Camporee Prep at Mentryville
Many great outings start with a great beginning, but boy did we have a rough start. Getting everything from the shed was quick and efficient, but the problem was we had too much help! So many people propelled us to finishing everything so quickly which led some kids having nothing to do. After we all loaded into our vehicles and got to the campsite, that is where it got difficult. Immediately at the camp site, we were greeted by a wave of sulfur and rotten egg smell. One little fact about Mentryville is that it is an old recreational park for oil miners! Already some of the boys got agitated and tired; we just wanted to go to sleep, but Andy and Mr. Godinez were determined to get everything in tip-top shape. By 11:00 the gateway was built, the tents were up, and the patrol boxes were looking good. Sadly, no camp gadgets were built and neither was the flag pole. These facts didn't discourage anyone though; the next day we new we could do anything we wanted to.
On Saturday everyone woke up at about 7:00 in the morning with a quick and tired call from a bugler. Eventually everyone had breakfast and started to work on the camp gadgets. It took most of the morning, but we finished the flag pole, and the three gadgets: tripods that included a barometer, a weather rock, and a lantern. The flag pole took the longest amount of time, but boy, did it look good! With the help of everyone we could proudly raise and honor the American Flag. After all the lashing and heavy lifting was done, we had lunch. Lunch was sandwiches for all, (except the adults who always made extremely amazing meals, produced by Mr. Dang). Finally the events started and we could test our strengths in these obstacles that stood in our way of earning the spirit stick.
We had 5 main events that we ran. One of the 5, was ran by Mr. Nizamian, who was an expert at Map and Compass. I am pretty sure that all the scouts learned a lot about maps that deal with cities and landscapes. He was clear and precise in explaining the use of compasses and maps. With his guidance all of the scouts (even the cub scouts) should be able to do this event blindfolded...well maybe they need their eyes, but we still should be amazing at Map and Compass this year. (Don't forget to read p.354 of the scout handbook to brush up on some map symbols and lingo) The next event would be Lashings, which was ran by Mr. Godinez! Mr. Godinez new his knots and lashings which really helped in the case where you "forgot your knots". His help was greatly appreciated especially when it came down to leadership roles and working as a group. There were some struggles with this event, (in most cases the diagonal lashing) but we all fine tuned our strengths and improved upon our weaknesses so that everyone could participate and help out. As our third event, we had a personal favorite, The String Burn! This event was lead by the fantastic Mr. Padilla, who helped introduce new ways of building the fire which will really help us during Camporee. The new point system that he designed relied on quick executions and a direct plan. His advice of creating little nooks in the pieces of wood to hold them together was GENIUS! Props to Mr. Padilla in giving some extra advice to help us out! The next event was the 5-Man Snowshoe, which was ran by Mr. Dang. The key to this event was to be really in sync with each other in order to move their feet at the same time. Some patrols did better than other, (*cough Radioactive Grizzles cough*1:38*cough) but everyone learned to work better as a team. The last event was held by Mr. Weissbarth, which was Knots! This event was knot hard at all...see what I did there...he he (sorry). This event was mainly a refresher on the knots that most boys knew already. The cub scouts even knew a lot of knots beforehand which was really awesome.
After all the events were done, we could all eat dinner! Some patrols went with a easier approach with burritos and fajitas, but the adults kicked butt (like always) and delivered an amazing feast which was so good that it would be impossible to explain. Asking the adults seems like the best case in getting a recipe for their creation. After dinner filled all the kids up, we could then create a nice contained camp fire and tell some scary stories. The "scary" stories where read by Ronald Wright who did a wonderful job reading, except he didn't plan for the stories to be more funny than scary. The "scary" books that Michael Neff brought were more elementary, but they had some really gross pictures! Overall, everyone at the camp fire had a lot of fun, but eventually everyone went to sleep. But when everyone was sleeping and unexpected group of friends floated over our camp. Rain clouds began to form and scouts could here the tip-tap of the rain dancing on their tents. NO ONE DARED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!!! But it wasn't a lot of rain, by the morning the rain was gone.
In the morning, everyone woke up nice and early to confront their wet rainflys. It was time to take everything down. Eventually between 7-10 am everything was torn down, everyone had eaten breakfast, and it was finally time to take the flag down. After the take down of the flag pole and a sweep of the camp was initiated, it was time to say goodbye to Mentryville. A Scouts' Own was in order, and Eric Dang said a quick prayer, followed by a contribution of thank you's, and finally Taps...it was time to go home.
We got to the church in record time and quickly stored everything back into the shed. Mentryville was behind us, but the memories....the memories will stay in our hearts. (with a bit of sulfur smell too!)
*Sorry I haven't written about the other outing before this, but tis easier to write about the one's that I attend. I will try to get the other outing posted.
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