These people, I learned, are hard-core military enthusiasts. They try to simulate the war experience as closely as possible, and play games in full military equipment, including knives and bulletproof vests. There are some games that they play where they use helicopters, boats, and jeeps. I was shocked at the seriousness of these type of games and had never seen or heard of anything like that before. I went closer and saw that there was even a bazooka that shoots out small water balloons filled with paint. I then looked back at the registration table where we were playing and saw the paintball guns that we were using and almost wanted to take one of those AirSoft M-16s for myself.

Jed and I registered and bought a bunch of paintballs and got ourselves prepared to play. By then, more than 30 Deaf people had arrived, many of who were serious paintball players with electric guns and some of the best equipment I had ever seen. Even former professional paintball player Mike Sutherland, who works at the Fremont Deaf school as a Residential Advisor, was on hand to try and kick some butt. Many of the serious players who were there were former students of Mike when they were students at Fremont, including Jed. Mike would take the kids to play paintball on field trips and as a result, they have gone on to become avid lovers of paintball. We spent an hour waiting for everyone to register and get their equipment before we started to play. We split into two teams, red and blue, and headed into the dense forest to what Mike said was the best paintball course he has ever played. The course is huge, covering several acres and consists of many steep hills and drop offs and ravines. Fallen logs create natural obstacles and the name of the game is Capture the Flag. I had a blast running over fallen logs and ducking behind trees trying to avoid getting shot. We switched around to three different courses and by the time I had ran out of paintballs and had gotten shot enough, I was glad to be done playing because I ached in every muscle and joint in my body. Even Branic had enough of filming paintball all day and he was shot in the arm once by a stray bullet. He wasn’t too pleased when it happened. We played more than 12 games throughout the day, and I had burned through 1,100 paintballs.

I took a nap in the RV during the last game because I had run out of paintballs and we got ready for the long, winding drive down the mountain that we had endured yesterday. We stopped to eat at Jed’s favorite restaurant in northern California, Togo’s deli. We then drove to Fremont where Fred took us to his friends’ apartment and we took a hot shower. We really appreciate Kathy letting us use their bathroom to clean off from paintball. We parked outside of Borders bookstore again for the night, and prepared for our drive to Hayward tomorrow.

You have no idea how sore I am and how many bruises I’m going to have in the morning, but it’s nothing compared to what Jed is enduring. He can barely get up from the driver’s seat and it’s clear to me that his “playing” days are over, unfortunately. The RV is a mess from all the dirt we brought in from playing and we definitely need some time to settle down and clean up.