Assategue Island – May 2017
by Tommy Keating – Scorpions Patrol
The Sun was beginning to rise as the Troop Gathered in The Parking lot of Saint Francis. When everyone got into patrol lines and had set down their items in their patrols pack lines we began to take attendance. After the attendance was taken care of everyone received their car assignments and began to pile in.
The Drive was a little long but the Scouts in my Car fell asleep for most of the ride. We arrived at The park around 1:20 if I recall and we all gathered in the middle to received the information about what we were going to do for the rest of our day. The first activity we were going to do was canoeing/ Kayaking it would be a 3 hour session on the water. When we arrived at the Canoeing/ Kayaking rec area they equipped every one with a life Jacket and a Paddle and gave a review on how to turn and other maneuvers. When it was time for us to head out on the water most of us were eager but realized that the water was very cold but that did not stop us. We had a blast on the water and only a few other scouts flipped over but we all made it back in one piece. After returning our Canoes and Kayaks to the rental a problem occurred.
One of the Adults Car Batteries had died so the Older Scouts called each Patrol around so that they could teach us how to jump a car. Although this is a wired lesson to teach in Boy Scouts it is a needed skill. When we arrived at our camp site we began to pitch our tents so that we could have a sports tournament. When everyone’s tent was pitched we began our tournament. The teams were chosen by the Selected team captain, I was with Gordon Rising team and we were pinned against a opposite team. The Games that were available to play was Football, Whiffle Ball, and Ultimate Frisbee. Sadly my team only got to play two of these games and then it was time for dinner. The Scorpions began to take out our ingredients for our dinner but we ran into some problems with our fuel tank for or stove so that resulted in two trips down to the Trailer to refill the tank. When the tank was finally refilled we were finally able to start cooking. The Entire process took about 2 hours and by the time we finished we had well made tacos. After Eating our Tacos we began to clean up due to the time getting later.
After The Scorpions finished cleaning up our dinner we began to think of ideas for our campfire Skit, which ended up being the Invisible bench skit. At the Campfire each patrol presented their skits including us but the main event was the flag ceremony. The New Scouts presented the Ceremony and they handled it very well. After the Ceremony we all headed to our tents and went to bed. The Next Morning we all woke up and went to go make breakfast. The Scorpions made Breakfast burritos which most of the other Patrols decided to do also. When it was time to clean up our Patrol was a little behind so we were cleaning non-stop. I returned our stove and other items we used from the trailer. It did not take us long before we were done cleaning after that we took down our tents. After our tents were down we formed our pack line and waited around while others worked on rank requirements. Soon we all Gathered on the beach for our morning service. The Service was it usual length and also the weather was great unlike the Day before in which it was raining. As soon as the Service was done we all went back to the parking lot and packed our stuff into the cars and headed home.
In all the Outing was really fun and I made some great memories with my patrol there. I hope we will go back soon.
