Location - Camp McKee - Levee Rd, Jeffersonville, KY (Between the cities of Mount Sterling in Montgomery County and Clay City in Powell County). Camp McKee is the Council Camp for the Bluegrass Council.
Mileage - 147 miles round trip.Weather - 60s at night - mid 70s during the day - Scattered Rain started at 10 AM Saturday, and mostly ended by Saturday afternoon.
Clothing - quick-dry convertible Scout shorts, tshirt, I used my Swiss Army Poncho. It works, but I don't like it very much. Too Bulky! Purchased at a flea market - army surplus.
Shoes - Keen Sandals. I brought my work boots, but they never left my truck.
Tent - Slumberjack Trail Tent 4
Sleeping bag - Coleman bag. It is probably a 45 bag, but the description on the bag is gone. I use this bag at summer camp. I used it like a blanket. It was warm at night.
Camping pad - Thermarest Prolite
Main Activity - Using my truck to move tents, poles and cots from Maintenance Building to different campsites so Ordeal Candidates can set up the campsites. I ended up spending a lot of time in each campsite untying the knots used to set up the tents, and I retied the knots to make them able to hold up to the weather. Mostly I used taut-line hitch, Two Half Hitches, and Clove Hitch. What I found on the tents was just about anything that looked like a knot, but really was a mess. This weekend was worth 12 hours service, and it meant that Thomas and I finished our requirements for the Centuries of Service Award/Patch. I've already sewed it on my sash.
Thomas was invited to get more involved in the Order of the Arrow. He is considering being a ceremonialist. He also played capture the flag during the "brotherhood bash" on Saturday night. He captured the other teams flag in 11 minutes. It is just about all he has talked about since then.
Extra Gear - This was a Kawida Lodge event, and I really didn't need very much. I knew I would mostly be working. It was a great weekend!
Nights Camping - 2
Pre-Ordeal Call Out
Pre-ordeal
Ordeal Work - Saturday - Loaded tents and poles into my truck to be delivered to campsites.
Candidates coming into the Ordeal Ceremony
New Ordeal Members receiving their sash
Spring Ordeal 2015 - New Members
Thomas showing where his Centuries of Service Award will go on his sash.
My sash after I sewed on my Sash Patch - Centuries of Service Award.
Thomas and I are Brotherhood Members of Kawida Lodge. Both of us are very active in our OA Lodge. The Centuries of Service Award requirements involved becoming a Brotherhood Member if you were able, it involved tagging something to #OA100, and it involved 25 hours of service. You also had to attend Lodge Events or Conclave, NOAC, etc. You also have to be a registered member of a Boy Scout Troop. OA Members were able to begin working on requirement in July 2014. It took us until May 2015 to get finished with our requirements. Our service included 12 hours to the Brotherhood Conversion weekend (August 2014), 12 hours to Spring Ordeal 2015, and 1 hour each given to Franklin County Backpack and Snack Program. We cleaned the room where the packing of the bags is done at First Christian Church. I'm also on the Backpack and Snack Program Board of Directors, but my hours given to the board I did not count toward the service requirements for this award. I enjoy looking at pictures that other OA members have posted to Facebook or Twitter with the #OA100 hashtag.
This was my best campout so far in 2015, and my favorite Kawida Lodge event so far. Thomas finally had the OA bug bite him. He made some new friends in our lodge, and we actually spent some time apart from each other during this event. He learned a LOT about leadership during this campout.
Catch words/phrases used during this weekend for the two of us - Jimmy Jelly & "work smarter not harder". From all the hiking that we've done this Spring, I can tell that Thomas is stronger now than he has ever been before. He is also much more mature.
