Location - Cave Run Lake - near Morehead Kentucky
Mileage - 226 round trip. Filled tank in Georgetown KY.Weather - 44 at night - 53 during the day - rain started early Saturday morning - ended early Sunday morning
Clothing - quick-dry convertible Scout pants/shorts, tshirt, fleece mid-layer, Bass Pro Shops raincoat (I need a new raincoat!) - it didn't keep me dry.
Shoes - Keen Sandals Friday night to Saturday afternoon. Also Sunday morning - Merrell Waterproof hiking boots and wool socks Saturday afternoon to Saturday night.
Tent - Coleman Lakeside 6 - I've had this tent for 15+ years. I have broken poles and missing pole pegs on the sides, but I still make it work. This may be the last I use this tent until I can repair it.
Sleeping bag - Slumberjack XL Bag - 0 degrees.
Camping pad - Thermarest Prolite
Main Activity - Grubmaster - I made Sausage Grave, bacon for breakfast Saturday with biscuits that I had made from home on Friday, Tortilla Soup & Ham&Cheese Quesadilla for lunch, hamburgers & fried potatoes for supper. Sunday morning - leftover sausage gravy and biscuits. TOO MUCH SODIUM. Next time I'm grubmaster, I'll make something better.
Extra Gear - Dad's Coleman Lantern (early 1970s) that still works perfectly, my cheater heater (i wasn't the only adult with one on this campout, hammock.
Nights Camping - 2
Thomas had a KMEA band competition at SCHS after school on Friday. He was supposed to be out at 6:30. I stopped at Spade to pick up Noah and Cody just before 6, and I also dropped off the cooler because it wouldn't fit in the back of my truck. I borrowed Monty M's cooler, and had all the cold food for the campout inside it. Luckily it had been in my office at work already. I picked up the two scouts who joined me and Tyler in my truck. I drove directly to SCHS to pick up Thomas. His band was done with the competition, and everyone was loaded in the school bus except Thomas, the band director, and a couple of band parents. Mr Nunn asked me if I had trouble finding the high school. I smiled and said, "I graduated from this high school."
We drove to Mom's house so we could keep the trumpet and competition clothing there for the weekend. It took Thomas a few minutes to change. We then drove to Subway restaurant since no one except Noah had eaten. I have been refusing lately to eat at McDonald's during campout weekends. It is too easy to make McD's the eatery of choice on trips to and from campouts. You have to work hard to not eat there if you get into the habit. Last campout Thomas and I made sandwiches from home, put them in ziplock bags, and ate on the road. After Subway, we then drove directly to Twin Knobs Campground. We got there shortly before dark. I mostly set up the tent in the dark, but I also had my lantern.
Twin Knobs Campground
We had all of Loop I to camp in. I think last year we were in Loop F. Cave Run Lake is an awesome place to camp. Each camp area has a shower house that doubles as a storm shelter. Each shower house has two restrooms and two restroom/showers - 4 rooms total. I set my place in Campsite 5. There were three Scout patrols plus 3 areas where adults set up campsites. I had the camp kitchen in my campsite since I was grubmaster. I had the only tent in my campsite.
I set up my tent first and put all my gear in the tent. I then set up the camp kitchen. After that I decided to hang my hammock. By that time it was past 11. I think I went to bed, but not until I spent about 20 minutes in my hammock.
I set my phone alarm for 6:30. I went immediately to the camp kitchen to start work on breakfast.
Breakfast was my favorite meal to make. Made from scratch sausage gravy. I brought biscuits from home that I had made on Friday morning. After breakfast I took a hike with 1 crossover scout and 4 or 5 scouts who crossed over with Tyler, and then 4 of the older scouts (1st Class and maybe 1 Star Scout). All of the Philmont Crew Scouts stayed in camp and worked on cooking for Philmont. With the crossovers and the younger scouts, we did plant identification. This is a Second Class Scout Requirement. We also did some animal identification which is a First Class Scout Requirement. After the hike was over, I went to the kitchen to start lunch. I made some coffee, and I didn't have any sugar. Robert and Tyler decided they wanted some coffee to warm themselves up. Robert didn't like it, but Tyler claimed that he did.
It literally rained all day. The 2nd year Scouts (Tyler's group) started fighting. It took a little bit of intervention on my part after supper to get them to stop. After they all hugged and made up, they were all fine. I think some of the attitudes came from the crappy weather. Thomas was wearing his new Marmot Precip Raincoat, Columbia Convertible quick dry pants, hiking socks and Keen hiking boots. He was dry as a bone. I have been buying new gear for Thomas since he will be going to Philmont in about 7 weeks. Tyler and I didn't fare so well in gear.
Saturday evening there was a thunderstorm. The younger scouts were scared. The Philmont crew didn't care. Not being scared of the storms comes with years in Scouting. Sometimes it rains on Scout campouts. Sometimes it storms. Sometimes it is a beautiful weekend. You never know what you'll get. All of it is the best because we're outside!
The storm ended about 9:30. I went to the campsites to alert the scouts that the storm had passed, and all we were expecting was rain for the rest of the night. First campsite - Tyler's. Out of the 8 scouts in the campsite, only 3 were still there. Tyler, Robert, and Landon. I went to the next campsite. Out of the 6 scouts in the campsite, only 2 were still there. I went to the Philmont Crew campsite. Out of the 8 scouts who were in the campsite, all were there. I then went to the shower house. There were about 7 scouts in one room, and 2 in the next. Most eventually went back to their tents. A couple of them stayed in the shower house and read books all night.
After a while, I went back to my campsite. I was in my sleeping bag by 10:30. I woke up twice during the night for nature's call. I was only out of my bag for less than a minute each time. Both times I woke up, it was still raining. My alarm was set for 6:30. When it went off, I turned on my cheater-heater to let my tent warm up before I got out of my bag. I went to sleep for another hour.
Sunday morning had great weather. It was beautiful. I tore down my campsite after I made breakfast. I put up a clothes line with rope from my truck and hung up my tent. I'm pretty good at knots, but I only tied a few different knots this weekend. Artillery Hitch, Two Half Hitches, and Taut-line Hitch. I took down the camp kitchen last. About 30 minutes before we left, I checked my tent to see if it was still dry. Not quite as dry as I wanted. I put my tent in my truck without rolling it up. I hung it again when I got home.
We had the Scouts Own Service at the end. To me, this is the best part of the campout. Most of the scouts are worn out, which means for the most part, they're listening.
After the Scouts Own, we drove home. I still had Noah and Cody in addition to Thomas and Tyler. We listened to Radiohead's In Rainbows album. It was the perfect soundtrack to the ride home. Thomas and Tyler loved the music as much as I did. Noah and Cody both fell asleep. It took about an hour to get home. I set the Cruise Control on 72, and coasted all the way home. By the time we got close to Lexington, I put in the Yeah Yeah Yeah's CD that I had in my truck. It isn't as good as In Rainbows, but it's ok.
I think I've put my 0 bag away for the last time until late Fall.
Next Campout - Kawida Lodge - Order of the Arrow - Spring Ordeal - May 15 - 17 at Camp McKee. Thomas and I only need 13 hours to complete the OA 100 Year Service Award. All the other requirements have already been met. Ordeal is worth 12 hours. We just need to find 1 more hour, and we will be finished with the requirements for this patch that will go on our OA Sash.
I may encourage Tyler at some point in the next few weekends to set up a tent in the area across the street from our house to have a campout in the fashion that I had as a child. It wasn't a production like seems to go into a lot of campouts for scouting. No gear other than a tent and a sleeping bag. The kids my age from my neighborhood camped a lot like this. Some of my best childhood memories is from campouts like this. Bryan E, Bryan W, Phillip W, Me, and a few others. I'm glad I had those campouts! I think they made me who I am today.
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