Lunch yesterday was a little delayed due to something new they’re trying here in camp – delivering lunches to the campsites instead of making the scouts stand in line in the hot Georgia sun to get into the dining hall. But with all new things, there were a few kinks – we didn’t get our lunch (hot dogs, chips, apples, and granola bars) until 45 minutes late or so. Fortunately, the “snack bar” was in place and we were able to tide ourselves over until it arrived.
After lunch, the boys got back on their bikes and back out to class and to explore the 1500+ acres of Bert Adams Scout Camp. And thank goodness Bert Adams is a “bike friendly” camp – our campsite (Grant) is probably a 20 minute walk from the dining hall, but less than a 10 minute bike.
After a fun day of classes, the troop gathered back at the campsite to change into “Class A” (i.e., formal) uniforms and we walked over to field for flags and dinner. Flags were unfortunately cut short due to rain (again). But we feasted on baked spaghetti, broccoli, garlic bread and the “deluxe” salad bar (which some of the boys are actually eating from!) And dessert showed up – ice cream cups.
After dinner, the boys scattered across the camp for optional activities and/or classes. But the biggest hit seems to be the 75-yard water obstacle course down at the waterfront. The camp has set up a course with trampolines, climbing structures, and all kind of other things – all inflated, all in the water. Thank goodness we all were cleared as swimmers! Unfortunately, the scouts didn’t get to enjoy the waterfront for the whole 90 minutes, since there was thunder off in the distance that kept resetting the 30 minute safety times.
That evening, we headed back to the campsite for our first evening cracker barrel. The theme last night was fire building and cake / cobbler tasting. The troop split up into two teams and it was a race to see who could burn the string that was about 30” over the fire pit. It was really fun to watch the two different approaches they went with – one team piled their pit high with leaves (and then got smoked out), and the other team built a teepee fire. Bit in the end, it was almost too close to call, with one team squeaking out a victory by maybe 10 seconds.
But since the cake and cobbler were supposed to be cooked over the fire, and the fire building contest took a LOT longer than we anticipated (lots of rain = lots of wet wood), the dutch ovens didn’t go onto the fire until late and the boys were only able to enjoy the peach dump cake last night. But we let the cobbler finish cooking overnight, and enjoyed it as a pre-breakfast treat this morning.
Apparently, my choice of music to wake the boys yesterday (Bruce Hornsby, I figured it would drive them out of bed) was NOT appreciated. So, by popular demand, the Troop 455 2021 wake up music is now AC/DC. And my DJ rights have been permanently revoked. “Back in Black” was therefore rousing the boys this morning.
After breakfast of waffles, sausage, and LOTS of syrup, the boys headed out to their classes. There are scouts here from all over the country. Texas, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana…. The Atlanta Area Council welcomes scouts from other Councils, and it’s fun for our scouts to meet scouts from other states. And countries!
Our first year campers at Rawhide are busy tying knots, learning about safety in an axe yard, and eagerly working towards earning their privileges to safely (and “legally”) carry a pocket knife on their person (Totin’ Chip). They are also looking at various trees, identifying leaves and bark. They’ve been learning about safety for woodpiles and axe yards……so be sure to ask your young scout what a “blood circle” is when he gets home.
Some of our campers are busy on the waterfront. Swimming, Canoeing, Kayaking, Sailing, Motor-Boating, etc. Is the water warm? YES IT IS! So no worries about that…. And water sports are particularly popular here as it’s a great respite from the heat.
Lunch was delivered on time today (I actually went down to the kitchen to pitch in this morning with some assembly, since they are both understaffed and trying something new). There were scoutmasters there from Alabama, South Carolina, and even our neighbors at Trinity Baptist in the kitchen with me helping out.
So, since food arrived before the scouts, we had a nice leisurely lunch here at camp (hamburgers, granola bars, fruit cups, and chips that were left over from yesterday). The scouts left camp ready to tackle the afternoon activities and I think I’m just about ready to tackle a nap.
The SPLs biggest goal for this week was to build troop “cohesion.” I’m not really sure they knew exactly what that was going into the week (I definitely didn’t know what it was), but over the past few days, they’ve decided that they want the troop to travel to meals together and arrive at morning and evening flags together. It’s nice seeing them figure out what they want and trying different ways to make it happen. And while it’s a work in progress, it’s nice to see the boys come back into the campsite, hang out with each other, and nudge each other to get into uniform, etc. The provisional scouts are integrated into the troop now and it’s great to see them all having fun in the woods.
It’s also really nice to have the enthusiastic younger scouts (Hudson and Walter) with us, since they’re learning new skills in Rawhide and can then come back and “show off” to get “sign off” in their handbooks. Both Wiley and Jack Pilger sat down today with Walter and Hudson to review and sign off on some of their Scout rank requirements. And Will Brooks took time with Alex, one of our provisional scouts, to help him with his bike riding.
Well, the weather rock continues to report highs in the 80s, lows in the 70s, and 65% chance of rain (which I think it means it wills rain or be threatening to rain about 65% of the time). But, just like yesterday, I’m sitting here in the quiet camp and the sun is peeking through the clouds. We’ll have to see what the weather rock reports tonight.