Troop 1131 at Raven Knob Scout Camp 2007

Raven Knob 2007 #1

Troop 1131:

I usually like to get these messages from camp out in the morning, but I have been a busy camper.

Everyone arrived at camp safely thanks to a great group of parents who volunteered to drive. We have eight adults staying in camp for the entire week, and have at least another eight staying for a day or two at the start or end of the week. We also have 51 scouts in camp. The trip to camp was uneventful for most people, but your scoutmaster's drive to camp had some exciting moments. A state trooper decided to me a ticket for speeding. He wrote it for 19 mph over the limit; I was probably going faster, but this was the trooper's way of avoiding the reckless driving law (20 mph over the limit). So I will have to pay $95 plus a $55 service fee. Although, there is no excuse for my speeding, where I got the ticket turned out to be a section of I-81, close to the NC border where the speed limit changed to 60 mph. Just across the border, the speed limit went up to 70 mph.

Just about an hour from camp, NC, my car seemed to have run over something on the road. I could not tell what it was, but in another few minutes the right rear tire started rumbling, and when I pulled over, the tire completely separated from the wheel! We had a fun time putting the small spare tire on. George Riley's car pulled over to help, and Jake and Zach Larmour transferred to George's car. Spencer Reynolds was an especially big help changing the tire, and he and I continued to camp slowly. However, we were not the last ones to check in. David Sevier showed up just after I pulled into camp.

We checked in and went up to our campsite where James Tiffany, SPL, and Randy Froehlich assigned tents to our scouts. Dave Price pulled the trailer into the campsite, and the scouts unloaded their personal gear to take to their tents. The scouts and several leaders changed into bathing suits, and we headed off our medical recheck, and our troop picture. Then most of the troop went for swim checks, and the camp orientation. Dinner was spaghetti, bread sticks and salad, and the boys seemed to like the first meal. Some went back for thirds.

The swim checks went smoothly, with only one exception. Hal Tchalekian, a new scout, immediately felt a sharp pain in his ear when he jumped into the water and did not complete his swim check. We sent him to the health lodge where they put some dry ear drops (alcohol) in his ear, and gave him a couple of Tylenol for the pain. However, after dinner, Hal was still in a great deal of pain, so I collected up the medical paperwork to take him into the hospital in Mt. Airy. Most of the troop was at the opening campfire, actually, I was concerned about using my car with the small spare tire to drive into town. Luckily, Nathan Sherrard showed up, just in the nick of time. He drove Hal and me to the hospital. Amazingly, we were seen right away. The Triage nurse was a former Girl Scout and very nice. The doctor diagnosed Hal with an ear infection and prescribed some antibiotics; he also told Hal not to go swimming for a month! The doctor thought Hal had come to camp with the ear infection, and probably had a tiny eardrum perforation.

We got back to camp around 11:00 P.M. (not too bad). Most of our scouts were in bed as taps is 10:00 p.m., but some of the older scouts, Connor and Sean McShea, David Hanlon and Patrick Krzkowski were just finishing their shower as we pulled into the parking area near our campsite. Hal went right to bed, and was feeling good in the morning. A few of the scouts had trouble getting used to the cots, but sleeping was good as the camp was quiet and the night air was cool. Everyone was tired from the long day.

James Tiffany and Randy Froehlich ran the PLC meeting while I was in town with Hal. The consensus was that the troop had done well the first day.

We woke everyone up at 6:30 a.m., and got things moving quickly. Breakfast was French Toast sticks and cereal. Neil and Thomas Watson as well as Sean Tkacik received packages from home. At Lunch (hamburgers and fries), several scouts, David Hanlon, and Stephen and Jonathan Oakes, got email messages from home, and one scout got a letter from home.

As I mentioned, if you want to send your son an email message, just go to the camps web site, http://ravenknob.com. Also, I got the pager, and you can get a short message to me by going to http://www.rcscom.com (the pager id is 371-6150, or 336-371-6150), or you can call 336-371-6150 to leave a short message too.

However, for other longer communication, just send me an email message philip.sternberg@verizon.net .

Take care, more tomorrow.

Philip Sternberg
Scoutmaster, T-1131