Friday, July 11, 2014
I know that most of you reading this are mostly doing so
just because you find my pithy commentary so amusing. Well, at least that is what I tell
myself. However, in those moments when I’m
truly honest with myself, I know, its all about the pictures. You couldn’t care less about my commentary,
what you are hoping for is another picture of your son. Unfortunately, loading pictures is a
cumbersome process here at the ranch. We
also have 28 folks in our group this time which makes it hard for me to get
pictures of everyone as we a scattered much farther apart then we are at
Goshen. And as you will see, today I got
a lot done, but honestly, while I enjoy making these available to you, I’m here
for some High Adventure not to be team and crew photographer. So without further adieu…
We woke this morning to a thick fog but the promise of a
warm day to come. The night was actually
perfect temperature wise as it was probably in the mid to low 60s. Perfect sleeping weather, except for the one
scout who for some reason didn’t get his sleeping bag out from Bro. Baker’s
truck and slept on a cot with nothing else.
I know, if we had known we would have tried to help, but stuff happens
and when we don’t know we can’t help.
Bro. Adams was nice enough to inform me that there is no hot water in
the showers. He informed me that that
shower is way better to wake you up that a cup of coffee must be.
Revele played at 6am.
Taps plays at 10pm over the speakers.
It is better quality than a former bugler we have had, but it isn’t near
as sentimental for me. We walked over to
breakfast at 7. When I say we, it was
Bro. Evans and I. We did let them know
we were going. We ate a nice meal (other
than the “margarine” infested grits or cream of wheat or whatever that was that
neither John nor Jason ate despite their best efforts and even some hot sauce… We took our sack lunches and headed back to
camp to tell them what was up. We
informed them that breakfast was ending relatively shortly and they also needed
to pick up their sack lunch or they would miss not just one but two meals
today.
We headed over to try to sign up for the canopy tour first
thing, but they told us it was full until 11 and they had 3 slots. We took those. A large group from our team showed up after
that and went over to check and got in at 9.
We went back over and got a 10.
We then did mountain biking. We
did the green trail and then the blue trail.
No one broke anything so a few scrapes and some adrenaline from almost
flying off the course are all good things.
The one group then left to Canopy – that is a series of zip lines
through the tops of trees. It was very
cool.
Everyone was spread out doing various things the rest of the
morning. A number of us showed up at
camp to eat our lunch and at 12:30 we headed up to the zip line to be sure we
got out spot. Well, they decided to harness
us all at the same time and not send us out in groups – which turned out to be
highly inefficient. Eventually we got to
the top and enjoyed the ride. A couple
of us did that two more times. Now, the
rub here is once you are harnessed up and have your trolley in your back pack
you have to hike UP to the starting point.
That deters a lot of scouts. So a
couple of us went 3 times. 
Now, after this point, I have little to no idea where most
of the group was or what they were doing.
It was free time and they were free to do what they wanted. I can tell
you that I wandered up to the skeet archery
spot and shot a whole lot of arrows and hit very little. After which we moseyed (and by that I mean we
loaded into Jeremy ‘s pick up and drove to) the water area and got to do the obstacle
course. For the record, the 5 old guy
obliterated the priests group.
Twice. 6:05 – a new camp record
for 5 people. They didn’t have a 5
person record, but that is beside the point.
If you are wondering, the 4 person record was just under 4 minutes and
the priests were close to 15 or 20 their first try. Then we came back and had dinner. And can I tell you how much I enjoyed just
sitting and relaxing and eating for a while.
Ahh. Ice cold lemonade and some
pizza and salad. Not bad. And I got to eat while my son sat there so we
caught up as well. Once we finished some
of us walked back over to the water front and did paddle boats (no, not the
kind you pedal like a bike, the ones you stand on with a long paddle. It was wet and fun. Then we attended the stake fireside where the
leader of the Scout Ranch spoke to us about being more like Christ. It was very good I thought and not even all
that long. After we played a couple
rounds of gaga ball (google it if you are interested). And then made the long walk back to
camp. 
So as I said, people did lots of stuff all day I
assume. I know I did. And I didn’t take my camera to the water area
so I have no pictures from there. Maybe
tomorrow I’ll try to get one or two.
After dinner I was sitting up on the Summit of Summit waiting for my
phone to charge and watching folks head down the hill to the camp. This trip wasn’t cheap, but as I watched the
procession of our group head home, in groups of 3 or 2 or 4 – of kids who while
friendly to each other probably don’t hang out with each other – walking back
to camp discussing I truly have no idea what or want to know, I thought this is
why we do this. These memories, these
times, they will have this shared experience they can hopefully remember and be
able to know they have a friend. 
I hope you see someone you love in a picture. Assume they did what they most wanted to do
and loved it. They can correct that
tomorrow if needs be. Till then why
think otherwise!
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