Phew….
I don’t remember if it was the first year the state shoot was held in Bostic or the year after. I only know it was one of the initial shoots there.
It was and remains a highly anticipated event and, for many is the highlight of the trapshooting season. Fred Redmon, Tom Brown and myself included.
In an effort to save a few dollars the three of us agreed to split the costs of a motel room in Spindale at the Super 8. I’ll let ya know right now, do not take hotel/motel advice from me. That place was nasty. For the last several years, when travel requires overnight stay, my wife will secure Air BnB accommodations for me/us.
As I recall, Tom and I both got there a day ahead of Fred. Shot, ate locally and got to the motel without any significant issue(s).
Fred did make it in the next day. We met up at the HG in the morning and shot our respective events with our respective squads. We decided to eat at Ryan’s that night. If you’ve never eaten at a Ryan’s, they had great food there. The smorgasbord options/selections were all enticing.
Mr. Brown took it to the next level. I had never seen anyone that size eat sooooo much. Have never seen anyone eat that much since. Tom went to the food bar at least 10 times, seriously. Then he had desert…………. I believe this plays into what happened later that night.
The motel was just a few miles from Ryan’s. Easy to find as it’s right next to the highway. After Tom finally got full we made it to the room. Arrangements were, I had the bed closest to the door, Tom had the bed further in and they brought in a rollaway for Fred. Fred’s bed was set up with the head of it pointed at and close to the bathroom. After the usual BS session about shooting and watching TV for awhile it was time for rest.
Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up to the following. Tom sitting up with his back against the wall, staring straight ahead puffing on a cigar. Fred was sound asleep on his cot, only his nose appeared to be twitching uncontrollably.
Fred’s condition wasn’t entirely due to the cigar smoke. Evidently Tom had gotten up a little earlier and relieved his bowels of the foulest, nastiest gut bomb ever created. I swear there was a blue, green and purple noxious cloud floating in the room. And, the cloud had hair on it and teeth!
About that time Fred woke up and started gagging. Then the cloud growled at him. In effort to save us, I hurried to open the door and turn the room fan on high. The cloud creature escaped outside.
I swear it’s still there menacing the poor citizens of and visitors to the local communities.
Lessons learned.
See you next time wherever it is. Travel Safe. Dan