10:00 AM Sunday

Thank you Mrs. Reed for getting all the parents organized at pickup time. It was a great week for everyone. I will be turning the website back over to the webmaster and he will work on getting pictures of camp posted as soon as he collects them. If you have pictures you would like to have him add to the troop website, please email them, or bring them to the meeting next week on a flash drive, or a CD. Have a good week recovering and see you at the meeting next Monday, the 25th.

1:00 PM Saturday

From Mrs. Reed: Hey All!!
Just heard from the clan; they are wrapping up lunch. Everyone is GREAT. I will get a call when they are at dinner tonight, putting them about 4 hours out. As of right now they estimate about 1030.
CLEANING the BUS!! Need volunteers to help out cleaning the bus. Everyone jump in, boys are tired and if we get in there and clean the bus while the boys empty the boxes and stuff out of trailer, we can get it done faster. Reply all if you can bring some of the following items needed...
Windex, Paper towels, Frebreeze, Vacuume, Broom......

10:40 AM Friday

Today is the last day at Camp Daniel Boone. The scouts will be working to finish up their merit badge classes. The kayak class will do a river run today. This afternoon, scouts will have the opportunity to return to their merit badge counselors to make sure they have completed all the requirements and earn the merit badge.
Tonight, the camp will have the closing campfire. Then the troop will head back to the campsite to start packing up the trailer, everyone gets a shower and scoutmaster goes over the merit badge paperwork with each scout to resolve any issues or conflicts. It is much easier to resolve issues tonight, rather than trying to do it long distance next week. It does make for a late night.
Tomorrow morning, they will hike down to have a light breakfast outside the mess hall, while scoutmaster gets clearance from the ranger that the campsite is clean. Then they load up the bus and vehicles for the trip home. We should hear from the troop about 10:00 to 11:00 Saturday night. When they arrive at the church, the trailer must be unloaded, the bus cleaned up and circle up, before the scouts are released to their parents. If parents help with cleanup and unloading, we can all get home to a warm shower quicker..

9:30 PM Thursday

The scouts must be having a great time tonight. I've not heard from any of the leaders yet. Today, the middle scouts (2nd year to camp) will have gone on the Pigeon river for their whitewater rafting trip. Everyone else in the troop will have been working hard today making up for the time they missed in merit badge classes, yesterday, while they were on the Nanny. If I hear from the leaders, I will post later on, or tomorrow morning.

10:45 PM Wednesday

From Mrs. Martin: The kids had a great time having pizza and "doing the Nanny" It was another hot day so the water didn't seem quite so cold. We also had a group spend last night out for their Wilderness Survival MB and those boys are quite tired today so think they will go to bed relatively early. Tonight was the Hoedown with hamburgers, chips, beans, watermelon and cobbler for dinner followed by Vespers and the Gong show. It is thundering and some lightening but so far the show is still a go. We are hoping the rain holds off until everyone is settled for the night.


Tomorrow is the trip to the Pigeon for the second year scouts. We haven't looked at the weather but figure it will be another hot one. One of the scouts commented that they can't believe they only have two more days of camp...guess they wish it would last a little longer :)

10:30 AM Wednesday

Today is whitewater rafting day on the Nantahala River, for most of the troop. It is always a high point of summer camp. Don't strain your eyes trying to find your son, these are a few shots from the Carolina Outfitters website. Hopefully, later today we will get a few pictures of the troop to post. Check back later tonight.

8:30 PM Tuesday

From Mrs. Martin: It ended up only drizzling for a little while. Big news is that the boys from the beach won the CDB tug of war!! They also won the first round against the staff but not the second round. Competition was tough and the boys ended up winning about 6 to7 back to back rounds before the defeat against the staff.
Tomorrow is white water rafting so a nice break in the week.

5:00 PM Tuesday

From Mrs. Martin: Drizzling today but nothing heavy - hoping it stays that way.  We started w/goodie boxes last night which was a hit. :)  Scouts were tired last night - many showered without being asked and some even went to bed a little earlier than lights out.  There was some time to play in the stream by the campsite which was fun.  Michael S., Cameron O. and Ryan P. used teamwork to catch the first fish of summer camp.

6:00 PM Monday

Ha, I posted too early. Here are some updates

From Mrs. Martin: So far our first day is going well. The scouts settled in nicely after a fun couple days of tubing & rafting. We did have rain the first night but none since then. Mr Caimi & Mr Sasso are carrying their rain ponchos to help keep the rain away :-) A special shout out for Cameron, who passed the swim test without even being coaxed!!

All the first year scouts took the plunge and passed as well with flying colors! It has been a very hot & thankfully dry day. Everyone seems to be having fun and no one has asked to call home - which for us is a good sign :)

From Dr. Scarpa: From an update from Phil, the troop arrived at camp a bit late yesterday and did not have time to do the swim test. So, the swim test was done today (Monday). He has also passed along a link to the website of the rafting company. There are some shots of the older scouts on their Saturday Ocoee rafting trip by (Whetstone Photography Ocoee River Photos), a professional photography team. The Nanny rafting trip will be on Wednesday. That will be the new scouts in rafts and the older scouts in Duckies.

Here are some pictures sent by Joli of the boys tubing on Saturday:

YiS, Flip Boehmer

3:00 PM Monday

I have not heard from any of the leaders today. Not surprising since there is no cell phone reception at the camp. By now everyone should have finished up their first day of either 'Goin Great' or merit badge classes. At this point in the day, the scouts have free time, that they can go and visit any of the merit badge activity areas of the camp. They can try shooting arrows, rifles or shotguns, go fishing or swimming, or head back to camp to hang out with fellow scouts. The leaders would have spent the day walking from class to class to make sure our scouts found their way to the correct classes. YiS, Flip Boehmer

3:00 PM Sunday

It is Sunday afternoon about 3:00 pm, and the troop is checking into Camp Daniel Boone. Yesterday (Saturday) part of the troop went rafting on the Ocoee and the rest of the troop played on the river next to the campsite. After a fun day playing, they broke down the campsite and drove 70 miles to the next campsite at Darnell Farms. Dinner last night everyone went into Bryson City for Pizza and a visit to the ice cream shop. They were lucky last night with storms around, but not at the campsite. The troop went tubing this morning at the state park on the way to checking into camp.

This afternoon, the newer scouts will be taking a tour of the camp with their ranger. Followed by the dreaded swim test. Lake Allen typically is in the 60 degree range. A brisk swim. After everyone swims, they will head up to Sioux Campsite and unload the trailer, setting up their homes for the next week. Opening ceremony and campfire tonight after dinner in the mess hall. A good night's sleep, with classes starting in the morning.

9:00 AM Saturday

The troop arrived at the Georgia and Tennessee border and set up camp, in the dark. Rains came in the night and some scouts found out how important it is to set up your tent correctly and get all gear safely stowed. But they will dry out. This campsite is a nice wooded area that is located next to a beautiful stream. Older scouts will be heading off to the Ocoee today for some whitewater rafting. The rest of the troop will be fishing, and tubing in the stream.

9:00 PM Friday

At 6:00 PM, Friday evening, the troop was completing a "lovely, delicious and nutritious (Mr. Sasso's words)" meal at Wendy's about 80 miles from the campsite. They were loading back up and heading to set up camp for the night. From the emails from Mr. Sasso and Mrs. Martin, it was a wonderfully uneventful trip so far.