We got the Pack up early and headed out the good ol’ camp Oh-Da-Ko-Ta for the Gateway Fall Camporee. The weather was better than expected, a little on the cool side but the rain held off and the kids had enough energy to keep them warm.
The opening ceremony was nice, but we were waiting for the BOOM; too bad that the people lined up to provide the mornings “black powder” demo never showed up. That aside, we went off in search of adventure.
The Boy Scout Troops were still busy making breakfast so the Cub Scouts, who we now know get up earlier than the Boy Scouts, went about our business. The Webelos went off to earn an activity pin while the rest of our group went off to shoot arrows into pumpkins. It was a bad day to be a pumpkin, the ones that did not get shot with arrows, got launched from catapults or thrown off Fort Dakota. If any pumpkins made it through that punishment, they were stomped flat by more than eager Cub Scouts.
After watching many pumpkins get turned into pie filling, we moved on to the rocketry. Water bottle rockets flew, kids ran, adults looked up. Upgrading their water propelled rockets for more traditionally fueled rockets, the kids made mini spacecraft ready for launch. A few rockets were even recovered in one piece, but many of them met their demise in the weekends promised BOOM as the engine tried to disengage. The sky rained rocket pieces for quite a while.
After lunch, we were hungry for more BOOM in our Camporee and we saw a very nice presentation from the Kenosha Bomb Squad that did not disappoint. Nothing gets the kids attention more than blowing things up.
Wound up from watching the bomb squad, we went out on a little hike around the camp. We found the Boy Scouts shooting potatoes into Dyer Lake with a potato gun. That kept the boys attention for a little while, but the day was wearing many of them out. We went back to our host Troop’s site for some dinner, and the boys played a little football.
We ended the night with a great campfire and a very moving flag retirement ceremony as an old flag was taken out of service. The Webelos headed back to the camp site to prepare for a good night sleep in the cool Oh-Da-Ko-Ta air, and I headed home as my scout fell asleep before getting to the highway.
