Camp Daniel Boone
June 20 - 26, 1999
On, June 19, 1999, the troop left for its 1999 summer camp trip. After countless rest and food stops, we arrived at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, GA, where we spent the night and ran into Troop 1906 from Miami, who was also on its way to CDB. The following morning both troops left together and after several more stops, including a stop at Sliding Rock in the Pisgah Forest, we finally arrived at CDB at around 5:30 PM. We then found out that were to share the Sequoyah campsite with Troop 1906. Besides us, there was another troop from Miami Springs and a couple of troops from Broward, so we didn't get a chance to get homesick. The weather was not too bad, dropping into the 50's every night and rising to the 70's during the day, with nonstop drizzle from Thursday through Saturday. The boys had a productive week, with all of them earning merit badges. The most popular merit badge class was archery, which also turned out to be the hardest. After much practice and make-up classes, Jonathan, Carlos, Andrew and Alex were able to complete the qualifications and earned the badge. In addition to these, the boys earned the following: Jonathan: canoeing and partial credit in first aid; Ernie: partial credit in archery and first aid; Carlos: fishing and rifle shooting; Ian and David: basketry (these scouts also completed the Goin' Great program and met substantially all of the requirements for tenderfoot, second class and first class); Michael: partial credit for archery and first aid; Andrew: rifle shooting, basketry and wood carving; and Alex: weather, basketry and emergency preparedness. On top of the classes, on Monday and Tuesday we had a troop rifle shoot and archery shoot, Wednesday we went white-water rafting on the Nantahala, and Thursday we had a troop rock climb. Friday after dinner the CDB staff took on troop 1906, which were the winners of the camp volleyball tournament, and after a hard fought game they came out ahead. The adult leaders led by Mr. Lee then challenged the CDB staff. Yours truly was part of the team and we beat them easily, but afterwards the staff asked for a rematch and proceeded to beat us under drizzly conditions. We then had a great campfire where most troops put on a skit. We left Saturday morning at around 9:00, and after the obligatory stops finally made it to Hunter shortly before 4:00 PM. We then proceeded to pig out at the dining hall, went bowling at the base's bowling lanes and even washed a week's worth of laundry (a scout is clean!). The following morning (Sunday) we left for Miami and arrived back at the church at 5:45 PM.
Thanks to the staff and helpers at CDB, who made our week seem way too short. Special thanks go to Lee, Tighe, Terry, Angie and Caitlin. Merit badges and patches will be awarded when we resume our meetings in the fall. Until then, have a great summer!
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