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| What a Difference One Week Can Make KALAMAZOO, MI. 01.25.02 --The sky was clear. Temperatures close to 50 degrees. Full moon at night. What a weekend for a campout. We were really enjoying the weather … oh wait, this was our Polar Bear campout. The weather is supposed to be 20 degrees with a lot of wind and snow on the ground. (That was the week before when the Ventures did their Polar Bear campout.) The major challenge of the weekend was dodging Mr. Sherwood as he moved trees and stumps down the main road of the camp. His crew had a huge bon fire by the dining hall to get rid of some old wood. Even though the weather wasn't winter-like, we didn't hear any complaints from the Scouts that it was too warm and sunny on Saturday while we were at Rota-Kiwan. Eleven Scouts spent the weekend enjoying the late fall - early spring kind of weather. Saturday everyone participated in the activities Ryan O prepared for the troop. Organizing a compass and orienteering hike and fire building exercises were part of Ryan's Brownsea commitment. Saturday afternoon we took to the trails to explore areas of Rota-Kiwan we had not seen before, including an OLD fire bowl (or is that a grave yard). Only Mr. McQuitty knows for sure. There was just enough snow left on the ground at the fire bowl to have a snowball fight! An intense game of Capture the Flag followed. The area we visited in December looked a bit different after the snow flattened the tall grasses in the field. Peter K. made chocolate chip cookie/cakes in the Dutch Oven for SPL Nate E's birthday, complete with 16 matches for him to extinguish. Eric S and Evan K were the only Scouts who were going to cabin camp but since the weather was so nice decided to tent with the bears. They quickly realized that more patrol members are needed on campouts. It is not so fun doing all the cooking and cleaning the entire weekend. Sharing the duties with other members of the patrol sure has its advantages. Eric and Evan did some creative cooking trying a new recipe for breakfast pizza made in the Dutch Oven and chicken, vegetable, rice mixture for dinner. Good job! Since this was going to be the Polar Bear campout, all other Scouts paired up and brought their own food to cook on the campfire and backpacking stoves. |
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| ...where the Scouting experience is Awesome |
| Portage, MI |
| Webelos Scout Kelvin visited on Saturday afternoon as he gets closer to making 'the decision' as to which Boy Scout Troop he is going to join next month. Saturday evening ASM Mr. Kamilar set up his Ham Radio to show the Scouts. He talked to people in Russia, Italy and Texas. The troop theme for June will be Radio. There is still a question of where these Scouts came from that went on the campout this weekend. They elected to skip Cracker Barrel on Friday and Saturday evenings. Too tired they said!!! Sure is uncharacteristic of the Scouts from Troop 287. Sunday morning we woke to ASM Mr. Clark's traditional reveille followed by several songs that he sang. He tried to get everyone to join him but it was way too early for that! Breakfast, cleanup and we were back at CHUM by 12:45. Great winter weather camping! Scouts who attended: SPL - Nate E, ASPL - Dustin B, Quartermaster - Brad C. Scouts - Eric S, Ryan O, Peter K, Evan K, Sam C, Matt G, Will M, and Matt R. Chief Patrol: Scoutmaster - Tim Ekola, Assistant Scoutmasters - Dave Slade, Joel Clark, Greg Kamilar, Don McQuitty, Lorri Harris and Dan Bunker. Thanks to Jim Chodl for transporting the trailer. Dan Bunker |