Goshen 2013

Monday, June 24, 2013

Against what is almost certainly my better judgment and the strict advice of my Doctor, I am once again embedded like a lymes disease carrying tick into troop 1106 as they venture off to scout camp down in the land of Goshen at beautiful camp Marriott (where we don’t run, because, well, there is no running in beautiful camp Marriott).  As we gathered at 5:30ish i noted that the sky was fairly light and the scouts were not nearly as subdued as I would have hoped given that we have a 3+ hour drive ahead of us and a sleeping scout is nearly always better company than a boisterous one.   The novice yet knowledgeable Bro. White leads us as Scoutmaster this year.  His faithful side kick is Bro Haseldon who has experience in spades.  In fact, I believe that I heard him make reference to Moses when referring to himself.  I don’t know, he doesn’t have enough gray wavey hair for me to see him as Charlton Heston, but that’s just me.    Bro Wilhelm is once again there to join us with the 4 boys from his troop.  In all we have 24 scouts, meaning the leadership is seriously out numbered.  The mix is also interesting.  We probably have more teachers than I recall in prior years.  We have a lot of 2^nd years and then a couple rookies/green horns/greenies.  Obligatory picture while they are still relatively clean is taken, prayer is said and off we go. 

Somewhat unfortunately, the drive is relatively uneventful as we cross the Wayne Janzen drive (aka the Knob) and arrive before the rest of the cars in our group once again.  We are assigned camp#1 and the group excitedly chants “We’re #1” which echoes off the surrounding hills until we look at the map.  Camp #1 is a long way from….anything.  I’m not sure we can be in Marriott and be any further out.  Excellent.  That means they will be tired when nighttime comes if just from walking back and forth to the campground!

Scouts walk while their gear is driven to the camp site.  What follows is difficult to describe.  Chinese fire drill?  Protons in an atom?   Scouts have only tentatively been assigned tent mates so they hustle around pairing up, claiming tents, staking out patrol locations, and attempting to get the best cots into the best tents.  As it starts to subside, the asst. scoutmaster asks them to get into general groups by patrols.  This causes some anxiety and resistance.  This might be a record - I see my first tear well up in an eye at 10:27 a.m. on a Monday.  Not sure they spilled out, but the morning is a little stressful for some.

After what must be 10 or 12 hours in scoutmaster time, they finally get that done and we get orientation from our site leads – both young women.  Lest the mother’s (and priesthood leaders) fret, while very nice, one needs them to stock deodorant in the camp store and the other… well, I’m not sure if it shows or not, but indeed, the hair on her legs are a item of comment among at least the older scouts.

Unlike other years when they have asked us to get set up and return as quickly as possible, we are instructed that we have a time for med checks – 12:05.  I’m not saying camp doesn’t run on a schedule, but the impression that a 5 minute scheduling is realistic seems highly suspect to me.    It was a long ways off, but as I mentioned, I think this group took longer to get into tents than any prior group.  Amazingly, we all pass med exam and head down to the waterfront for swim check.  Just as we get there they indicated that the water front is closed so that they can do staff introductions.  Most of our crew have just taken off their shirts and shoes and socks and are less than enthusiastic about putting them back on to stand in the sun and listen to the names of the individuals with whom they will participate in a sort of mutual annoyance over the next week.  As such they  stay bare chested under the lake awning during the intros and are strategically placed where they can cut in line when the event is over and are subsequently able to get done relatively quickly after – well almost everyone, a few somehow get separated because the dock was a capacity and they trail a bit.

We dine on tube steak for lunch and then it is time to get them to classes.  Of course, very few of them know where they are to be and Scoutmaster has that information but of course they schedule a scoutmaster meeting for that inconvenient time.  But everyone eventually gets to where they belong.  I have taken a few scouts to the COPE and climbing area.  I have never been here before.  The climbing is done on a tower which is impressive. But seriously, after watching them climb up a rock face at Roc Enon, I’m underwhelmed.   It is in a nice grove of pine trees which gives a nice setting  Then again, there was no climbing yet since they have to learn about first aid, safety, and tying knots before they can climb.  The cope folks were chasing each other with water noodles. 

Back at camp there was tragedy.  The soda machine was out of service!  When I was there it was determined that part of the issue might be that the door was open…  That taken care of we will see if it is back operating tomorrow – there were also rumors that it was passing out two soda’s for the price of one.  Not what the quartermaster expected.  Since one cannot get a soda outside you have to go into the shop to get stuff.  And let me tell ya, this ain’t Wal-Mart.  They only let in a few folks at a time and once you are in there you are there for a while.  It takes forever for someone to check out.  Not sure why, but it does.  Two of our scouters went in and came out qualified for social security!  Ok, not that bad, but about 30 minutes to buy a soda.  Ah, the joys of camp. 

Dinner consisted of chicken that looked like it had been bleached, the flavor sucked out, smooshed, crushed, or processed, then frozen, then thawed, sprinkled with a little season salt and sent out to the camp with love.  However, not a single piece of chicken was left on the table (not sure how much ended up in the trash bag).

At 7:00 p.m. we gathered for FHE at the water front.  Just as we are getting down there a storm is coming in.  We can see the rain pouring down just off the other side of the lake.  The wonderful brother in charge knows that FHE is not to be skipped and so he is determined to continue.  The lightning strikes off in the distance are impressive and turns out – quite distracting to the scouts.  With the wind in the trees so loud that hearing the speaker is difficult, our own Grant Bankus takes part in the program.  He did a good job maintaining his composure in the face of both mother nature and distracted scouts!  We finally had a crack of lightning and burst of thunder which seemed closer and a scoutmaster jumped up and sent his troop off, at that point we lost about half the scouts from the camp.  Our boys remained calm in the face of the chaos (I’m sure they also realized that FHE simply cannot be skipped – especially the lesson part!).  The program finally ended and we made our way back to camp.  As we arrived the skies opened and down came the rain!  I rained pretty steady for about 45 minutes or so.  The scouts started in their tents while the leaders were under the group dining tarps having a lovely conversation.  After about 15 minutes the scouts got bored and came to join us, thus ending the peaceful rain and conversation and increasing exponentially the entertainment factor as the joys of having a new poncho were discovered.  And don’t believe what you read on the packaging – they certainly can be used as a toy!

As dusk faded to dark, we were treated to an amazing display of fireflies flickering on and off if the woods around our camp.  It was simply stunning.  I tried to capture it, but it really is something you had to be there to appreciate.  Not unlike scout camp.  I do my best, but it is really hard to capture all the sights, sounds, smells, and experiences of camp.  I hope this at least gives you a flavor of what we experience here.

It was a good day.  I think everyone got into the limited enrollment courses that wanted to.  No one was injured in the storm but it made FHE much more entertaining.  Tomorrow is another day.  Pray for good weather!  Too many merit badges can’t go if we get lightning.