Outdoor Training Fun
Ok here is the story.
I left work early on Friday so I could go shopping for a few more things and pack my gear. I had borrowed a pack, tent and sleeping bag from L's cousin down the road a bit. In my shopping I picked up a few cool items including getting a new pair of Hiking boots, one of the new types that almost look like tennis shoes. Also picked up a middleweight top "thermal underwear" thought it's not called that.
So I leave home on time and get up to the site on time. We find our place to camp and meet the other participants of the training. So far so good. Then as the dusk settles I pull out the tent. No structure poles. Use the cell phone, hey cuz.. where are the tent poles.. Oh he says, they are not there?? DUH or I wouldn't have called.
So the upshot is that the tent was never put back together properly. At this point it is 8pm. And I discover that contrary to my understanding, no food was being provided for dinner on Friday night. So I decide to go home and get the poles from the cuz, eat dinner and head back. Furthermore after driving the hour home to get said poles I'm too bloody tired to drive another hour back and put a tent together in the dark. So chancing the diatribes of my fellow campers I bailed on going back Friday night and slept in my own bed. That's roughing it.
Got up at 5:30am on Saturday and drove back up to camp. Picked up a box of Joe from Dunkin' Donuts on the way. Half the guys were happy with my bringing the coffee up, the other half couldn't believe I didn't stay the night, that is till I pointed out my still laid out and structureless tent on the ground. Some wit "got me" however by putting a broken matchstick in my coffee cup top so that it leaked over me. Pretty good idea who it was, so he may get payback on Thu when I see him for the final day of ASM/SM training.
Sat was spent from 8:00 to 6:30 in outdoor classes. It was very cold in the am, but by 6:00 PM had warmed up over 30 degrees! (It was 28 when I left at 5:30am and 58 when I drove back past the time and temperature at 7PM that night going home.) The classes were: Woodcraft Safety, Knots, Cooking Gear etc, Cooking, First Aid, Hiking & Camping Equipment, and Map Orienteering. For me it was a massive walk down memory lane, remembering all the things I had learned as a Boy Scout. The big change that I see is in cooking technology and fuel technology. Amazing changes in the last 30 years. Also due to lawyers and the cumulitive number of law suits over the years, the business of being a scout seems to be a bit less fun than it used to be.
So I was all prepared to spend Sat Night at camp. But lo and behold at 6:30 PM the director of the weekend says that the one class they were teaching on Sun had no teacher, and would we like to go home? Well yea. Besides I wanted to see the World Series (see below).
So I never did sleep in the woods. What a bizarre turn of events.
Ok here is the story.
I left work early on Friday so I could go shopping for a few more things and pack my gear. I had borrowed a pack, tent and sleeping bag from L's cousin down the road a bit. In my shopping I picked up a few cool items including getting a new pair of Hiking boots, one of the new types that almost look like tennis shoes. Also picked up a middleweight top "thermal underwear" thought it's not called that.
So I leave home on time and get up to the site on time. We find our place to camp and meet the other participants of the training. So far so good. Then as the dusk settles I pull out the tent. No structure poles. Use the cell phone, hey cuz.. where are the tent poles.. Oh he says, they are not there?? DUH or I wouldn't have called.
So the upshot is that the tent was never put back together properly. At this point it is 8pm. And I discover that contrary to my understanding, no food was being provided for dinner on Friday night. So I decide to go home and get the poles from the cuz, eat dinner and head back. Furthermore after driving the hour home to get said poles I'm too bloody tired to drive another hour back and put a tent together in the dark. So chancing the diatribes of my fellow campers I bailed on going back Friday night and slept in my own bed. That's roughing it.
Got up at 5:30am on Saturday and drove back up to camp. Picked up a box of Joe from Dunkin' Donuts on the way. Half the guys were happy with my bringing the coffee up, the other half couldn't believe I didn't stay the night, that is till I pointed out my still laid out and structureless tent on the ground. Some wit "got me" however by putting a broken matchstick in my coffee cup top so that it leaked over me. Pretty good idea who it was, so he may get payback on Thu when I see him for the final day of ASM/SM training.
Sat was spent from 8:00 to 6:30 in outdoor classes. It was very cold in the am, but by 6:00 PM had warmed up over 30 degrees! (It was 28 when I left at 5:30am and 58 when I drove back past the time and temperature at 7PM that night going home.) The classes were: Woodcraft Safety, Knots, Cooking Gear etc, Cooking, First Aid, Hiking & Camping Equipment, and Map Orienteering. For me it was a massive walk down memory lane, remembering all the things I had learned as a Boy Scout. The big change that I see is in cooking technology and fuel technology. Amazing changes in the last 30 years. Also due to lawyers and the cumulitive number of law suits over the years, the business of being a scout seems to be a bit less fun than it used to be.
So I was all prepared to spend Sat Night at camp. But lo and behold at 6:30 PM the director of the weekend says that the one class they were teaching on Sun had no teacher, and would we like to go home? Well yea. Besides I wanted to see the World Series (see below).
So I never did sleep in the woods. What a bizarre turn of events.
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