It's been a year!

Well, it's been one whole year since we arrived in Cimarron, NM for our trek. Today, I was grabbing lunch and I picked up a cup a soup and noticed I forgot to grab ice for my water. Water without ice. When was the last time I had water without ice? Well I certainly remember doing without ice for 10 days this time last year.

We were cleaning out the garage for our annual all-sub garage sale last weekend and we stumbled upon several water bottles. Two had colored duct tape on them to indicate they had gatorade "smellables" and had to be kept in the bear bag. One still had purified water from the trail at Philmont. My son dumped out the purified water before I could stop him. If I'd had more time to think, perhaps I might have suggested looking at it under a microscope to see how many little bugs were swimming around a year after purification.

So here I sit in a cube farm eating a sandwich and drinking cup a soup and lukewarm water wishing I was purifying water back on the trail at Philmont...

Reunion

We had our troop crossover campout earlier this month. It is the time the webelos attend a campout with the troop for the first time. We build a bridge out of wood we find around the camp site by lashing it together and then after the crossover ceremony, we burn it all in the camp fire.

I announced at a couple of meetings leading up to the campout I would be bringing grub and invited our crew for a reunion. All but Eric, Jonas and Danny made it. Those 3 all had some obligation. The rest of us enjoyed grilled steaks. I'd go back in a heartbeat, but I'd be more assertive about picking a shorter trek. As I reread some of my comments from the diary I kept on the trail, I recall it was tough but it was one of the best things we ever did. The photo is of 6 of our 9 crew members after our steak dinner. Exactly the same stuff we ate on the trail. Yeah. Right. ;)

A new eagle...

A member of our Trek was honored yesterday evening for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Danny Mooney is among our troop's newest 3 eagle scouts, bringing our total to 103 scouts over the troop's 50 year history. Also honored were Patrick Rooney and Kevin Mersol-Barg.

My son is busy with college apps and so forth so we haven't been around the troop very much. I was happy to attend yesterday's eagle court of honor and I'm very proud of Danny. I hope the two remaining members of our crew, Jonas and Oliver, decide to pursue their eagle rank as well.

I miss Philmont and wish I could go back there again. Maybe someday I can. Yesterday's eagle court of honor reminded me how much I miss scouting. Maybe my son and I can squeeze in one more weekend campout with the troop before he turns 18...