A New Beginning

It’s been a long time since my last post. A lot has happened, and most of my “spare” time has been sucked up by other endeavors.

I have a new job at work – Same employer, but a better position. The new job is requiring periodic travel to CA; and getting up to speed is taking its toll on my “spare” time. Hopefully I am past the worst part of the learning curve, and will be able to have some time to blog more.

The other change is that my two oldest boys and I have moved to a new Boy Scout troop. We are helping get a home school troop up and running. Tons to write about there, but I’m planning to include a short write up for each of our camping trips. I see two benefits to this plan. First I will have a record that I can look back on to see where and when we camped, second it will force me to write something at least once a month.

This past weekend was our first troop campout:

Place: Worth Ranch in Palo Pinto, TX.
Attendance: 8 youth, and 6 adults
Activity: 5 Mile hike and scout skills

Notes: Great campout. Great weather I didn’t even put the rain fly on the tent. The scouts all got along well and seemed to start the bonding process that will lead to a strong troop. The adults got along well too. It looks like we have a great group of youth and adults to get this troop started.

The boys decided on a route for our hike. After a few false starts, we ended up on the right trail. We had an enjoyable hike up Kyle Mt, and had lunch at the top. The boys decided to hike around the top a little while they refined their map reading skills, but we eventually made it down.

We refilled our water at the dining hall, and decided to hike along the road to the front gate then back to camp so we could get in the full five miles. Even the slowest hikers agreed to the plan. In the end it took us way longer than it should have to cover the five miles, but the boys learned more than they otherwise would have. I also think it helped the group bond a little. They had a common goal in getting to the five miles, and they made it happen. All of the attitudes were pretty good, and I think they all had fun.

After the hike, we worked on tot n chip with the new scouts while a few of the others built the campfire. After dinner and desert of scoutmaster birthday cake, we had a great camp fire.

On Sunday morning, everyone pitched in and cleaned up quickly. We held a short chapel service, and then headed home.

Most of the boys carried in all of their gear in their packs, so we are definitely heading in the direction that we want as far as being a “backpacking troop”. The hike in was only about twenty feet, but it helped us get used to backpack camping and cooking. Since this was the first campout for a few scouts, they ended up sleeping in tents with their dads. Hopefully they will be ready to sleep with their patrols next time. It is better for the troop and the boys if they camp, cook and work together as patrols.

We are trying to prepare the boys for backpack camping. You can car camp with backpacking gear, but you can’t backpack with car camping gear.