Ready To Head For Home

The journey home starts with a long walk from the campsite to the parking lot.

I was asked to arrive at camp at 10AM.  I was there at 10:03 and was met by the troop heading to the Camp Store for the last time.

I saw lots of smiling faces!  And that was an excellent sign of a good week.

Some scouts try to run away from my camera lens...but I get them anyway.

 And there are my boys.  One covered in poison ivy.  One happy as can be, which is very unusual and in the same jeans he was in on Wednesday night.  And one that went out of his way all week to make sure that everyone that left camp had a buddy.  He would walk with his friends to the merit badges that they wanted to work on and wait two hours while they worked on merit badges.  Now that is a true friend!
 

MEllis (Mel is) as he is know says that this was the best camp yet!  He wants to go back next year.  He would love to be an archery merit badge counselor...work at camp all summer.  I have never seen him so happy and so talkative.  I'm wondering if it might have had something to do with the bottle of Ski he drank on the way home!

These two young gentlemen helped to keep the scouts in line all week.

 

ScoutMaster Tom Rhorer, bringing up he rear.

Feeling the love.

 

Two things I expected...for the boys to be so worn out from the week at camp that once they got there bellies full, they would drift off to Sleepytown for the ride home.  Did not happen, even for a second.  They talked about the week at camp..how many merit badges they got...Connor got the most...Michael got two, Archery and Geology...the last campfire was awesome...their favorite activities and counselors...it got cold Thursday night...they got rained on one night...the food was great...they pushed through their homesickness...what they plan to do next year...and Mindcraft.  I learned a lot of new strategies for a game I will never play. oh, and we sang camp songs!  My favorite...100 bottles of Ski on the wall.  The second thing I knew would happen...smelling up the van.  So I got real smart and got two of those Febreze things and hooked them up a few days ago.  Those things are amazing!  Not a stinky boy did I smell on the entire ride home.  I know they had to be ripe because I know at least two of them only showered once the entire week.  Gross, but that is part of camp life, so I am told.