Day 3 - Monday:
45° @ 7 am, 8% humidity, sunny
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No running in camp!

Breakfast at 7:45, scrambled eggs, biscuits & gravy, and potatoes.  Morning flag ceremonies are at 8:30.  This morning was an introduction to camp and staff.

Ian, the camp director (British accent and all), explained the 4 alarms that would bring everyone to the parade grounds, whenever and whatever you are doing.  The alarms were for: lost camper (we didn't know at the time how close we would come to call this one); fire; inclement weather; and flood.  The medic explained the need to drink lots of water and use lots and lots of sunscreen.  Very high fire danger, so no open fires this week.

One good rule Mr. Rhoades established was that if a Scout or adult ran in camp, you would stop and count to thirty ... and you would have to sing a song.  A little after 9 am and everyone left camp to go to classes.

At camp, Mr. Grimes met with Jim, one of the camp commissioners and they went over the check-in campsite list.  Went through the tent and platforms, latrine and other campsite areas and checked off problem areas ... like the broken tent platform.  Jim said he'd get them fixed and during the week several different staff came by numerous times and said they'd get stuff fixed.  Finally, later in the week, Mrs. Kirkpatrick and Mr. Whitacre did some repairs and the staff finally fixed the tent platform.

12:45 and lunch was Sloppy Joe's and chips.  Everyone went right back to classes.

Dinner was 5:45 pm: chicken and peas in cream sauce, and cake.

Closing flag ceremony was after dinner.

Later, at 8:15, it was back to the parade ground for the 8:30 opening campfire in the Kiva.  As we were entering, we had to fold our arms, take our caps off and remain silent.  As we entered the Kiva, we had to raise the Scout sign and make three upward spirals, symbolizing smoke rising from a fire, before we were allowed to enter the Kiva.  When someone forgot to give the sign, OA members prevented that person from entering until they got it right.  Staff did some skits: Jack-O the tree climber and others.  Ian introduced us to a rugby (the 'real' football) yell: oogie, oogie, oogie and the crowd response of oy, oy, oy.  It was an impressive campfire.

After campfire, we returned to camp and Dr. Brumbaugh told us a bed time story (thanks for the nightmares).  He told about his encounter with a bear on a campout, the use of a whistle to scare off the bear, and the reason why we need to put 'smellies' (anything that has a smell ... if it smells, it will attract a bear) in the trailer.

Finally, with this we sent all the campers off to bed with visions of strawberries, 'smellies' and shadowy bears.

NEXT: DAY 4