War Of the Worlds

Near Hit on an Alien Craft

It was a beautiful Friday when we arrived at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco. The weather forecast called for a sunny days and cool evenings for both Saturday and Sunday. The weather promised to be the perfect weather for the activities planned. In actually get turned out to be one of the most glorious days of the fall. The units started to arrive at six PM and it was perfect for setting up camp. It had been four years since we last held a Camp-O-Ree event at this camp and in the dark the road seemed a lot longer and a lot narrower. This was the first event for the new scouting year and it gave everyone an opportunity to meet, make new friends and share experiences.

Two hundred and twenty Scouts and Scouters filled the camp by 10 PM and a cracker barrel commence to inform everyone of the following days event, along with noshing and fellowship. Around midnight everyone was secure in their campsites.

At 7:00 AM the skies lightened and a glorious day was in the offing. Along with sunrise came the clanking of pots and pans with the aroma of sizzling bacon and freshly brewed coffee.

Opening ceremonies were held at 9:30 AM and the boys were enthused to start the events of the day. A piper from Troop 157 and provided an opportunity for an enthusiastic opening. Twenty patrols competed in eleven events for the bragging rights to be the winners of the Camp O Ree. Events included the use of protective gear for gamma ray radiation, fire control, shooting down Alien spacecraft, marksmanship, and using team work to communicate an important message.

And in most years, some confusion prevailed at the start in finding your first event since all the events had some vague locations, but that was part of the challenge.

Earthling's Primative launcher

Communicating with the aliens!

Early in August the Camp-O-Ree chairman reviews the most popular movies of the summer, and makes selection on a theme that offers the most interesting opportunity for fun. This has been rather fertile ground for us, and has provided some interesting themes for our annual event again Gary had provided some interesting activities to go along with the theme.

This event has been planned to provide the opportunity for boys have fun, have their first camping opportunity at the start of the new scout year, learn a new skill and have an opportunity to meet fellow scouts within the district.

The day’s events are planned so that there is a mix of physical tasks and one’s requiring some thought, allowing each scout to excel in their one area or the other. There’s plenty of time for boys to work on outdoor advancement of requirements, socialization, and just plain sillyness

Early registrants had the camp rifle range made available to their members. It was limited to the number of boys the staff was able to properly supervise during the time the venue was available.

Each venue was open until four thirty and all the patrols were checked in on time. On their check in, they previewed their skits, songs, cheers, or other form of entertainment they were preparing to perform at the evening campfire event. Thom Shoop did his usual outstanding job in reviewing for appropriate content and getting the boys to run the campfire. Of course this could not have occurred without the yeoman's task of Robbie and Eric who provided most of the man power in getting everything ready for the evening

At 7:30 PM we held a campfire and all the units participated in some form of the entertainment. The camp fire ran until 9:00 PM and it again proved to be entertaining with lots of cheers and the occasinal cat-csll. The boys provided immediate feed back on the entertainment content. Surprisingly the fire remained at a peak almost to the end campfire

There were skits that have not been performed in many years and even some new ones. There are always a surprise. Every unit participated. It was a deversion to an ordinary Saturday evening

Checking the rules

A cool evening followed a wonderful day and the temperature drop as the evening progressed. A Cracker barrel was held for the leaders following the Campfire and the Senior patrol leaders were invited to provide valuable input to the adults in regard to the days events. Their input will be evaluated and implement in next years event. Everyone was back in their Campsites by 10:30 PM. The din laughter and the excitement went on through the remainder of the evening. I was not aware when it became quiet, I was just fell asleep as soon as I crawl into my sleeping bag.

A Scout is reverent; a non-denominational service was a held at 7:30 AM Sunday morning. Thank you Frank Miller and Bill Birchenoff for reminding us all. The piper again provided music to go along with the service.

Scouts and Scouters then broke camp and made the not so long ride home. Everyone was tired but they all had a great Scout weekend

We are extremely fortunate in our district to have a corps of volunteers who make these events possible. Thank you to all the Troop and Pack volunteers who stepped forward to run events and made this event the success that it was. Thank you to Bob Taschler for seeing the staff was fed. Thanks to Bob, Robbie, Erik, Thom, Gary, Frank and Tom, without your continued efforts, scouting would be rather dull. If you had a great time tell everyone you know!

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