Getting new supplies for our field...

[Justus]

I thought I'd share some pics of my crew (with additional help, of course) getting new supplies for our field. Another local field closed down recently due to the owner passing in an auto accident, and the family allowed us to come and get some of the field supplies. I hate to have this field shut down, but I'm glad we can use the supplies. (Really, there's even too much for us to use.) Anyway, on to the pics:

http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/k562/JU57US/IMAG0215.jpg
Some of the mining truck tires were so big, our tractor couldn't handle them. Luckily one of the semi trucks we had helping us had a crane on top.

http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/k562/JU57US/IMAG0217.jpg

http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/k562/JU57US/IMAG0216.jpg

http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/k562/JU57US/IMAG0218.jpg
This pic shows some of the large wooden spools/reels we moved out too. We're going back on Saturday to get some more.

It's a lot of work, but I think our field and the new expansion will benefit a lot from it.

[MeÐiC]

Where's your field?

[Justus]

Southeast IL, near the Indiana border. The field that closed was west of Sullivan, IN, and we're right across the river.

[BonesJackson]

Wait what? Lot of fields in this area suddenly. How close are you to Fly-N-Colors?

edit- Oh man you're not too far. You're also going to be competing with the Badlands Offroad Park opening a paintball field up in Attica.

[Justus]

I don't know that we'll really be competing with Badlands. That's about 2 1/4 hours away from us. Fly-N-Colors is comparatively close, but still about an hour away. (My sister, my wife, and my sister-in-law all went to college at EIU at Charleston. Sis-in-law still lives there)

Also, we're completely volunteer run, and a private field. We don't really have hours for open play. We do our own events for the ministry (nonprofit), and then also do some private bookings with all moneys going right to the organization. What I'm concerned about is the paintball field in Sullivan closing, along with the fields in Flora, IL and Bridgeport, IL. I've heard that there's another field down near Dundas/Ingraham, IL starting up, but I know no details about it. If you say that there's more fields going up, that's good news from where I sit. :D I want to keep people in this area interested.

[ricco220273]

Wow that looks awesome
Good luck with the expansion

[manwe33]

Now we want to see some picture of your field :cheers:

[Justus]

I worked 4 hours Friday afternoon and 7 hours Saturday with a chainsaw as we undertook a clearing project on the field. We figured there was too much soft cover, which made it useless, and we need to clear space to use the hard cover spools and tires that we've now acquired. We also started moving the tires into place. It's coming along. I'll get pics of the field when it's in a better looking shape, though. I'm going to try to rent a wood chipper for this coming weekend to get rid of the brush we just cleared. :wthumpup:

[Axis]

Wow your field is going to be awesome! You should post some pictures when it's all done or close to it :wthumpup:

[RogueFactor]

Itd be nice to have a piece of property for a field.

Everything Ive looked at is either 1)Reasonably priced but too far away or 2)Too high priced but within decent driving distance

Looks like its going to be a cool field.

[Justus]

For the record, we are located in the middle of nowhere in SE Illinois. The largest community near us is 12 miles away and about 6500 in population. The largest 20,000+ city is about 40 miles away.

So, 50 to 100 people on a "large event" day is a small victory. 10 or more people on a regularly scheduled free play day is a nice-sized group to us.

We're still trying everything we can to build up an interest in paintball in our area. There are other things for kids to do around here, but most involve 1) things they shouldn't be doing or 2) things that are free or nearly free. We just try to make playing as cheap as possible, while still making it as cool as possible too. :wthumpup:

[Cunha]

Ahh tires like that would be real nice.

[Justus]

Yeah, I just got back from vacation and my father-in-law has used the tractor to place all the tires on our field, stacking them 4 and 5 high. If we ever need new stacks, we can steal a few tires off the tops of the current stacks (most are over 10' high with 4 tires on them).

He's been working on placing some of the spools this week, and we make our next run to get whatever else we can from the old field on Saturday. Then it's bunker placement time, and time to hang netting.

We've got an event planned for November 5. I just hope we're ready. We should be, but as the event planner I'm not satisfied until I can walk on the field and it's perfect. :wthumpup:

[RogueFactor]

Nothing is ever perfect, I bet you will weekly find ways to want to make it better.