Victoria Day '99
21 - 24 May 1999, Mount Nemo Scout Camp, Burlington, Ontario

Once again, the Crew was set to be on staff for Victoria Day camp.  This year, Lumberman, Laura, Miller, Heather, Wildman, Huck, Todd, Dave, Peter and Ross helped out.  In fact, Peter was on camp staff, and Dave was Venturer subcamp staff.  Throughout the weekend, we also acquired new members for the crew - Brian and Dale who helped out with our events as well.  Cory wasn't there, but he did mail us a large, plush Bert doll that we had to carry everywhere with us.

Friday night we arrived at camp to find that the Crew had 6 vehicles with it - now that's impressive.  We set up camp with the 81st Venturers in the Venturer subcamp, and found out what we were to do on Saturday.  Camp opening was held on Friday night, and afterwards we took some of our vehicles and went into downtown Burlington for some snacks at an ice cream parlour (no, not those snacks, Rosie.)


Saturday morning we got up early, and enjoyed the breakfast that had been excellently prepared by the kitchen staff - lets hear a big "Woo Hoo!" for the kitchen staff!

Here's Cory's effigy keeping watch over the lake at Kelso.

After breakfast, we packed everything we'd need for the day and headed out to Kelso Conservation Area.  There, we would run the triathlon event.  Lumberman, Ross, Heather and Huck set up the canoe obstacle course while Miller and Todd set the mountain biking course.  Then we sat around and waited until the Venturers started coming in from their hike (they all had to hike to Kelso.)

A relatively uneventful day led us to play frisbee on the grass while the Venturers struggled through the triathlon.  We also went out to Tim Hortons and got cake.

After a hearty dinner at Confederation Lodge, Monica decided to grace us with their presence.  Too bad for her, we were all going back into downtown Burlington to go swimming at one of the indoor pools as part of the programme.  Luckily, we also got to shower and use flushies.

After returning from a refreshing swim, we had a Crew meeting where Laura was elected as the new Mate, and Heather was designated as Past Mate.  Both Dale and Brian officially expressed interest in becoming full members, and were both excepted as Squires.  Some constitutional changes were made too.  Soon, it was time to take Huck for his investiture.  He decided to do it in the valley near Hencher Den.

After a nice ceremony where Lumberman finally had the whole thing memorised so he didn't have to read it, it was time for bed.

Sunday, all of the Venturer subcamp events were in camp.  The Crew was responsible for a number of events, including a commando bridge (as usual) and an obstacle course (as usual.)  Sunday, it was really hot.  So we were glad when lunch came and we could close down our events and head in to the Lodge for a good meal.  After lunch, Wildman and Heather went home for some reason.

When the afternoon events had wrapped up, it was time for Lumberman and Kyle to put the finishing touches on their popsicle stick bridges for the competition the next morning.  While Lumberman's was built exactly according to solid mechanics theory, Kyle's was a reconstruction of the tree with the sticks and glue.

Finally, it was time for the camp show.  For the big presentation, we decided to fit all of the rovers at camp into Miller's Lawn Boy ®.  First, we took out the front seats, and of course cleaned out all the crap that Miller likes carrying around with him.  Then it was time for everyone to pile in.  18 in all, I think?  Pretty impressive for the Lawn Boy®.  Then, just as we were about to drive out in front of everyone, one of the Scout leaders who was running the show decided that he didn't want to wait for us, so he started his own skit instead.

Of course, he took his time with his skit, even though Miller was honking the horn, and we sent Snake out to pull the guy off the stage.  You see, the 18 of us were quite cramped, and getting warm.  After waiting around 20 MINUTES in the car, we finally drove out onto the stage area, and limped out of the car.  After enough of us resuscitated our limbs, we sang a rousing chorus of "Dead Puppies" led by Spanky.

The rest of the evening was relatively uneventful - how can you top "Dead Puppies?"


Monday morning we were awoken by rain tapping on the roof of the tent.  As I lay in my sleeping bag I thought, "I wonder if white glue is waterproof?"  Quickly, I jumped out of the tent, only to find that my popsicle stick bridge was indeed melting in the downpour.  Later on, after breakfast, Kyle and I took our bridges into BP lodge for the testing.  Of course, everyone else had brought their bridges in the night before, but mine still beat most of them.  The overall winner however, was Kyle, who then exclaimed, "This proves thinking is useless."

Soon after was closing.  The 81st Venturers came in third place behind the 47th Hamilton, who were a great team and deserved to win.  Congrats and all that stuff.  And once again, we were screwed out of our camp crests.  Hopefully we'll be able to pick some up at Scout House later.

-Lumberman
 
 


The Old Guy, taking a much-needed rest back at camp.
 


Scott Darrall cooking up some mean chow.



Page last updated 6 January 2000. (c) Thunderbird Rover Scouts.
visits to this page since 15 November 1999.