Patrick Flanigan - Xtreme Sport Shooter

August 13th 2009 - 08/13/2009
Hey all, I want to apologize for being long overdue on my blogs and updates. Life is good and extremely busy!! In the last month I performed in Idaho, Illinois twice, ND, SD and MN. The shows went over great and many new memories were formed along with many new friendships. On July 6th I opened up a new MMA gym called the H.I.T. Center (www.hitcentermma.com) in my hometown of Oshkosh, WI. Matt Hughes helped out with getting the gym ready and on August 8th came up to do a seminar for the grand opening. Everything went great and the gym is a HIT, ha ha, get it? Ok, my jokes need some work. Winchester Legends has started airing on the Versus network so tune in and watch me do a little bird hunting throughout the country. For further information on Winchester Legends please visit www.winchester.com . Matt and I left the gym right after the seminar and headed down to his house in Hillsboro, IL where we watched UFC 101 and hung with the family. That night we watched Mark Hughes pull his pick up in the local truck and tractor pulls. Mark didn't win but did well. The next day we enjoyed a great burger at the Park and Eat in Hillsboro then Matt, Jimbo (Matt's father in law), Nate (Matt's webmaster) and myself packed into the Dodge and made our way to Sparta, IL for my show at the Grand American. The show went well and Matt and I signed autographs for over an hour in the White Flyer booth then we were off to dinner and finally back home. I'm now making my way over to the Chippewa Valley Games in WI for a show on Saturday. Then it's off to SD, TX and back to SD. I hope to catch up with you all at a show. Talk to you soon!

Idaho "Western Wings" - 06/20/2009
June 20th 2009 Were in Idaho patiently awaiting tonight's performance. I'm a little nervous that we may be looking at a rain-out as there are numerous storms in the area and a 60% chance of thunderstorms just prior to our show and continuing through-out the night. I hope they hold off long enough to get the show in as there is nothing I hate more then cancelling a performance. Cross your fingers!! I drove through some amazing landscapes on my way to Idaho including the Yellowstone National Park. All I can say is, "if you haven't seen it make sure you do". Well, it's time to get ready and get out to Western Wings for the performance. I will be sure to let you all know how everything turns out. Patrick

UFC 98 - 05/26/2009
Countdown to UFC 98! May, 20, 2009 en route to Las Vegas, NV Oh yeah baby! We are on our way to support our friend Matt Hughes who is scheduled to kick the tar out of Matt Serra this Saturday night and we are amped! Matt is hoping that Patrick can get there early as an extra body to work out with. Although Patrick would fall into a different weight class (light heavyweight) than Matt (welterweight) Matt intends to push hard in preparation for his upcoming bout. So our plan is to put on as many miles as we can tonight and push hard to arrive in Las Vegas tomorrow if at all possible. May 21, 2009.....Somewhere in western Texas After grabbing a hotel for a few precious hours sleep its back on the road as we polish off Texas, cut through a corner of New Mexico and make our way through Arizona. That sure is a whole lot of desert out there! How the heck did those old west cowboys travel that country with sparse water available and no air conditioning?! Just as we cross into Nevada we are met by the Hoover Dam where there is a lot of re-construction going on but is still a truly awesome sight. I had no idea it was so huge! We arrive in sin city about 9:00 PM and cruise the famous Las Vegas Strip as we search for our hotel. Let me tell ya if you haven't been there the movies and postcards just don't do it justice. It's not our first trip to sin city but the sight of the strip at night never fails to make your jaw drop. May 22, 2009......Las Vegas, NV After catching some much needed zzzzzzzzz's we are up early. (At least my watch said it was early but in Vegas the city is alive at any hour.) Patrick heads out to meet up with Matt and my job is to stay out of the way so I do what anyone in Vegas would do......I head to the casinos. Hey all! This is Patrick and now that I'm out of the truck I can take a few minutes to chat with you all. I am here in Matt Hughes hotel room and we are about to head down to the scales with Matt and his trainer Marc Fiore to check his weight. Yes! His weight is actually under the required weight of 170 pounds at 169.5. The official weigh-in takes place this afternoon at 4:00 PM. Matt is psyched now because it means he doesn't have to worry any more about cutting weight. We head back up to Matt's room and we spend the time before the weigh-in watching a movie, talking about upcoming hunts we have planned, and discussing future appearances for Team Flani-Hughes. Basically we talked about just about everything EXCEPT the upcoming fight. You see, all the pre-fight talking and planning and training has already been done by now and what is needed more than anything is relaxation. I was invited to go downstairs and sit backstage with Matt and the other fighters at the weigh-in. Meeting Lyoto Machita, the light heavyweight challenger on the card was quite an honor and just to take in the atmosphere backstage from the fighters perspective was an experience I won't soon forget. As expected Matt's weight was perfect and the staredown with his opponent Matt Serra seemed to be an omen of the intense match that was to take place the next night. There was none of the obligatory good luck hand shaking going on today that's for sure. After the weigh-in Matt put on a huge country boy feast for all those friends and family in attendance and again I felt honored to be included. The feast included pork ribs, beef ribs, chicken, squash, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, salad, mashed potatoes and so much more. FYI- that's how us Midwestern folk get down at our picnics!!! May 23, 2009.....Las Vegas, NV FIGHT DAY! I met up with Larry and Aaron Moore, Matt and my industry friends and owners of Laserlight products and after checking in with Matt who's job today was to just chill until the fight tonight. Larry, Aaron and I went out for a great sushi lunch before heading over to the arena. I should take this opportunity to both thank Larry and Aaron for there company, my ticket and apologize for my own. I was not my usual self all day because I was so pumped up about the fight. Earlier Mike made the comment that I was so intense he wondered if I was on the fight card myself. I guess I was so nervous because I wanted this win for my friend Matt so very badly. The undercard fights began at 4:45 with the Pay-Per-View broadcast beginning at 7:00 PM. I've got to admit that although I am a huge MMA fan and I was ringside at a major UFC event I was so amped about the Hughes/Serra fight that I couldn't seem to focus on the preliminary fights and I just wanted them to be over! Finally it was time for the fight and as they were showing the pre-fight promotions I felt the adrenaline pumping through my veins in anticipation. THE FIGHT! Matt Serra walks out first to "Rocky Theme Song" which seems a little cheesy but he is an east coast fighter and apparently thinks of himself as an MMA Rocky Balboa and then it is time for Matt's introduction. Matt walks out to "A Country Boy Can Survive" which is so appropriate because that is Matt Hughes all the way. Matt like myself, likes the simple life and all the down home values that go with it and he treats everyone he meets the same way, openly and honestly. The introductions over and the corners cleared from the ring it is finally time to Get it on! The two fighters are squaring off and sort of feeling each other out and I am already yelling so loud that I think Mike Tyson turned around and gave me a dirty look! During a clinch Matt Serra unintentionally headbutted Hughes and then chased after him trying to put him away. But although Matt Hughes was certainly stunned the blow seemed to trigger the Matt Hughes that I have come to know and Hughes quickly realized it's time to bring the pain. He got the take down on Serra and basically controlled the action for the remainder of the round. As someone who has rolled with Hughes in the past I knew that once Hughes had Serra in side control, Serra wasn't going to get out. I am heavier and stronger than Matt Serra and Hughes has had me in that same position and I could not escape his incredible strength. Hughes then took Serra's back and nearly locked in a rear naked choke which would have ended the match right there but Serra managed to survive til the end of the round. Rounds two and three saw Hughes continue to take Serra down and completely dominate him. At the end of round three Hughes and Serra congratulated each other and awaited the referee's decision. After what seemed an eternity the referee grabs both fighters hands as Michael Buffer announces that all three judges scored the fight in favor of.........Matt Hughes! As the referee raises Matt's hand in the air I let out a roar that you may be able to hear on the replay if you listen close enough. I felt a huge amount of relief at that point because the fight was finally behind us and my buddy was victorious! After the fight my phone lit up with calls and texts from friends and family sharing my same enthusiasm. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I've recently been more focused on Matt winning his fight then I have my own shooting profession. But don't worry fans I promise to hit the practice field when I get home. The night finally ended with Matt, myself, and Team Hughes enjoying a great meal in one of the many cafes at the MGM Grand as we breathed a collective sigh of relief. By the way, the Hughes/Serra fight was voted the Fight-of-the-Night even though the light heavyweight title changed hands that night with Lyoto Machita crushing Rashad Evans. I know Matt is honored. May 24, 2009......En route from Las Vegas to Home! Hi folks! Mike the sound guy writing to you again as we are once again back on the road with a looooooonng haul ahead of us. We are looking at about 26 hours of driving to get back home and after an exciting week it promises to be anti-climactic. I will say though that probably some of the most scenic country we have passed through on this trip was through Utah. The red rocks and mountains made you feel as though you were riding with a gang of old west outlaws hiding from a sheriff's posse. Extraordinarily beautiful country. Shortly after entering Colorado and getting into the Rocky Mountains we drove into some torrential rainstorms that brought visibility way down as well as making the roads slippery with some deep standing water. It was around midnight at this point so we decided it was a good time to find a motel and get a little sleep and hope the weather clears. May 25, 2009 ........somewhere in eastern Colorado It's about 5:00 AM and the rain seems to have stopped so it's back on the road and as we pass through a mountain pass in the Rockies the temperature has dropped to about 34 degrees and we see ice and snow on the road! Apparently a hailstorm had passed through recently and left the roadway a mess. We did see a car in the ditch lying on its roof with troopers and EMT's in attendance and it reminded us that anything can happen while on the road and the need to be constantly alert. We decide later in the day that driving conditions are good and the Memorial Day traffic isn't too heavy so we are going to try and make home base tonight. As we are driving into North Platte, Nebraska we see signs on the highway that Buffalo Bill's Ranch is coming up! Although we are anxious to get home we simply can't pass up this opportunity and we detour long enough to take this in. I've got to tell you it felt a little surreal touring the home of the man who began the Winchester exhibition shooting legacy with the current Winchester record holder. As we viewed the old guns and pictures and costumes used by Buffalo Bill I couldn't help but wonder how Mr. Cody would feel if he were here to view the Patrick Flanigan memorabilia as well. My guess is that after some back and forth bragging the two would shake hands in a show of mutual respect and head out back to do some shootin'. Overall we reflect that this has been a great trip and our UFC experience may be a once in a lifetime deal and was well worth the long drive. If you have patiently read this entire account, we thank you for your interest and hope you will stay tuned as we have a busy schedule this season including some record breaking attempts and we promise to keep you in the loop with more...... Stories from the Road!

Click on an image below for a closer look.




Wild, Wild West Part 2 - 05/26/2009
May 19, 2009.....en route to Austin, TX Oklahoma: A good nights rest and it's on the road again. You can't help but think about the history of this area as you travel through it. The dust bowl. The home of Will Rogers. The old west cowboys. And the home of so many great performers like Toby Keith and for the next several hours anyway.....Patrick Flanigan. (Hey I know my nose is a little brown right now but I'm bucking for a raise, Ok?) We make a stop for gas and while Patrick is inside his phone rings and I check to make sure it isn't urgent and there are four text messages waiting for him. Two from Matt Hughes, one from Mikey Kelley (voice of Michelangelo in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies) and one from Aaron Tippin. I am greatly thankful to see all these messages because it means that while Patrick is busy returning calls I can get some serious time in on the novel I'm currently reading. Texas: Here we are in the Lone Star State! The land where everything is bigger.....including the traffic jambs! I guess that is to be expected in a metro area as large as Dallas/Ft. Worth though. In the last two hours or so I overheard Patrick begin negotiations to possibly host a couple more TV shows produced by the people that already have the top three shows on the air pertaining to the outdoor industry. Stay tuned to your favorite outdoor programming folks cause there is lots of great Flanigan shooting coming up! No sooner does this phone conversation terminate and Pat is on the phone again trying to coordinate things for the MMA club that he is planning on opening back home. I swear, this guy juggles more things in the air than a circus clown. Well, we have about three hours left before Austin and it is going to feel darn good to get out of this truck, have a good meal and maybe relax by the pool for a while. May 20, 2009..... Austin, Tx It's showday! Our performance isn't until about 7:00 this evening so there is plenty of time to chill, run through the routines and the music and pick up some last minute supplies. We arrive at Spanish Oaks Golf Club about 4:00 and it is truly a beautiful facility! We are setting up to shoot right on one of the fairways and when we express our concerns about messing up their course we are assured that their grounds crews can handle whatever we throw at them. So we decide to go ahead with the pyro stuff and give em' the show of a lifetime. Our audience is a group of about 80 golf club members and guests as a kickoff to an annual tournament and although we half expected them to be very reserved, happily we were very wrong! The crowd was enthusiastic and Patrick's audience interaction was at the top of his game and he was hitting nearly every target he threw into the air. I think the patriotic salute for the finale was especially well received and was a great way to wrap up a somewhat abbreviated show at the club managements request. We were packed up and rolling by about 8:30 and we plug in the GPS coordinates for the Las Vegas strip cause now it's time for.................

Wild, Wild, West!! - 05/18/2009
Stories from the Road: The Wild, Wild, West May 17th, 2009....En Route from Phoenix, AZ One of the most often asked questions I get when I am on the road with my live shows is, "Why do you drive rather than fly to all these events all over this country?" And every once in a while I ask myself the same thing when on a long road trip, but it is times like today that make me say "Oh yeah, now I remember." I just spent the last two days at the National NRA show in Phoenix, Arizona and the show was great. I worked the booths of several of my sponsors and signed lots of autographs and got to talk with some great people. I got to the Phoenix airport early this morning to return home to Oshkosh and get ready for our drive tomorrow to Austin, Texas for a show. I find out right away that the airline didn't have my reservation on file and no ticket! So after a few phone calls and much er....discussion we get that straightened out. After arriving at the Minneapolis/St.Paul airport and find I've got a four hour layover. I figured I would use the time to catch up on e-mails and make some phone calls but frankly I was exhausted from the show and thinking about the trip tomorrow and what I need to pack, laundry to do etc and not much got done. I get on the plane as scheduled and we sit on the tarmac for about an hour before we are informed that there was a problem with the aircraft and we would have to switch to a different plane. "Ok, fine" I'm thinking. Stuff happens and at least they are being safe. When I arrive in Appleton, Wisconsin at the airport there, I'm waiting patiently for my luggage and guess what? You got it! No luggage arrived! I'm assured that the airline will track it down and get it to me as soon as possible. I quickly realize that I can't leave for my Texas run until my bags are found because they contain my show vest, clothing and toiletries that I need desperately. So I drive the half hour home hoping that my stuff arrives early the next day so I can get to the next gig in time and I try to get some sleep before the long drive tomorrow. I wake up early worried about my bags, the on-line tracking number produces no results so I drive to Appleton to try to put some pressure on the airport personnel and there is no one there! But........I do spot my bags behind the counter. What would you do? I did what had to be done, I left my ticket on the counter, grabbed my bag and hit the door running. I now rush home, throw some laundry in the machines and take my truck in for an oil change while they are washing and then hurry home to finish it up and repack. I pick up Mike my sound guy about four hours later than planned and it's on the road again. May 18, 2009 ...... en route to Austin, TX Hey everyone! It's Mike the sound guy writing to ya cause Patrick is driving and although he is quite talented, I tend to get a little nervous when he tries to type and drive at the same time. Just kidding, he would never do that......would he? Anyway we are currently just a short distance from Kansas City, Kansas or is it Missouri? Whatever, we have been on the road now for about ten hours and we are hoping to put a bunch more miles behind us as we make our way to do a show at the Spanish Oaks Golf Club near Austin, TX. I checked out their website and this is a very high end Golf Club and strictly a private performance. We have done these types of events before and they are always fun and usually a good crowd but I always wonder if they know what they are getting into. I mean, Patrick is going to blow a lot of stuff up and make a little mess on their pretty little golf course and I just hope they have seen the videos! Well we have about another ten hours of driving tomorrow before we get there and then have most of Wednesday to chill for a late afternoon show. I can talk to you about what the highway looks like but I think you would probably rather watch paint dry so I thought maybe I would fill you in a little bit on what it is like to spend hours on the road with Patrick. Today for instance we will cover about four states and it has gone something like this. Wisconsin: We are probably only an hour or so away from home and Patrick has made at least a dozen phone calls. One of those calls was to none other than country music legend Mr. Aaron Tippin. Patrick will be the first to tell you that Aaron is sort of his unofficial mentor when it comes to the entertainment business and the two of them are fast friends and they get together whenever their schedules permit. Today it seems Aaron was on a bear hunt in Alaska in between gigs and I think they were making plans to get together when Aaron flies in to Oshkosh for his annual EAA pilgrimage. Iowa: After checking in at home and making sure everyone is doing well Patrick is on the phone again this time with nine time welterweight UFC Champion, Matt Hughes. If you are a regular reader you know that Matt and Patrick are also good friends and train together often in their respective sports and Matt has a big fight coming up this weekend in Las Vegas, NV against his long time rival Matt Serra. Patrick and I are heading there after the Austin show to support our friend so buy your Pay-per view now for Saturday night and watch Matt Hughes kick the daylights out of Matt Serra. This will be my first time at an event this big and I am psyched! Missouri: We stopped to grab a bite to eat at what was advertised as a little café but turned out to be more of a supper club. The food was good but we ate up more time than we had planned but it did give Patrick time to recharge his phone. Back on the road and Patrick has fielded calls from at least two of the World Champion New York Giants players. I know he talked to offensive lineman Rich Seubert I think about doing Rich's Celebrity Charity Trap Shoot event next year and I overheard him make Rich promise that if the Giants get to the Superbowl this year Pat would get to walk out of the tunnel with the team! I would pay to see that! Now Patrick is a pretty big guy but those guys are huge! I think he also talked to long snapper and linebacker Zak DeOssie. I have no idea what he talked to Zak about but I think it had to do with some guy named Buck cause I heard the name brought up a few times. Kansas: Ok not much to report about Kansas. It's getting late and we are both tired and.......Did that highway sign just say "Follow the yellow brick road?" I guess I'm more tired than I thought. Ahhh there's the hotel. Time to get this posted and I'll catch up with you tomorrow.

Homeward Bound! - 03/09/2009
March 9, 2009 Approximately 3:30 PM CST I know, I know, your saying, "Ok the show was 2 days ago so how come you are just now getting the update done?" That's a fair enough question so let me try to explain and bring you up to date. When we arrived at the Beau Turner Youth Conservation event in Tallahassee we saw literally hundreds of kids of all ages learning about archery, hunter safety, shooting, fishing and everything else outdoors. It was awesome to see and as the benefactor of the property said "If we can even get just 1 kid interested in the outdoors and keep him out of jail it will all be worth the effort." I couldn't agree more. Also, a big shout out to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission for all their hard work. I know the kids had a blast! It was about 80 degrees and sunny at the time of the performance but perhaps a tad windier than ideal. In any case the new intro that we added this year I think was a big hit. At least that's the impression we go from the 1,000 cheering kids! I love doing the show for a crowd full of kids because I feed on their enthusiasm. And this crowd was VERY enthusiastic. In fact about the only down note of the show was that I felt a little numbness in what I thought was my fully healed shoulder. I even told myself before the show that I would lighten up a little and not throw quite as hard but when you are out there and the crowd is urging you on it is hard to contain yourself besides I never want to leave a show wondering if I cheated the audience cause I didn't give 100%. Hopefully the numbness is nothing that a few physical therapy sessions won't cure. I'll find out more when I get back home. Anyway, I'm told that it was a great show and I guess it must have been because I was surrounded for nearly an hour by the kids and parents wanting an autograph or picture. If truth be told I don't think I have ever been totally satisfied with a performance. I personally believe you can always do better. After packing up the truck we immediately started heading back home and after a long day preparing, performing and putting another 5 or 6 hours of driving in we grabbed a hotel in Birmingham, Alabama and I think I was half asleep before I got to the bed. Sorry all but I was just too exhausted to post a story that night. Headed out early again on Sunday and made our way through the rest of Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and into Illinois. Of course I can't travel through Illinois without taking time to visit with my good friends in the Hughes family. Matt Hughes (yes the 9 time UFC World Champion) was kind enough to barbecue some pork steaks for us that were mouth watering! Thanks Matt! His brother Mark swears that he can barbecue a pork chop that is even better so we offered to stop in on the next trip through and let him prove it. The sacrifices we make huh? Back on the road Sunday evening until we get too tired to keep driving and we make a stop for the night in Lincoln, Illinois. Found a beautiful new hotel in fact it was so new I think we were the first guests in that room! Unfortunately they still need to do some tweaking on their wireless router system because we can't get an internet connection. So that is why we are just getting around to posting this now. We arrived home on Monday about 1:30 PM to find about 6 inches of new snow piled up in the driveway so the first order of business was to break out the snow blower and shovels and clear it out. So much for the glamour of show business! Well thanks for coming along folks and we will be tuning and tweaking and getting ready for the next show so keep checking back for the next installment of Stories from the Road.

Click on an image below for a closer look.


Tallahassee-Morning of Show - 03/07/2009
March 7, 2009 About 10:00 AM EST Had a good nights sleep but woke up to find no coffee in the rooms! Don't these people know how much we need that jolt in the morning? Don't they know we have a show to do today? Just kidding it's just a minor inconvenience and I have to say that they do provide a good breakfast. Patrick is not happy though. You see, he woke to find that his favorite Saturday morning TV show (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) was a rerun. I didn't even know that show was still on the air! We have double and triple checked the show music line-up and all is good so it's time to head out to the venue and check it out! Stay tuned!

Tallahassee Show-Day 2 - 03/06/2009
March 6, 2009 Approximately 6:30 PM EST Hi all! This is Mike the Sound Guy and I have the honor of bringing you an update on day 2 of the trip to Tallahassee, Florida and what a day it has been! We started the day with a quick breakfast in Paducah, KY where Patrick let me know in no uncertain terms that apparently I snore like a grizzly bear. Now normally we have separate rooms and this isn't a problem but due to our not so bustling economy we shared a room. I have a feeling that was both the first and last time! He claims he didn't get a wink of sleep while I on the other hand slept like a log. How was I to know I was using a chainsaw on that log? The trip started smoothly enough and I gotta tell ya if you get a chance to drive through the Appalachian Mountain Range do it! It is gorgeous country. We did see the aftermath of what must have been a nasty storm in Kentucky with trees down all over the place but it must have happened a while ago because the highway was unimpeded. As we approached Atlanta things started getting a little hairy. As we were entering Peachtree City suddenly a re-tread tire fell right in front of us and due to heavy traffic all around us there was no avoiding it and we were forced to drive over it. Pat handled it like a pro though in avoiding what could have been a disaster. Don't tell him I said this but I think if I had been driving it would not have been pretty and I was impressed. Fortunately nothing was damaged but it sure scared the heck out of us! We had timed it so that we would hit Atlanta at about 2:30 PM to avoid the rush hour traffic. Ha Ha.......boy were we wrong! It seems that rush hour in Atlanta never stops! After about 2 hours of stop and go traffic we had managed to cover about 30 miles and there was no end in sight. Patrick finally got so frustrated he decided it was time to pull over for a bite to eat. Right now! He cut horizontally over about 8 lanes of traffic to the nearest exit and pulled into a very nice oriental restaurant where Patrick got to enjoy his favorite meal of sushi. Hoping the traffic had thinned a little we jump back on the interstate right into the middle of, you guessed it.........another traffic jamb! We are both totally fed up at this point so we tweak the GPS a little and decide to try some back roads just to keep moving. Turns out we weren't the only ones with this idea because even the back country roads were bumper to bumper! We did manage to find a U.S. highway that was actually moving and got back on track. Don't get me wrong folks we have traveled thousands of miles over the last few years and rush hour traffic is nothing new but this was a whole new dimension! I ask myself every time we go through one of these big cities why people choose to live here and deal with this every day? Anyway we lost about 2-3 hours so we will be rolling in to Tallahassee much later than anticipated. Ok we finally made it! The hotel rooms are great so now we can do some fine tuning of the show music, answer the days e-mails and post this Story from the Road. Time to catch some z's cause tomorrow is SHOW TIME!

Click on an image below for a closer look.


Tallahassee Show-Day 1 - 03/05/2009
March 5, 2009 Approximately 4:30 PM CST Hello everyone. Well, here we are on our way to our first live performance of 2009 and we are heading for Tallahassee, FL. This is actually my second drive to Florida this year the first being for the annual Shot Show in Orlando in January. We are scheduled to appear at the Beau Turner Youth Conservation Center on Saturday and we have another 900 miles to go but plenty of time. We started off this morning from my home in Oshkosh, WI at about 9:00 AM with the new show format running through my head almost continuously since then. As we do every year we have made some dynamic changes to the show as we constantly strive to improve it and it always takes me a few shows to get comfortable with the new routines. So I'm starting this trip with mixed emotions. I have been itching to get back in front of a live audience so I'm excited about that. Shooting TV shows and attending industry gatherings are great but performing in front of an audience with a gun in my hand&&..man, there just isn't another feeling like that in the world! Ok, to be totally honest I approach this first show with a little apprehension too. It's a new revamped show as I mentioned before but you loyal followers will also remember that I am also coming off of an injury that was potentially career ending. I'm so grateful that I was able to overcome what I thought was nerve damage with physical therapy and a specially tuned exercise regimen. Thanks Dr. Fletcher! I'm also feeling at this moment a bit of a queasy stomach. No, it's not nerves. I'm pretty sure it's the pizza we just had with hamburger, onions and jalapenos! I bet there is some math wizard reading this right now with a slide rule saying that we aren't making very good time given the distance we have traveled and the time elapsed and that person would be absolutely right! We lost about an hour and a half today when we missed an exit in road construction and drove 60 miles in the wrong direction and then back to where we were supposed to be. The GPS is a wonderful invention but won't do you any good if you forget to turn it back on after stopping! No problem, we have lots of time. 9:15 PM CST Pulled over in Paducah, Kentucky and had a great dinner at a Chinese restaurant which pretty much knocked us out for the night. Grabbed a hotel room where more work begins. When on the road this is about my only chance to catch up on all the e-mails and upload these Stories from the Road to the website. Looking forward to a good nights sleep and we will start all over tomorrow. Stay tuned... Patrick