *large* contingent of adoring fans. As is always his way, Anthony would finish his round with a flourish and ride right towards us with a big smile on his face for wonderful Photo Ops!

Anthony and Mary spent time looking at our pictures from previous encounters and keeping us up to date on the event when not on deck for his runs and when his last run was over for the day even shared some of the Dalwhinne scotch I brought him among his adoring fans before we left for the day.

I met up with Reo and BJ for dinner which ended with a *yummie* peanutbutter cup pie which was sinful and rich in both chocolate and peanutbutter.

It hailed/rained overnight, my car was covered by a thin sheet of ice in the morning, when we went back over to the museum. Godiva has given you a pretty good report on the events of sunday so I wont repeat. One correction is that Roys son Roy Rogers Jr, known as DUSTY and his son Roy Rogers grandson, DUSTIN were both there on both days. They were very nice people to speak with.

Another benefit was that due to the Cowboy Christmas event, admission to the museum was only $1.00 both days. great deal. we all went to see Trigger and Buttermilk and Bullet and even got AdL to sit on these little toy wooden horses for a photo op with us.

In all it was a great weekend with good friends! Next stop, end of trail I think.