I haven't seen this mentioned on your boards yet and I think some of you would really enjoy going to this. Also I am looking for people to carpool with.
Every year Amtguard holds Sword Knight Boot Camp, a weekend of training from some of the BEST fighters to be found in foam fighting. The event has grown in recent years to include instructors from Belegarth as well. The classes range from advanced florentine to team fighting to polearms to tournament 'mind games'. Some of the most useful videos on our training page are taken from SKBC courses.
The event is usually out East, but this year it will be in King City, CA. It's still an 8 hour drive for you guys, but much closer than the East Coast or Midwest. The site for registration and further info is:
http://www.swordknight.com/2010/?MODE=scheduleUnless it becomes impossible for some reason, I intend to attend SKBC and I would strongly recommend it for anyone who wants to move their game to the next level. The cost for attendance is only $25. The biggest obstacle I can see for me is that it falls on February 25-28, only three weeks following our own event. This is a challenge for me, but I want to make this work, so I will pull it off somehow.