WORTH RANCH CAMPOUT
September 2006

Great times start with great food! Mr. Jordan got the weekend started with a crackerbarrel on Friday night that was enjoyed by all and included the standard fair of fruit, sausage, cheese and crackers. It only got better from there – at least for the Big Bucks, the SPL and the ASPL.

Go guns and bows! Saturday morning we all hoofed it to the ranges. Mr. Mundlin ran the shotgun range, Mr. Jacot ran the rifle range and Mr. White ran the archery range. All Scouts got plenty of shooting in. This is a great part of our program at 168. Every time the Scouts shoot you see them gain a little more confidence.

While the scores were being tallied from the morning session of shooting, we all went back to camp, relaxed for a while, and had a great lunch. At least the Big Bucks had a great lunch. Mr. Jordan served up bar-be-qued wild hog, and crab cakes – delicious!

After lunch we had a shoot off between the high scorers in each shooting discipline. Jonathan Mundlin, Jeremy Jordan and Patrick Mundlin schooled us all with their shooting skills as they each took a first place finish in shotgun, rifle and archery, respectively. Congratulations guys!

A river runs through Worth Ranch and it’s called the Brazos. Late Saturday, we all waded into the Brazos and cooled off from the afternoon heat. The Scouts built dams, swam, splashed and told tall tales. None of this seemed to affect the fishing. In the span of less than an hour, with the Scouts splashing and carrying on about him, Mr. Flynn caught at least 10 fish – sand bass, large mouth bass and crappie. Great fun! Everyone needs to bring a fishing rod next time.

In our four years of camping as Troop 168 we have never had to make a hospital run. At least that was true until Saturday afternoon. Damien, one of our charter scouts, stabbed himself in the hand while peeling an orange. The damage – 4 stitches to Damien’s hand, blood all over Mr. Rayerman’s camp chair, not sure what happened to that half peeled orange.

With Damien in our thoughts we went about our business. That included Mr. Jordan’s preparation of a great dinner for the Big Bucks. Fried catfish, freedom fries, hush puppies, and coleslaw. After the Big Buck’s got their fill, the Scouts were invited to have a taste. With Evyn front and center, everyone managed to get a morsel. Terrific!

We ended a long day of fun on Saturday with a campfire in the rock amphitheater. This has to be one of the best settings for a campfire around (watching a sunset at the Sid Richardson amphitheater while collecting first place Camporee ribbons also ranks very highly). As the light of the campfire danced off the rock walls that surrounded us we all shared corny jokes and skits. Even Slade, our guest for the weekend, joined in the fun with a corny joke of his own. The highlight was Evyn getting soaked in the “how to build a campfire” skit.

At about 10:30 pm we had lights out. Everybody retired to their tents for some much needed rest. It was a hot and humid night with no breeze. At some point in the night a slow drizzle of rain started. Every Scout knows that there are not a lot of things better than sleeping in a tent while it is raining. This rain, however, came without a breeze. It was dead calm. Not sure how much sleeping took place.

One thing is for sure, at 2:30 AM Mr. White, our extraordinary Quartermaster, was up and doing his job. What some must have thought was a raccoon or possum going through our trash was actually Mr. White covering all of the chuck boxes with plastic to protect them from the rain. Thank you Mr. White. You are the best!

Thanks to all the Scouters who pitched in and helped out this weekend starting with Mr. Rayerman, our Campmaster who did all the behind the scenes planning. Thanks also to Mr. Jordan, the Big Buck Grubmaster, Mr. Mundlin, Shotgun Rangemaster, Mr. Jacot, Rifle Rangemaster, Mr. White, Archery Rangemaster and Quartermaster. You guys make Troop 168 great!