Jamboree

We arrived at Fort AP Hill on Monday afternoon. By the time we got our gear to our campsite and everything set up, we were all hot and exhausted. Our campsite was at the end of a long row of troops, on a hill and we were surrounded by "Tick" trees. Everyone was told to stay out of the trees because of the tick population. We were also warned about dehydration because of the high temperatures and humidity. It was over 100 degrees and very very humid. The heat index was announced throughout the day and it was mostly in the Black category. This meant we were to drink one quart of water every hour. There was a little time for exploring, but mostly everyone went to bed. Tuesday was the first full day at the Jamboree. We started the day off early by walking several miles to go the the OA Mysterium Compass at 8:40 am. When we arrived we found out that our tickets were actually for the following Tuesday. :( Some of us decided to wait in the standby line and we were able to get into the show. It was AWESOME! Some of the other activities on that side of camp included the Brownsea Island area, a Conservation Exhibit, Disability Awareness activities and Mountain Boarding. It was another very hot day and some of us even ended up in the medical tent being treated for heat related illnesses. Wednesday morning we all lined up by troops and marched to the Arena for the Opening Show. It started with a flyover of military jets. The 2,000,000th Eagle Scout was the host for the show. Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, was the guest speaker. He is an Eagle Scout and gave a great talk. The best story was him telling about going on a campout with his son while he was the CIA director. They were accompanied by the Secret Service and various intelligence vehicles. He joked about this being a Scoutmaster's worst Nightmare. It was pretty neat to see 50,000 scouts and scouters all together. A few members of a troop from Scotland visited our camp and entertained us with bagpipe music. Their scoutmaster gave Scoutmaster Gene a neckerchief from thier troop. It was fun to meet scouts from another country. For the rest of the week, the scouts worked on merit badges, visited exhibits, traded patches, and enjoyed all the activities of the Jamboree. Some of the favorites were mountain boarding, scuba diving, patch trading,black powder rifles, rappelling, canoeing, fishing, more patch trading, religious meetings, cold showers and spam for dinner. Some of the boys wrote articles at the Hometown news booth and then sent them to be published in local papers. Friday morning at 6:00 am the whole troop participated in a 5K run/walk. Way to go 609. The 10 days went sooooooooooo fast. Everyone was scrambling at the end to get all the activities done that they wanted to. The last day we took down our tents and cleaned up our camp so we would be ready to leave at 6:00 am the next morning. We slept under our dining tents in our sleeping bags. At 3:00 in the morning a warning was sent out that a rain and lightning storm was headed our way. As the rain started to come down, we carried our gear up the hill to the waiting truck. It was a sloppy mess everywhere. At least we had some protection from our dining fly, but some troops were out in the open. Boys were seeking shelter in the showers, commissary, bathrooms or anywhere else they could find a roof. It sure made for a soggy end to the Jamboree.
(More pics to come when we get better internet connection)