Report - IDPA Europe
By
Gary W. Burris

It was my honor to be invited to go to Bologna, Italy in April of this year to participate in a Safety Officer Training class. Bologna is the largest city in the Emilia-Romagna region, situated between Tuscany and Veneto.

Information from WikipediA (online free encyclopedia) describes Bologna as the jewel of northern Italy, an elegant and sophisticated university town considered by many to be the gastronomic capital of the country. Bologna is a well-preserved medieval city rich with beautiful cathedrals, towers, piazzas and charming narrow streets, painted in dark red and orange colors typical of Northern Italy. Situated in the fertile Po River Valley, the rich local cuisine depends heavily on meats and cheeses. As in all of Emilia-Romagna, the production of cured pork meats such as prosciutto, mortadella and salame is an important part of the local food industry. Well-regarded nearby vineyards include Pignoletto dei Colli Bolognesi, Lambrusco di Modena and Sangiovese di Romagna. Tagliatelle al ragù, lasagne, tortellini served in broth and mortadella, the original Bologna sausage, are among the local specialties.
Robert Ray from IDPA Headquarters and I flew to Milan, Italy where we were met by Giorgio Acerboni, area coordinator for Italy, and Franco D’anna from Michigan who served as chief Safety Officer Instructor (SOI) and interpreter.

Before going to Bologna we toured a couple of shooting ranges near Brescia, Italy. The first is where the IDPA Italian National and European Championship matches will be held at the end of October of this year. There are a number of shooting bays and the plan is to set up the Italian Nationals with each bay sponsored and manned by a different Italian IDPA club. There will be ten scenarios in the Italian National match. Another six scenarios will be set up for the European Championship. The European Championship consists of all sixteen scenarios. Shooters have the option to shoot both matches if they want or they may shoot only the one of their choice. Side matches will be set up in other bays for shooters to play in.

Secondly, Renato Lamera, exhibition shooter and world record holder for hand thrown clay birds, is building what will be a shooting resort of world class proportions. He plans a hotel, restaurant and hiking/exercise trail on the site of the range. He had opened a portion of the skeet and trap range just a week before we arrived. The pistol bays are still under construction and we met with him to discuss how best to build these bays to facilitate IDPA shooting. This place must be seen to be believed. There are underground tunnels leading to the clay bird throwers so they can be charged without shutting down the range. Shooters may be observed from behind glass walls and there are seating areas to just sit and enjoy the shooting.

We arrived in Bologna on Friday evening and had a little social time with some old friends I had met the last time I went to Italy. Saturday we went to the range and set up to begin the SO class. I didn’t believe it was a shooting range at first. From the front the building looks like a school building or perhaps a warehouse. However, the entire back side is a range. Specifically, it is an Olympic shooting range with about 60 shooting positions. Another part looked like it was for air guns and finally another portion was set aside for IDPA shooting.

The classroom had two overhead projectors that we used to project the course material in both English and Italian. Franco presented the information while Robert and I responded to questions raised by the students. Late in the afternoon I played the part of a shooter and Franco was the Safety Officer while we demonstrated many of the things a safety officer will be challenged with during a match. It was a lot of fun and I think Franco learned as much as the students.

Saturday evening we went to dinner and everything the online encyclopedia said about the food in Bologna is true. I’ve never tasted better cheese or prepared meats. Dinner was over about midnight and one of the students asked if we wanted to see the shop where he makes shotguns. So without a moments’ hesitation we were off to see his shop. These are side-by-side shotguns only and every part is handmade. He makes one or two of these guns a year and the price starts about $40,000. I need to talk with my wife about an increase in my allowance. I tore myself away and returned to the hotel and bed about 2 a.m.

Sunday SO training was similar to that presented on Saturday but the students were already safety officers and this served as a refresher for them. Mostly we discussed some of the finer details of the IDPA sport. Several side meetings were held with range owners from around Italy and other member nations about the upcoming Italian Nationals and European Championship matches.

We departed Bologna in the late afternoon and drove to Bergamo, Italy. Monday in Bergamo was spent seeing the sites and watching people while relaxing in a quaint piazza sipping a cool drink. There was the obligatory trip up to Bergamo Alta, the original walled city on a hill top. The view from the high city is spectacular. Late in the afternoon we took the funicular down to the lower city for some shopping and then returned to our rooms to pack for the return trip to the good old USA.

The final evening in Italy it was my pleasure to treat Giorgio, his wife and two daughters, Robert and his wife Ronda as well as Franco to dinner. We had real Italian pizza and an unforgettable time of fellowship.

Fishing in Canada
By
Gary W. Burris

My friends of almost 30 years, Roger and Alverna Peterson, own a cabin on Finlayson Lake near Atikokan, Ontario, Canada and have invited me to come and stay with them for several years. Roger always told tales of the great fishing that I could expect if only I would come for a visit. So I decided that 2007 was the year I would take him up on his offer. I didn’t have to pack very many clothes because a washer and dryer are available at Roger’s cabin. Also, there are at least 50 sets of rod and reels to choose from, several boats complete with motor, trolling motor, fish finder and GPS. There is also a float plane if needed.

I asked my road dog, Johnny Van Etta, if he would be interested in spending some time fishing in Canada. He started packing. We departed Houston in the early morning on July the 4th for another great adventure.

Handguns are almost impossible to import into Canada. And traveling for two days without personal protection is not something we wanted to do. It occurred to me that we could have our protection at least part way if we could figure a way to leave the guns in Minnesota while we were in Canada and pick them up on the trip back. Johnny contacted the International Falls, MN Chief of Police, Chris Raboin, to inquire about leaving our handguns with him while in Canada. His reply was, “Yes, you can drop your hog legs off at our door. You will be issued a receipt. You can redeem your weapons in person when you return from Canada by presenting your receipt. Have a nice trip.” Problem solved.

Johnny and I decided we would drive because neither of us had ever seen Minnesota. We drove about 1000 miles the first day and stayed overnight in Iowa. We drove the remaining distance the next day and arrived at the lake around 7pm. I had heard that Minnesota was the state of 10,000 lakes. I think that was a lot of propaganda because I counted only 31 as we drove through the state.

We crossed into Canada at International Falls, Minnesota. But prior to crossing we went to the police department and left our hog legs in the care and custody of the nice policeman. We stopped by a grocery store and stocked up on snack type food. Then we stopped at a sport shop and got some night crawlers as requested by Roger. The final stop prior to departing the country was the gas station to top off the gas tank because gasoline in Canada is over $5 a gallon.

We breezed through Canadian customs without any problems and immediately got lost. Somehow we missed a turn and wondered around until we found a kind native who gave us directions to the highway headed east. The road signs indicating the legal speed limit are in kilometers per hour. Fortunately my speedometer has both mph and kph scales so we were able to drive the prescribed 90 kph (about 56 mph) without violating any laws. Of course I mentioned to Roger that I didn’t care what the signs said, there was no way I was going to drive 90 mph on those twisting and turning roads. I think Alverna thought I was serious and we all had a good laugh. It did take us a little while to realize that the signs giving distances to towns were in kilometers too. And we felt better when we figured out it was only 86 miles to Atikokan not 140.

There was a plan to bring a truck load of fish back to Houston. Johnny took his vacuum sealer and we planned to seal and freeze our limit each day. We discovered that we could only have two days limit in our possession. That means the huge ice chest we took to pack full of fish to bring home was way more than we needed.

As I mentioned, we arrived at our destination about 7 o’clock in the evening and discovered that the little resort was having a fish fry and covered dish get together. They invited us to sit down and enjoy some food with them. So far the trip was off to a good start. Finlayson Resort consists of a few rental cabins, a camping area and a small office/store. There are a number of private cabins like Roger’s. The normal summer population excluding rentals and campers is probably not more than 30 people.

The next morning we went to the store and got our fishing licenses and headed for the lake. Fishing was only fair for walleye and northern pike but the small mouth bass seemed to be hungry. Small mouth bass are a hoot to catch. They jump a lot more than their cousins the large mouth bass. And if you hook one in the 4 to 6 pound range they fight like something twice their size.

One day we drove to another lake and launched the boat. Some people had told us about catching over 60 walleye in this lake. We did catch a couple but they seemed not very active. Roger tried to stir up the fish by driving the boat in a tight circle. He immediately caught one after that, however, it didn’t work the second time we tried it. The highlight at this lake was we saw a moose swimming in the lake. We must have disturbed it because it climbed out, gave us a good once over and moved off into the forest.

There were lots of things to occupy our time when not fishing. We followed some snowmobile trails in a four-wheeler and I went on my first float plane ride. We helped Roger with some of his projects around the cabin.

My friend Roger is kind of a high-tech nut. He built a solar powered electrical system complete with banks of batteries, inverter and diesel generator backup. The system is large enough to run two cabins with plenty of power to spare. It is all monitored by computer and he can log into the system via the internet to check how things are running. He also has some web cameras set up around the house and you can view one of them on line at: http://www.pmmi-inc.com/Webcam.html. This camera is pointed toward the lake and you can see the fish-cleaning house through the trees on the left by the water and the thin yellow line on the right is the wing of the float plane hiding behind a tree.

Roger built the float plane. It is an Experimental and is similar to a Piper J-3. I’d say it is a bit smaller because I felt pretty cramped in the back seat. The plane had a lot less vibration than I remembered the old J-3 having. I was a little concerned about making a landing on water but we made the smoothest landing I’ve ever made in a small plane. Roger and his wife fly the plane to Canada from Texas every year and then back for the winter. They stop somewhere in Minnesota and put the floats on when they fly up and then change back to wheels when they return.

One of Roger’s high-tech devices that Johnny and I encountered was an electronic toilet seat. I was never brave enough to push any of the buttons and I’m pretty sure that Johnny eyed the device with some trepidation as well.

Alverna made breakfast for us every morning. So we helped assemble a gazebo for her. She was able to sit in the gazebo and read or watch the squirrels without being molested by the mosquitoes and biting flies. It has a canvas top and mosquito netting on the sides. Johnny and I spent a lot of time in the evenings sitting outside in the gazebo watching the lake as the day faded into the night.

We thought we should give something to the Petersons as a thank you for hosting our adventure. What we came up with was four, 5-piece, place settings of Knork flatware and a serving set. Alverna was thrilled with this gift. She said the design looked Scandinavian. She immediately took the old flatware out of her kitchen drawer and replaced it with the Knorks.

The return trip was pretty uneventful. We crossed the border with no problem and retrieved our hog legs without incident. Then it was just a matter of putting some miles behind us.

As I reflect on the whole experience, I have to say that the fishing was great but the catching was just so-so. The beautiful countryside, lake vistas, clear fresh air and hospitality certainly made the whole trip worthwhile.