Eastern WA OC Report

Yesterday was a quiet OC day for me. Went to Franklin Park to watch the wife play softball, then to Home Depot for some electrical supplies and then to Costco to get some Pizza for the boys before my wife and I went to Isabella's for dinner. This is a very tasty date night eatery if you have never been. I highly recommend it.

In Costco we walked right past the service desk, stood in line at the food court and then right back out without any trouble. Next time I think I will try OC while shopping the isles with my wife. I will be sure to report how that goes.

4/16/11

Walmart in the morning to pickup a batter for the pickup. After looking over their selection I decided Costco would be a better bet, so off we went. As I wrote last time, I decided to OC on my next shopping trip there so I did just that. Walked past the membership desk with three employees standing there doing nothing and marched to the automotive department waiting to be asked to leave. That request never came and I saved $20 over Walmart while getting a better battery. The wife and I continued to shop for about an hour. The place was packed as expected on a Saturday morning with lots of employees as well. Never a second glance from either members or employees. In other words, a regular Eastern Washington OC experience.

I know this is a touchy subject on this forum, but I am of the opinion that until they post the doors or provide written policy in their membership literature, that I am to assume they have no policy against it. Emails from an employee serve nothing but to prove that particular employee's opinion on the matter. If asked to leave, I will, but not without politely expressing the desire to see written expression of the companies policy regarding the subject of members possessing firearms in their stores.

At the Spokane Tea Party with Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers 4/16/11

Orphan said:

At the Spokane Tea Party with Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers 4/16/11

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Excellent!

OC'ed all day shopping with the wife and kid nothing than went on a hike in the dishman hills nothing so another great day!

BigD,

Thanks for posting and welcome to OCDO!

Orphan said:

At the Spokane Tea Party with Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers 4/16/11

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I totally forgot that was happening. I would loved to have joined you Orphan.

They had a couple of pretty good speakers and a few pretty bad ones. Low turn out due to the weather I am guessing. Our very own Dwordinger was one of the speakers, Dwordinger was OCing the whole time and sat just behind McMorris. Good job Dave.

Snarley I didn't think to post the event here, Fetch, Dwordinger and Iyellatmytv were there as well as the Eastern Washington Milita all OCing. Oh and 3 plainclothes SPD officers that were not very undercover, I dont think they were very worried they looked more bored than alert.

I would love to report that I have been OC'ing all over Spokane for the last few weeks, but it is too friggin cold to go outside without a jacket. Occasional OC in restaurants, dentist's office and such, but not in the general public.

Brrrrrrrrrrr.

bob

Not a whole lot to report, as I haven't been out too much. Another carefree trip to Post falls Wally World, & then on to O'reilly for some power steering fluid. As I was topping the fluid off I had a guy ask if I was packing an XD tactical. He may have been a unicorn, but was out on his bike on a 40's day, so he had to lift a jacket when saying how much he loved his. We shook hands & chatted xd's for a few seconds before the friend he was meeting came about & we each went our merry way. Nobody in the store seemed to notice or care either. Just an easy day of running errands.

Same here for non-eventful. Past few weeks carried to Autozone a couple of times. Lost another NAPA alternator in my powerstroke so I decided to give the autozone alternators a chance since I was tired of changing the NAPA one once a year. The fellows at the far valley store never mentioned my carry. I had to go to the near valley one by havanna/sprague this time though because my truck was stranded on the South Hill and they noticed and were all pro-gun/oc. One of the managers even stated to an employee who asked if i had a "permit to carry" that I didn't need one in Washington State to OC before I even said anything back to the associate. After that both associates and the manager and I BS'ed about guns for a bit while they tested the old and new alternator before I went on my merry way. (I did like that they tested the one they sold me off the shelf before I left) Other than that its been buisness as usual at Wally World, BigR, Fred Meyer and a few other places. Gotta love the east side!

-Thor

Thor80 said:

Same here for non-eventful. Past few weeks carried to Autozone a couple of times. Lost another NAPA alternator in my powerstroke so I decided to give the autozone alternators a chance since I was tired of changing the NAPA one once a year.

-Thor

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Ford switched to the "small cased" alternator in 99 for the P-Stroke and nothing but problems. Rectifier burns out.

See if you can get a "Large Case" alternator (pre-99) or one of the aftermarket HD alternators designed to overcome this issue. (I worked PT in an A/P store as a "retirement job" for a couple of years and saw at least one P-Stroke alternator a day). Also check your batteries. The biggest and largest capacity batteries you can put in the trays will help take some load off the alternator. They'll start the engine quicker and the alternator will not have to work as long or as hard to replace the "juice".

I was too busy to post last week, but I had a great OC weekend and Easter.

It started with some good donuts and discourse at our monthly OC gathering. Then to Rosaures where someone asks me if i am carrying an SR5? Later we hit up Sr. Froggy for lunch and DQ for desert.

Finally it was off to Costco to pick up some pizzas as we had some extra guests to feed. I have OC'd there twice now without incident so didn't give it much thought this time. We got there just before closing, so there was quite a line at the food court. The next gal in line behind me looks at the wait and then says "Well, if this Cop can wait than so can I." I look at my son and snicker, then she says:
"Aren't you a Cop?"
"No"
"Security Officer?"
"No Mam, just an armed citizen."
"Oh!, Well good for you. I am a member of the NRA. Bla Bla Bla."

That is the only conversation I have had about open carry in three trips to the Spokane Valley Costco. Personally, I am putting this debate to bed. I have yet to see a singe shred of evidence that a No-Gun membership policy exists and personal experience leads me to believe that this is not an issue, at least in my neck of the woods.

I am off for another care free day of OC in Spokane, I hope to see some of you along the way.

Finally a nice day to be out without a jacket. Had a Dr's appt at Rockwood and left the gun in the car. They have posted their entrances for guns and knives.

Then off to IHOP in the Valley so SWMBO could have brinner with no issues. Then because we were close we had to stop in Best Buy and spend our obligatory hard earned dollars for some CD's, no issues although I was asked by many people if I had questions. Boy, did I have questions.

After that we scooted off to the Firestone store on Sprague, if you need tires this may be a good time. They are selling tires at cost for a couple of weeks. Milled around quite while and nobody said a thing.

The for the final stop of the night, Sharp Shooting Range for a Friends of the NRA meeting. To go in there I had to put on a jacket and cover my gun. Go figure, a gun range that doesn't allow you to exercise your right to OC. But, they do have a new sign on the front that says it is OK to carry concealed with a permit. All other guns must be unloaded and cased or something like that. I really didn't pay much attenion to it. I only go there for the FNRA meetings anyhow. No way will Robin or her business get any of my money.

That was it for today. Tomorrow is a fresh day with more running around.

bob

Thor, go to a larger capacity alternator. Diesel, winch, AC all that stuff puts an extra load...as well as batteries that are not all the way up, all will shorten the life of an alternator.

Your small case alternator is rated at only 110 amps and only works really well at the higher rpms you get at road speed. (especially if you are charging RV batteries with it on occation, like at idle in a campground) You bump that up to 200 amps in say a large 6g case, and you will probably never have to replace an alternator again in the lifetime of you truck.

First Time Open Carry

So I'm still a newbie, but like to read about everyone's experiences with Open Carry. I OC'd for the first time last weekend hiking up in the Dishman Hills. Had no problems, although I expected none being up there. I guess it was an easy first OC for me. Sure beat trying to conceal in a t-shirt. My Crossbreed does a pretty good job concealing, but I don't like baggy clothes, so it was nice not having to worry about printing.

The only thing of note that happened was I passed a guy on the trail with his two little kids. I had my 2-year old son on my shoulders, so my gun was in plain view at about 4:30. We both said "hi" and he saw my xdm on my side right as we passed. He just glanced at it. No big deal. We were up with my wife's dad and stepmom...I'm sure they saw that I was carrying. Now they know I carry. I wonder what they said when we all parted. Anyways, thanks for the stories. Maybe one of these days I'll man up and OC somewhere besides the wilderness. I'd also like to attend an OC event sometime...I'll keep an eye out for the next one and hopefully make it. I'm pretty busy with work and school. Keep the OC stories coming. -Steve

ScubaSteve:

If you every are over in North Central WA you can go hiking in the Pasayten Wilderness, or are hiking and/or fishing anywhere here in the Many Lakes area of the Okanogan, stop in at my favorite restaurant, that is Sully's in Loomis. You won't even get a blink.

Pasayten

hermannr said:

ScubaSteve:

If you every are over in North Central WA you can go hiking in the Pasayten Wilderness, or are hiking and/or fishing anywhere here in the Many Lakes area of the Okanogan, stop in at my favorite restaurant, that is Sully's in Loomis. You won't even get a blink.

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I don't remember seeing Sully's but I'll check it out next time I'm heading up to Iron Gate. Do they do good breakfasts?

hermannr said:

ScubaSteve:

If you every are over in North Central WA you can go hiking in the Pasayten Wilderness, or are hiking and/or fishing anywhere here in the Many Lakes area of the Okanogan, stop in at my favorite restaurant, that is Sully's in Loomis. You won't even get a blink.

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I grew up over in Wenatchee so I know that area fairly well. Neve been to Sully's though. I'll have to put that on my list.

Been a little while, but no issues the last few weeks or so.

All over the valley, Wally World a few times, Zip Trip at Trent/Progress, Autozone Evergreen/Sprague (Again, my brother in law blew a plug and destroyed his COP on 5.4 F350...) Plus probably a few more places.

Now for the N. ID report.

I'm a Washingtonian but was camping up at Bead Lake and from Spokane Valley so its faster for me to run up ID41. Carried the whole time from Thurs-Sat with no issues in Oldtown. Carried in Safeway, the Hunting/Fishing shop next to Safeway and stopped in the smokeshop next to the hunting store once with not an issue. Did have a customer at the hunting store ask if my CZ-P07 duty was a Kimber?.... Really? Maybe he just wanted to make friendly conversation so we chatted a few. Just a friendly N. Idaho report. P.S. Got a Burbot and a few Kokanee!

-Thor