Glad you enjoyed the road trip story, Tony... It was epic, even by my standards. Aye, there is indeed such a great bunch of people out there, "under the radar" that many folk seldom/never encounter.
When it comes to the media and anything associated with airguns, it is invariably portrayed in a negative light, usually due to the the small proportion of pond-life who perpretate various kinds of misuse with them . It's the same story to a great extent with the motorcycle fraternity. I've met some brilliant folk at rallys, various travels and social encounters as I'm sure you and many others will have experienced!
Aye it would be great to engage James May in the production of a series of television programmes regarding Airguns because there is a huge vein of material that could be tapped concerning the history and vastly different aspects, engineering, fairgrounds, sporting competitions, bell target etc. I suppose it's a case of initiating some kind of approach to involve him somehow.
I'll certainly make a point of digging out the 'buggy' photies and get them to you!