A Scoutmaster's Blog

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of heavy rain falling on the canvas tent. “Boy, it is raining pretty hard,” I thought as I rolled over on my cot and fell back to sleep.

I was with the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 for a week at Many Point Scout Camp. We were staying in the Tyler Campsite in Buckskin Camp. Tyler is located at the north end of the road that runs through Buckskin. It is the campsite that is furthest away from the dining hall and beach. Due to it’s location, it is also the most quiet campsite in Buckskin, which is one of the reasons we like it. The campsite is located on a hillside so it has wooden platforms for the tents.

When we woke up that morning we noticed everything around camp was soaked. A couple of the Scouts complained that they had some wet gear, but nothing too serious. We also noticed that there was water in the deep ditch along the campsite. Due to the sandy soil we had very seldom seen standing water in the ditch. We thought it must have rained a couple of inches during the night.

Little did we realize how wrong we were.

As we walked through Buckskin on our way to the dining hall for breakfast we began to realize how much it had actually rained overnight. The lower-lying campsites had been flooded. Dozens of campers has drenched gear and soaked sleeping bags.

The worst damage had been done to Ten Chiefs Camp, located south of Buckskin. The road through Ten Chiefs crossed streams on each end of the camp. Both of these creeks had overflowed their banks during the night and had washed out the road on both ends of camp. Ten Chiefs had, temporarily, become an island. Food had to be brought to the campers by boat on that day.

The camp had received seven inches of rain during the storm. The water level of the lake had risen two inches.

The Boy Scouts and adults of Troop 68 that were staying in Tyler were very grateful that we had slept on a sandy and hilly campsite that night.

Spending a week at summer camp has been an annual event for the Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 since 1981. The summer of 2006 was no exception. Seven Scouts and two adult leaders from Troop 68 attended Many Point Scout Camp during the week of July 16-22. Attending camp were Jonah, Zach, Chris, Dakota, Alex, Jeff, and Chris. Steve and Eymard were the adult advisers.

Upon arriving at Many Point on Sunday the Scouts went to work setting up the campsite that would be their home for the next six nights. Then it was off to the beach for swim checks and other parts of the camp for demonstrations. The Many Point Buckskin staff really kicked the week off on a high note with an enthusiastic opening campfire program in the evening.

A typical day of camp was divided into three parts. The mornings were used to work on new skills, earn merit badges and other advancements. Afternoons were used for troop activities. All program areas were opened in the evenings for Scouts to freely roam from one area to another, or they could sit back in camp and relax.

The Scouts from Melrose kept themselves very busy during their stay at camp. On Monday, three boys took part in Project Cope, a team building program. The other Scouts spent the afternoon making and eating an apple cobbler at Scoutcraft, shooting 22 rifles at the range, and playing water polo at the beach.

On Tuesday the boys tried their skill at sailing, worked on a campsite project, and then headed to the beach for the Iron-man triathlon which consisted of canoeing, swimming, and running.

Wednesday afternoon was spent at the beach. The activities started with an hour of rafting and canoeing, following by several DELTA games, and finishing with an hour of free swim.

The troop left camp Thursday afternoon for a field trip to Itasca State Park to see the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Not only did the Scouts get to do some site seeing and walk across the headwaters of the mighty river, but they also got to meet Smokey the Bear.

Three Scouts from Melrose had an afternoon of wild wet fun when they attended the Huck Finn raft on Friday. The rest of the troop had a blast at the climbing tower and bouldering wall, and the archery range.

This year was the 60th anniversary of the opening of Many Point Scout Camp. In honor of this the Many Point staff held a medallion hunt. Campers were given one clue per day if they participated in a special activity in the evening. The Melrose Scouts set their sights on finding the medallion. They beat the other 200 campers that week by finding the silver lantern on Wednesday night.

The week of fun came to an end Friday night during the evening’s closing campfire program. Almost every troop in camp performed a song or skit. The Melrose Scouts did the “How to spot a Pickpocket” skit to the delight of the other campers and staff. Troop 68 was also recognized for finding the medallion and for earning the Super Troop Award.

The Scouts learned a few new skills while they were at camp. They also had a lot of fun and came home with a lot of great memories. Plans have already been made to attend Many Point Scout Camp Next year.

The idea was first discussed in the fall of 1994 (I think). The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 had decided it was time to do a campfire-style program for the local community. The troop had become known in the council for performing at campfire programs. The boys thought it would be a good idea to show people outside of Scouting what they could do.

The school auditorium was reserved for a Saturday in late January, 1995. A few of the boys got together in December to plan an agenda for the program. Various ideas for songs and skits were discussed. The boys chose many of their favorites, but also added several they had not done before. After the songs and skits were chosen the boys decided the order of the performances. They also talked about how to advertise the program. It was decided to place posters around town and in school, and get some coverage in the local newspaper and the local public access television station.

By the time they finished their planning, the troop had a show that would be nearly two hours long. That included a ten minute intermission.

The decision was made not to charge admission. However, people would be asked to bring a non-perishable food item for the local food shelf. Thus, the show was named “Laughs For Lunch”. The audience would provide the lunch for the needy in exchange for the Boy Scouts providing the laughs. Hopefully.

Our three meetings in January were used to practice for the show. The meetings were lengthened from our usually one and a half hours to two hours long. Since many of the songs and skits we had already performed at campfires we just needed to practice them a little to polish them up. However, the new skits needed a little more work.

I, the scoutmaster, became the director of the show. After our three practices I began to wonder if we could really pull this off well. I was thinking we could use another couple of meetings to get the kinks worked out. Alas, we were out of time.

Saturday night had arrived. It was time for the show. Approximately one hundred people were sitting in the audience. The boys were excited, and a little nervous. I have to admit, I was too. I was the master of ceremonies. I would also be performing with the Scouts in a few of the songs and skits.

The curtain opened. The show began. And so did the laughs. The audience had a great time. So did the Scouts. The show was a success!

This year we held our tenth “Laughs For Lunch Show”. We now hold four practices instead of three. People still enjoy coming to the shows, and we have had a lot of fun doing them. The boys receive a lot of compliments after the shows. I think the best part of the show is seeing the smiles on the Scouts when they realize they have done well.

Some of the skits from the Laughs For Lunch Show can be scene on this troop’s website at http://www.melrosetroop68.org/campfirestuff.html

In the mid-1980’s one of the Boy Scouts from Troop 68 happened to record a radio program called Dr. Demento. One of the songs on the tape was called “Star Trekking”. He knew I enjoyed Star Trek so he brought it over so I could listen to it. I thought it was a great spoof of the television show.

A couple of years later I was with the troop at summer camp. We needed a “new” song or skit for the campfire program. Our troop had become known for its “original” songs by this time. For some reason I thought of the song “Star Trekking”. I thought we could work it out where each person would take one verse and we would all sing along on the refrain. We came up with actions for each character, and added a verse for Chekov.

It took time to practice and get it just right. The hardest thing to do was to keep a serious expression throughout the song. I thought it would be funnier if we did not smile or laugh during the performance.

We invited several members of the camp staff to our campsite one evening to see the new skit. One staff member, Paul, and old scouting friend of mine, was a big Star Trek fan. I thought he would really enjoy the skit. Unfortunately, Paul was not able to come to our site that evening. The staff that did attend really liked the new skit. They told us to follow them as they led us to were Paul and other staff members were preparing for a campwide activity. We performed the skit again. Paul and the staff roared with laughter. It was then decided that we would do the skit during the Friday night closing campfire for the whole camp.

We practiced hard over the next two days. It had discovered that it was tough to keep a straight face while other people laughed at us.

The campers loved the skit Friday night. Hearing the laughter of a couple hundred boys and their leaders was fantastic. The standing ovation we received at the end of the skit really made the boys and I feel great.

The “Star Trekking” skit became Troop 68’s most popular skit. We performed it at summer camps, district and council camporees, and our own Laughs For Lunch Shows. After a few years we knew it had reached “cult” status when another troop spoofed us and the skit during a campfire at a district camporee.

Those Scouts of the 80’s and early 90’s have all moved on with their lives. The current Scouts still do the skit once in a while. I know I will never forget the fun we had performing it through the years.

In 1990, the Scouts and I performed the skit during a local television show. You can view this performance on our troop’s website at:
http://www.melrosetroop68.org/campfirestuff.html