For those that don't know what Fresno California is like.... There are no commercial paintball fields here! There are a lot of players who play locally on private land, but no commercial fields. Kind of hard to imagine for a city of half a million people, but there are those in our city and county governmental offices who have seen their way to making life difficult for field operators in the past, and there have also been field operators that didn't advertise or cater to their players (i.e. simply not good business operators).
Enough of my rantiong, and on the the topic at hand. Road trips. We headed south twice this summer, once to Fields of Honor in the Angeles National Forest, and once to Close Encounters in Newhall.
We went to Fields of Honor for their Memorial Day $1 game. Rode down the day before, and stayed with IRC buddy Jason Jones in Lancaster. We got sunburned riding the Jeep through the desert with the top down, but it was cool. I want to do some desert camping next spring, as I've not been to California's deserts but a couple of times. Up early the next morning, we pulled into FOH with Jason and Joey. Tash Dhillon was already there (he'd stayed with his aunt in LA the night before). We probably only played through half of the day, 'cause it was so hot. The rest of the day was spent lounging under the BizTent(tm), eating the Subway party Sub that Jason brought, and getting into water fights with the spray bottles we use to clean our gear.
In early August, we drove down to Newhall, played, and came back the same day. Whew! It's a 3 to 3.5 hour drive, and we'd been out carousing with friends here in Fresno until 2am, so we only got two hours of sleep. Fortunately the crew from I&I Sports that we were meeting down there got held up by an accident that blocked the 405. That gave us an hour or so to nap under the BizTent(tm) until they arrived. I liked how the field was run there. It was kind of small, and lopsided terrain wise, but the staff did a good job of keeping things going smoothly. Most of the people there were newbies and or first timers, a lot of them being youn'uns (the field's minimum age is 10). Surprisingly, things went well. Us "old timers" were given double arm-bands, so the refs knew what kind of behavior to expect from us vs. the newbies, and most of the day's games had a re-incarnation halfway through - for single banded players only. I liked that rule alot, as it gave the newbies an edge vs. the seasoned players.
So take a look below at some of the pics. I didn't go around snapping pics at FOH (It was too picin hot!), and only took a few at Close Encounters, because I discovered after arriving that I didn't pack the batteries for my flash (duh!).
Jason and JoeyOn the left, Jason Jones (AKA Marin1 on IRC) with his polished "Marin1-FX 'cocker", and on the right Joey Barti (AKA LACSon on IRC) with his 'mag. Hanging out before the start of a game in the deadly heat at Fields of Honor.Photo by Dawn Mills
Doug Devin at Fields of HonorWe finally met Doug face to face on this trip, after various e-mail and news conversations over the past year or so. In person he's got the same nice-guy sense of humor/attitude as on the net, but with a Canadian accent. He's pictured here with Steve Mitchell's black 'cocker (he'd borrowed Randy Kamiya's but a blown ASA seal put it out of comission). I wonder how long it will be before Steve realizes I still have it? Of note, Doug started scooting a 10 year old around to use as a shield while playing. He said he was doing it for the camera, but I've got to wonder... :-)
Al Iba of I&I SportsAl is the president of I&I Sports Supply Co., and a pretty cool guy. Here he is with his 'mag longballing across the gorge at Close Encounters.
Richard hammering away with a
Pro-AmHrmrmrm, I forgot Richard's last name, but he's a key guy at I&I, keeping the wheels oiled so the company runs smoothly. And no, he isn't playing after being hit. That hit on the loader, like all 'gun hits that day did not count as eliminations.
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