Tomorrow we may say goodbye to the cachemobile, aka our 2003 Pontiac Montana van. There have been more than a few signs as of late showing that it may be a good idea to trade it in while it is still running acceptably. Cost to fix these projected issues may be more than it's worth. So we started considering how/when/where to replace it.
First considerations were for a low mileage good used Subaru Outback. That evolved into either an Outback or a Forester. Then warranty came into play. Now we are going to go to a dealer tomorrow and test drive a '12 Outback. Basic model, but still a new car. I'm not geeked about the color, but Steve says it looks better in person than on the website. So we'll see.
Steve has spent much of this week detailing the Montana, making it look as good as it can. We're hoping to get Blue Book on it as a trade. I've made it clear (I hope) that this Outback (or whatever we end up deciding on) will be DRIVEN, not housed in the garage and hauled out on special occasions. I need to be able to go to work. And yes, driven will involve geocaching from time to time.
The cachemobile and I have had many good adventures over the past years. Think I've been driving it on a regular basis since '05 or '06 (it's an '03.) We just don't need all that passenger or hauling space anymore, either. I'll miss it though.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
the new normal (plus a few weeks...)
It's been four weeks now since my new normal started at work. Three weeks at my usual hours (we were closed the first week.)
I'm feeling more comfortable in my new role. At first, it was hard to get used to so many phone conversations and other noises surrounding me. I am in a cubby-type area of four workspaces. Not all of us are there all the time, but usually there's at least one other person. I've picked up some good phone mannerisms by osmosis, though I haven't had much opportunity to use them yet. I'm keeping up on my regular responsibilities, and am gradually having new responsibilities given to me.
At first, I was running out of work by the end of the week. This week, I have work waiting for me when we return on Tuesday. (We have Monday off for Labor Day.) And there's enough of a variety that the days/evenings go by quickly. I'm definitely not bored!
Noogieland was out of commission for two weeks after the closed week. That was two weeks of finding space whereever we could, not to mention getting used to the Thursday group under different circumstances than normal. This week, we finally have the front half back to use. That was quite crowded on grief night (Wed.) with 14 kids in half the usual space. That was 19 at the beginning of the night before "graduation" when five first graders left us for the kids group. Tonight, the cancer night kids numbered only 4, with one first grader leaving us for a grand total of 3 kids. With two volunteers, we had a 1:1 ratio. If you look at my new FB cover photo, that is most of my Wednesday group at the graduation.
Some fun stuff coming up: On Wednesday, I get to play "Sparkle," the Gilda's dog, at school assemblies in Lowell. I used to sub at every school that we will be at. And of course most of my Sunday School kids, both present and past, go to Lowell Schools. But nobody will know it's me (unless I tell them) as I'll be in full costume, complete with head, and in a non-talking role. Still, it'd be fun to call my Sunday School kids by name and let them wonder why Sparkle knows them personally...
I'm feeling more comfortable in my new role. At first, it was hard to get used to so many phone conversations and other noises surrounding me. I am in a cubby-type area of four workspaces. Not all of us are there all the time, but usually there's at least one other person. I've picked up some good phone mannerisms by osmosis, though I haven't had much opportunity to use them yet. I'm keeping up on my regular responsibilities, and am gradually having new responsibilities given to me.
At first, I was running out of work by the end of the week. This week, I have work waiting for me when we return on Tuesday. (We have Monday off for Labor Day.) And there's enough of a variety that the days/evenings go by quickly. I'm definitely not bored!
Noogieland was out of commission for two weeks after the closed week. That was two weeks of finding space whereever we could, not to mention getting used to the Thursday group under different circumstances than normal. This week, we finally have the front half back to use. That was quite crowded on grief night (Wed.) with 14 kids in half the usual space. That was 19 at the beginning of the night before "graduation" when five first graders left us for the kids group. Tonight, the cancer night kids numbered only 4, with one first grader leaving us for a grand total of 3 kids. With two volunteers, we had a 1:1 ratio. If you look at my new FB cover photo, that is most of my Wednesday group at the graduation.
Some fun stuff coming up: On Wednesday, I get to play "Sparkle," the Gilda's dog, at school assemblies in Lowell. I used to sub at every school that we will be at. And of course most of my Sunday School kids, both present and past, go to Lowell Schools. But nobody will know it's me (unless I tell them) as I'll be in full costume, complete with head, and in a non-talking role. Still, it'd be fun to call my Sunday School kids by name and let them wonder why Sparkle knows them personally...
Thursday, August 2, 2012
The new normal (at work) for me
Came back to work Monday morning to find out that my little guy's last day would be Tuesday. Just had to look at it as a blessing that I had the two extra days from what I thought I'd have when I first found out he was leaving.
By the end of the day Monday, I had a better idea of what my work life would be like. My hours will be 1 pm to 9 pm, Monday through Thursday. That has its good points and bad points. (1) I get to sleep in - if my body will let me. (2) Steve and I can have mornings together, at least until he goes back to work. (3) I only have to cook supper three nights a week max. And I'll get to eat dinner at work at least three of the four nights I'm there. BUT - (4) my evenings are spoken for. That cuts out geocaching potlucks, most scouting meetings, Awana, and anything else I might want to be doing in the evening, including spending time with Steve. I have to keep looking at the positive, though - (5) I still have a job!
I will continue to do what I've been doing when Z was napping - processing obituaries, and entering program data into our database. I will also continue the Wednesday night Children's grief group, and I get to start doing the Children's cancer group on Thursday nights as well. I'll get additional program support work, have to start taking my turn answering phone calls, and a few other things. Formal job description is still being worked up.
Next week, we are closed for repairs - one major one is to pull up the Noogieland flooring and fix some drainage issues. So I'll be working days like everyone else. My new hours start on Monday, August 13. And yep, I have to work 1-9 on my birthday....I think our plans now are to go out to lunch that day, or wait until the weekend.
On Monday, I started packing up extra things in the NL office that I wouldn't need or have room for in my new "space." I have left some things in the NL office, things that I use for evening program. Things that I just used with the staff kids are most of what I've brought home. Took a load home Tuesday night and again last night.
Today was moving day. Brought over my files (that took one hand...) my office supplies, my photos, and a few other miscellaneous items. I now have a computer, chair, and desk space in a large cubicle shared with three other workspaces. It was such a change to go from my own private workspace to a smaller shared space. Not sure if I've ever worked in the same workspace as others in an office before. I will get used to it, though. Definitely right in the mix of things, after four and a half years this is part of what I longed for (feeling like being more of the team.)
By the end of the day I was ready for a break. More used to just doing this for an hour or two at a stretch when Z was napping. So went back into NL and packed up the contents of the storage cabinets as they will have to come down for the work to be done. I also had to pack a selection of toys and activities on what I've dubbed the "NL to go" cart so that we can give NL kids something to do when they need care. We'll be closed next week, but construction starts tomorrow and some of the Friday morning programs do have kids needing care. Plus they anticipate that construction won't be complete in one week - so have to make plans for the following week for alternate places. Then back to the data entry until it was time to go.
By the end of the day Monday, I had a better idea of what my work life would be like. My hours will be 1 pm to 9 pm, Monday through Thursday. That has its good points and bad points. (1) I get to sleep in - if my body will let me. (2) Steve and I can have mornings together, at least until he goes back to work. (3) I only have to cook supper three nights a week max. And I'll get to eat dinner at work at least three of the four nights I'm there. BUT - (4) my evenings are spoken for. That cuts out geocaching potlucks, most scouting meetings, Awana, and anything else I might want to be doing in the evening, including spending time with Steve. I have to keep looking at the positive, though - (5) I still have a job!
I will continue to do what I've been doing when Z was napping - processing obituaries, and entering program data into our database. I will also continue the Wednesday night Children's grief group, and I get to start doing the Children's cancer group on Thursday nights as well. I'll get additional program support work, have to start taking my turn answering phone calls, and a few other things. Formal job description is still being worked up.
Next week, we are closed for repairs - one major one is to pull up the Noogieland flooring and fix some drainage issues. So I'll be working days like everyone else. My new hours start on Monday, August 13. And yep, I have to work 1-9 on my birthday....I think our plans now are to go out to lunch that day, or wait until the weekend.
On Monday, I started packing up extra things in the NL office that I wouldn't need or have room for in my new "space." I have left some things in the NL office, things that I use for evening program. Things that I just used with the staff kids are most of what I've brought home. Took a load home Tuesday night and again last night.
Today was moving day. Brought over my files (that took one hand...) my office supplies, my photos, and a few other miscellaneous items. I now have a computer, chair, and desk space in a large cubicle shared with three other workspaces. It was such a change to go from my own private workspace to a smaller shared space. Not sure if I've ever worked in the same workspace as others in an office before. I will get used to it, though. Definitely right in the mix of things, after four and a half years this is part of what I longed for (feeling like being more of the team.)
By the end of the day I was ready for a break. More used to just doing this for an hour or two at a stretch when Z was napping. So went back into NL and packed up the contents of the storage cabinets as they will have to come down for the work to be done. I also had to pack a selection of toys and activities on what I've dubbed the "NL to go" cart so that we can give NL kids something to do when they need care. We'll be closed next week, but construction starts tomorrow and some of the Friday morning programs do have kids needing care. Plus they anticipate that construction won't be complete in one week - so have to make plans for the following week for alternate places. Then back to the data entry until it was time to go.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Going home - Sunday
Woke up and met my geo-friends for one last breakfast, after packing my stuff as best I could without having my car available to load it up.
After breakfast, walked down to the security gate to wait for the next shuttle to the campground for my car. Finally got to go and then we drove back in a caravan. Strange to be behind the wheel after a week! Once back at camp, I was given permission to go back to the cabin area and I was able to load the car. After that, I managed to find a broom and swept out the cabin from a week's accumulation of sand and dirt. That took a while!
Left camp at about 10 a.m., and of course you know what I did next. Did some geocaching in the area. Had planned to get to West Branch to get gas but found a gas station before I got there, so chose a different route.
The best stop I made was at a cache that had a great high-banks view of the Rifle River. I got there just as two bicyclers arrived. We all admired the view, then they left and I started looking for the cache. They came back and asked if I was geocaching. We talked, and they were from Sweden, geocachers but without any local geocaching information. They were staying with friends on the nearby lake and were bicycling around the lake. Of course, I let them help me search and we all found the cache about the same time. I passed along one of my travel bugs and they've taken it back to Sweden (saw the logs this morning.) What a great geocaching memory and way to end my stay at MIC!
Took my time getting home, and did some other great caches - at BSA's Cole Canoe Base, and about six in the Alma area. Stopped at the Big Boy in Alma for a chocolate shake, and got home about 6:30 p.m. to an empty house, except for Max. Steve had been out all day with the Gold Wing group, and arrived home just before I was to step into the shower.
Nice to be home!
After breakfast, walked down to the security gate to wait for the next shuttle to the campground for my car. Finally got to go and then we drove back in a caravan. Strange to be behind the wheel after a week! Once back at camp, I was given permission to go back to the cabin area and I was able to load the car. After that, I managed to find a broom and swept out the cabin from a week's accumulation of sand and dirt. That took a while!
Left camp at about 10 a.m., and of course you know what I did next. Did some geocaching in the area. Had planned to get to West Branch to get gas but found a gas station before I got there, so chose a different route.
The best stop I made was at a cache that had a great high-banks view of the Rifle River. I got there just as two bicyclers arrived. We all admired the view, then they left and I started looking for the cache. They came back and asked if I was geocaching. We talked, and they were from Sweden, geocachers but without any local geocaching information. They were staying with friends on the nearby lake and were bicycling around the lake. Of course, I let them help me search and we all found the cache about the same time. I passed along one of my travel bugs and they've taken it back to Sweden (saw the logs this morning.) What a great geocaching memory and way to end my stay at MIC!
Took my time getting home, and did some other great caches - at BSA's Cole Canoe Base, and about six in the Alma area. Stopped at the Big Boy in Alma for a chocolate shake, and got home about 6:30 p.m. to an empty house, except for Max. Steve had been out all day with the Gold Wing group, and arrived home just before I was to step into the shower.
Nice to be home!
MIC - Day 7 - Saturday
I'm actually writing this today, four days afterwards, so hope I can remember the details the way I want to!
Saturday morning started out with breakfast, of course. After breakfast, we headed up to Geo HQ to work on sorting out our geo equipment and pack it up. Rangers were there taking down one of our canopies already as it was needed for the international day. Since there was room in their truck, they brought down my geo stuff to my cabin, which was nice as it would have taken more than a couple of trips carrying it by hand. Michael opted to keep his stuff in our secure area until Sunday as he was responsible for the GPS receivers.
Headed back to my cabin and squared away my geo stuff, then rested for a while until the international festival started at 11. Decided to take Geo, my scouting bear, with me to the festival. This was a great idea as he served as an ice-breaker to people I'd not yet met. I had many people pose with Geo, and several groups gave him his own trinkets so he truly looks international now as well. The Canadians (who had met Geo back in April at staff weekend) had even brought a Canadian flag sweater just for him.
Each booth had information about their country (or area in the U.S. - Louisiana, Wisconsin, and California all had booths) and food samples as well. There wasn't a planned lunch as it was assumed correctly that all would get their fill of such items as cheese from the Isle of Man, New Orleans Beignets, Korean shaved ice, crepes from Austria, a liver and rice dish from Egypt, and other fun tasty treats. There were also performances, much a repeat of earlier in the week but still fun. It was open to the public as well as to the camp.
Geo and I toured the booths a couple of times, then went back to the cabin for a while. Took a shower about 3 pm and then went back to the festival in uniform this time. At 4 pm it was time for the closing flag ceremony. All of the contingents lowered their flags at the same time, there were presentations to the camp chief from the various international contingents, and we were dismissed to a last campwide supper of chicken and all the trimmings.
At 7pm there was a Catholic mass, concelebrated by a priest from the Gaylord Diocese and a priest from Tanzania. My friend Tom was in charge of coordinating it, so I went to the mass in support of him. It was held on the waterfront with the attendees sitting on the hill adjacent. It was a nice mass, though I left when communion was served. Headed down to the firebowl where the non-denominational service was to be held. I ended up having a small speaking role at the end of the service, after the peace candles had been lit by all the representatives from the contingents.
Watermelon had been served just prior to the service, and Scott the chaplain remarked that it was the first time he'd conducted a service where the attendees were eating watermelon in church!
Immediately after the service, our closing campfire started with a multimedia presentation of the week, put together by the media staff. Nicely done. Then the Golden Arrows were presented to each international contingent, and a closing ceremony followed. We weren't done until almost 11 pm, so it was midnight before any of us got to sleep.
Tomorrow morning we pack up and MIC is done for another four years. Will I come back? I'd like to. Time will tell if it will work out. Four years is a long time away.
Saturday morning started out with breakfast, of course. After breakfast, we headed up to Geo HQ to work on sorting out our geo equipment and pack it up. Rangers were there taking down one of our canopies already as it was needed for the international day. Since there was room in their truck, they brought down my geo stuff to my cabin, which was nice as it would have taken more than a couple of trips carrying it by hand. Michael opted to keep his stuff in our secure area until Sunday as he was responsible for the GPS receivers.
Headed back to my cabin and squared away my geo stuff, then rested for a while until the international festival started at 11. Decided to take Geo, my scouting bear, with me to the festival. This was a great idea as he served as an ice-breaker to people I'd not yet met. I had many people pose with Geo, and several groups gave him his own trinkets so he truly looks international now as well. The Canadians (who had met Geo back in April at staff weekend) had even brought a Canadian flag sweater just for him.
Each booth had information about their country (or area in the U.S. - Louisiana, Wisconsin, and California all had booths) and food samples as well. There wasn't a planned lunch as it was assumed correctly that all would get their fill of such items as cheese from the Isle of Man, New Orleans Beignets, Korean shaved ice, crepes from Austria, a liver and rice dish from Egypt, and other fun tasty treats. There were also performances, much a repeat of earlier in the week but still fun. It was open to the public as well as to the camp.
Geo and I toured the booths a couple of times, then went back to the cabin for a while. Took a shower about 3 pm and then went back to the festival in uniform this time. At 4 pm it was time for the closing flag ceremony. All of the contingents lowered their flags at the same time, there were presentations to the camp chief from the various international contingents, and we were dismissed to a last campwide supper of chicken and all the trimmings.
At 7pm there was a Catholic mass, concelebrated by a priest from the Gaylord Diocese and a priest from Tanzania. My friend Tom was in charge of coordinating it, so I went to the mass in support of him. It was held on the waterfront with the attendees sitting on the hill adjacent. It was a nice mass, though I left when communion was served. Headed down to the firebowl where the non-denominational service was to be held. I ended up having a small speaking role at the end of the service, after the peace candles had been lit by all the representatives from the contingents.
Watermelon had been served just prior to the service, and Scott the chaplain remarked that it was the first time he'd conducted a service where the attendees were eating watermelon in church!
Immediately after the service, our closing campfire started with a multimedia presentation of the week, put together by the media staff. Nicely done. Then the Golden Arrows were presented to each international contingent, and a closing ceremony followed. We weren't done until almost 11 pm, so it was midnight before any of us got to sleep.
Tomorrow morning we pack up and MIC is done for another four years. Will I come back? I'd like to. Time will tell if it will work out. Four years is a long time away.
MIC Day 6 - Friday
MIC Day 6 – Friday, July 27, 2012
An overcast morning greeted us again here at MIC. After a “McMuffin” type of breakfast, I had my toes re-taped. This time my “doc” was an international staffer – he had trouble finding the tape but finally got the job done. He did not tape my toes together, just covered the blisters and hot spots. That was ok by me! Blisters seem about the same tonight, though I’m not taking the tape off as I’m going to wait to shower and there’s no other reason to take it off. My feet are sore but that’s to be expected after six straight days of one or more two mile walks.
Our first group today, Huron, was from East Lansing; Economy, Pennsylvania; Puebla, Mexico; and Egypt. We had received a “heads up” from their commissioner that the Egypt group generally took their time going anywhere and marched to their own tune. So this should be interesting…. We got started without too much delay. As we were beginning to break into groups, the rains started coming down. Tom and I were staying back so that we could set up the advanced course. We set up six caches, including a two stage multi using my magnetic nut and bolt. As the groups came back, we determined that one GPS receiver was missing. Apparently one of the Egyptian leaders had it – and had gone back to camp with it instead of staying with the group. We kept the entire group while someone went back to their camp to retrieve it.
Lunchtime was rainy, so it was under the canopy for the first time this week. We had welcomed our last group – Mohawk. These were scouts from Bath & DeWitt, MI; Gastonia, NC; and Essex, England. Then we did the regular intro and headed out. Mohawk is the camp next door to geocaching, so we made a quick stop at their camp and then headed out. It poured most of the way – trails are getting muddy and full of puddles. Gave up on the poncho hood as it restricted my visibility and also muffled hearing just a bit. Dripping wet from the neck up, but everything else was protected. Back to camp and then we got ready for the advanced course.
We had less than a dozen scouts come during the open program period for the advanced course. We had them find one cache at a time, then the final which was the two stage multi. Pathtags were in the final stage. Went to dinner after the end of open program – hamburgers, mac salad, and pudding.
I convinced Tom & Mike to let me stay back from evening open period so that I could go to the other patch trading session. They didn’t have many come to Geo HQ for advanced course, so it worked out. And it ended up that Patrick volunteered to walk the regular course and pick up the containers, so we won’t have to do that tomorrow morning.
Patch trading tonight was fun. I started out at a table, but then decided to walk around. Commissioner Mary saw me and asked if I would trade some patches for her, trying to get international patches. I agreed to do so but then realized it would be best to go back to a table as then people could choose what they wanted a bit better. I was able to get some more patches that I really liked, including patches from Ireland and a Hungarian contingent patch. Nice!
Then back to the cabin for some rest and relaxation. Most people are out at campsites for campfire programs. I probably could have gone to one but since it was mainly for the contingents, I didn’t worry about it.
Tomorrow brings the international festival from 11-4. So I have a mostly free day – we do have to finish packing up our geocaching supplies and hope that someone can help us bring them back down to the housing area. Can’t get our cars until Sunday morning.
Looking forward to an interesting and less physically demanding day!
An overcast morning greeted us again here at MIC. After a “McMuffin” type of breakfast, I had my toes re-taped. This time my “doc” was an international staffer – he had trouble finding the tape but finally got the job done. He did not tape my toes together, just covered the blisters and hot spots. That was ok by me! Blisters seem about the same tonight, though I’m not taking the tape off as I’m going to wait to shower and there’s no other reason to take it off. My feet are sore but that’s to be expected after six straight days of one or more two mile walks.
Our first group today, Huron, was from East Lansing; Economy, Pennsylvania; Puebla, Mexico; and Egypt. We had received a “heads up” from their commissioner that the Egypt group generally took their time going anywhere and marched to their own tune. So this should be interesting…. We got started without too much delay. As we were beginning to break into groups, the rains started coming down. Tom and I were staying back so that we could set up the advanced course. We set up six caches, including a two stage multi using my magnetic nut and bolt. As the groups came back, we determined that one GPS receiver was missing. Apparently one of the Egyptian leaders had it – and had gone back to camp with it instead of staying with the group. We kept the entire group while someone went back to their camp to retrieve it.
Lunchtime was rainy, so it was under the canopy for the first time this week. We had welcomed our last group – Mohawk. These were scouts from Bath & DeWitt, MI; Gastonia, NC; and Essex, England. Then we did the regular intro and headed out. Mohawk is the camp next door to geocaching, so we made a quick stop at their camp and then headed out. It poured most of the way – trails are getting muddy and full of puddles. Gave up on the poncho hood as it restricted my visibility and also muffled hearing just a bit. Dripping wet from the neck up, but everything else was protected. Back to camp and then we got ready for the advanced course.
We had less than a dozen scouts come during the open program period for the advanced course. We had them find one cache at a time, then the final which was the two stage multi. Pathtags were in the final stage. Went to dinner after the end of open program – hamburgers, mac salad, and pudding.
I convinced Tom & Mike to let me stay back from evening open period so that I could go to the other patch trading session. They didn’t have many come to Geo HQ for advanced course, so it worked out. And it ended up that Patrick volunteered to walk the regular course and pick up the containers, so we won’t have to do that tomorrow morning.
Patch trading tonight was fun. I started out at a table, but then decided to walk around. Commissioner Mary saw me and asked if I would trade some patches for her, trying to get international patches. I agreed to do so but then realized it would be best to go back to a table as then people could choose what they wanted a bit better. I was able to get some more patches that I really liked, including patches from Ireland and a Hungarian contingent patch. Nice!
Then back to the cabin for some rest and relaxation. Most people are out at campsites for campfire programs. I probably could have gone to one but since it was mainly for the contingents, I didn’t worry about it.
Tomorrow brings the international festival from 11-4. So I have a mostly free day – we do have to finish packing up our geocaching supplies and hope that someone can help us bring them back down to the housing area. Can’t get our cars until Sunday morning.
Looking forward to an interesting and less physically demanding day!
MIC Day 5 - Thursday
MIC Day 5 – July 26, 2012
My taped bandages from last evening (on my blisters) needed changing after being dragged through the dirt last night on my way to and from patch trading. So went back to the health officer. It was great – he actually washed my feet, then dried them, then taped them up. The thing that I didn’t like was that he taped all my toes together to try to avoid the friction. Though it drove me nuts all day, I have to admit my blisters are no worse, and I have no new ones. He also had me wear a thin pair of socks under my hiking socks. Not sure if that helped or not but I did it.
Then breakfast, then the walk to Geo HQ. It’s getting routine. Unloaded our stuff, though not as much as it seemed like rain was coming again. The storms last night didn’t do any damage, other than probably some wet tents in the campsites. Though the commissioners were on standby to go alert the campers to move to safer areas.
We welcomed Blackfoot, our neighbors from across the street, to our 9:30 session. It had started to sprinkle by then so held opening under the canopy. Blackfoot consisted of scouts from Garden City, Michigan; Windsor, Ontario; Bonaire; and Ireland. I drew the short straw, actually a blessing for me because of my blisters, and stayed behind. Actually it was a bigger blessing than I had anticipated as it soon started pouring out. When everyone returned, they were all pretty wet.
Our second (and final for the day) group, at lunchtime, was late because they had been delayed by the downpour at shooting sports. Shawnee came from Lansing; Crete, Illinois; and Cumbria, England. Once they finally arrived, ate lunch, and were ready to go, we did the intro, again under the canopy, and then started off. I had a group of 8, including a leader from Crete. They did a great job, and the rain (for the most part) held off while we were hiking. Had some good geocaching and scouting conversations along the way.
After the session ended, we had been invited to “high tea” at Blackfoot, hosted by the Canadians from Windsor. I had met the Canadian leaders in April at the staff weekend, and they continued to be as friendly now as they were then. They even had me trying orange pekoe tea. I didn’t like it, but did take polite sips anyway. Along with biscuits, conversation, and a gift of a tiny Canadian flag pin, we had a good time. After tea we went back across the street to Geo HQ and brainstormed some more challenging caches for our open periods tomorrow afternoon and evening. Soon it was time to return to our cabins and dress in uniform for the international dinner.
We had been asked to sign up with a campsite at breakfast this morning, and I decided to eat with the Korean contingent so that I could try some of the foods that Scott has tried from Korea. Switzerland was the other international contingent in Chippewa, and they both served good food. Some kind of chicken soup with rice from the Koreans – not nearly as spicy as I thought (they may have toned it down for us Americans…) The Swiss made Apfel Kutchen and what I think was Russli – hash browns, bacon, with a fried egg on top. Oh, and a piece of Toblerone with a Swiss flag in it. Everything was good, I can’t wait until Saturday, though, when we can sample food from every country!
Then we walked over to the firebowl to see the Kwahadi Dancers, an Indian dance troup from Texas which is actually made up of a Venture Crew as well as Boy and Girl Scouts. The costumes were beautiful and the narration interesting, but I think I was too tired to really appreciate it, as well as dealing with sore feet. So I left after about 20 minutes, came back to the cabin, and got a shower in before the evening lines formed. Hope to get to bed early though there’s not much point as I doubt I could sleep through everyone else coming in. Two more days then home on Sunday.
My taped bandages from last evening (on my blisters) needed changing after being dragged through the dirt last night on my way to and from patch trading. So went back to the health officer. It was great – he actually washed my feet, then dried them, then taped them up. The thing that I didn’t like was that he taped all my toes together to try to avoid the friction. Though it drove me nuts all day, I have to admit my blisters are no worse, and I have no new ones. He also had me wear a thin pair of socks under my hiking socks. Not sure if that helped or not but I did it.
Then breakfast, then the walk to Geo HQ. It’s getting routine. Unloaded our stuff, though not as much as it seemed like rain was coming again. The storms last night didn’t do any damage, other than probably some wet tents in the campsites. Though the commissioners were on standby to go alert the campers to move to safer areas.
We welcomed Blackfoot, our neighbors from across the street, to our 9:30 session. It had started to sprinkle by then so held opening under the canopy. Blackfoot consisted of scouts from Garden City, Michigan; Windsor, Ontario; Bonaire; and Ireland. I drew the short straw, actually a blessing for me because of my blisters, and stayed behind. Actually it was a bigger blessing than I had anticipated as it soon started pouring out. When everyone returned, they were all pretty wet.
Our second (and final for the day) group, at lunchtime, was late because they had been delayed by the downpour at shooting sports. Shawnee came from Lansing; Crete, Illinois; and Cumbria, England. Once they finally arrived, ate lunch, and were ready to go, we did the intro, again under the canopy, and then started off. I had a group of 8, including a leader from Crete. They did a great job, and the rain (for the most part) held off while we were hiking. Had some good geocaching and scouting conversations along the way.
After the session ended, we had been invited to “high tea” at Blackfoot, hosted by the Canadians from Windsor. I had met the Canadian leaders in April at the staff weekend, and they continued to be as friendly now as they were then. They even had me trying orange pekoe tea. I didn’t like it, but did take polite sips anyway. Along with biscuits, conversation, and a gift of a tiny Canadian flag pin, we had a good time. After tea we went back across the street to Geo HQ and brainstormed some more challenging caches for our open periods tomorrow afternoon and evening. Soon it was time to return to our cabins and dress in uniform for the international dinner.
We had been asked to sign up with a campsite at breakfast this morning, and I decided to eat with the Korean contingent so that I could try some of the foods that Scott has tried from Korea. Switzerland was the other international contingent in Chippewa, and they both served good food. Some kind of chicken soup with rice from the Koreans – not nearly as spicy as I thought (they may have toned it down for us Americans…) The Swiss made Apfel Kutchen and what I think was Russli – hash browns, bacon, with a fried egg on top. Oh, and a piece of Toblerone with a Swiss flag in it. Everything was good, I can’t wait until Saturday, though, when we can sample food from every country!
Then we walked over to the firebowl to see the Kwahadi Dancers, an Indian dance troup from Texas which is actually made up of a Venture Crew as well as Boy and Girl Scouts. The costumes were beautiful and the narration interesting, but I think I was too tired to really appreciate it, as well as dealing with sore feet. So I left after about 20 minutes, came back to the cabin, and got a shower in before the evening lines formed. Hope to get to bed early though there’s not much point as I doubt I could sleep through everyone else coming in. Two more days then home on Sunday.
MIC Day 4 - Wednesday
MIC Day 4 – July 25, 2012
Today started noticeably cooler, and breezy. Felt good after the hot days we’ve been having. Breakfast then down to Geo HQ. Had to reset our canopies since they were turned around from last night. Amazed at just how much trash was left laying around, especially a lot of Canadian paper flags lying in the dust. Two nice water bottles as well.
Started in with our first group, giving the intro talk. We started with Chippewa, which had scouts from Mason and Pinckney in Michigan; Benton, Louisiana; Korea; and Switzerland. Even though I’d stayed back for the last group yesterday, all the groups were taken and I was left behind again. Not a problem but since all the work was done I played a good game of Scrabble on my iPod and showed some leaders that had stayed behind just a bit about geocaching. Good thing some leaders had stayed behind because the wind started picking up, blowing some weather in, and the canopy that was not tied down caught a gust and started rolling. This was one of the big long ones with eight poles – I would not have been able to catch it on my own. Groups came back about 15 minutes later. Rain came about 15 minutes after that, just in time for lunch.
It continued sporadically as we started getting our second group organized. This was a smaller campsite, Ottawa, with scouts from Williamston and East Lansing, MI as well as Orange County, California and the Isle of Man. We ended up under one canopy and I gave my instruction as best as I could with rain noisily coming down on the canopy. Rain slowed a bit and we headed out, in our rain gear. Thankfully the GPSrs are water resistant. I had a group of six this time, very nice scouts that were enthusiastic about caching and gave each other turns in using the GPSrs and finding caches. One in particular that was enthusiastic was Michael, from the Isle of Man, about 12-13 years old. Had cached before at home though it sounds like as much letterboxing as geocaching. Have a great picture of him with the ammo can with the Isle of Man stickers in it, holding the stickers he’d just retrieved. Rain stopped completely about half way through our trip around the course.
Our last group was late in coming. We learned they’d been delayed at Shooting Sports because of the rain. More scouts from East Lansing as well as Okemos; Delafield, Wisconsin; Mexico, and Taiwan. The Taiwanese spoke very little English which made explanations a bit more challenging. I took a larger group out, 10 in all, a mixed group from all the different troops. The SPL was with us, James, who at 15 has just turned in his Eagle paperwork. Flaming red hair halfway down his back, but a great scout nonetheless. Can’t judge a book by its cover. A bit larger group which can be a challenge, but everyone took part in at least one find.
Back to the dining hall for dinner after squaring away Geo HQ – Walking Tacos, sitting down in the dining hall as the water had been tested and approved so the scouts could cook in their campsites. Staff eats in the dining hall regardless, but we’d been outside since everyone had to eat at the dining hall….
Realized that I did have some blisters forming so decided to go soak my feet in the lake for a while. That worked well until I noticed the little fishies swimming in the water below. Still soaked a bit longer, but then decided I’d go see the health officer to square them away. She wasn’t too worried about them until I mentioned I was diabetic, well then I had antibiotic on them, then moleskin, then tape around that. She would rather I stay off my feet for a few days but understands that there are still two days of program left. Hopefully they won’t get too bad. Also noticing just now that I may have finally picked up a bit of poison ivy. Hope not. (and it must not have been, it went away.)
Went over to the patch trading session tonight. Have never participated in an organized patch trading at a major event before – WOW. Instead of a bunch of event patches from my area, and patches I’d found in geocaches, I now have a very nice assortment of patches from many of the countries represented at the jamboree. Also a few neckerchief slides including my favorite, one from the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (from one of the British scouts, of course.) Sometimes the patch that was offered was one I already had, or didn’t particularly like, but I generally traded anyway and managed to trade them for something better every time. It was lots of fun!
Cut short early because there is developing weather – they sent everyone back to their sites. Right now, thunder and lightning and rain. I called home and talked to Steve and Clare was under tornado warnings. Hope it doesn’t come northeast because that’s where we are in relation to Clare. (the city in Michigan.) There are a lot of kids out there in tents and I’m just not sure where they plan to put them that would be safer.
Looking forward to the international dinner tomorrow night…provided the camp doesn’t blow away tonight!
Today started noticeably cooler, and breezy. Felt good after the hot days we’ve been having. Breakfast then down to Geo HQ. Had to reset our canopies since they were turned around from last night. Amazed at just how much trash was left laying around, especially a lot of Canadian paper flags lying in the dust. Two nice water bottles as well.
Started in with our first group, giving the intro talk. We started with Chippewa, which had scouts from Mason and Pinckney in Michigan; Benton, Louisiana; Korea; and Switzerland. Even though I’d stayed back for the last group yesterday, all the groups were taken and I was left behind again. Not a problem but since all the work was done I played a good game of Scrabble on my iPod and showed some leaders that had stayed behind just a bit about geocaching. Good thing some leaders had stayed behind because the wind started picking up, blowing some weather in, and the canopy that was not tied down caught a gust and started rolling. This was one of the big long ones with eight poles – I would not have been able to catch it on my own. Groups came back about 15 minutes later. Rain came about 15 minutes after that, just in time for lunch.
It continued sporadically as we started getting our second group organized. This was a smaller campsite, Ottawa, with scouts from Williamston and East Lansing, MI as well as Orange County, California and the Isle of Man. We ended up under one canopy and I gave my instruction as best as I could with rain noisily coming down on the canopy. Rain slowed a bit and we headed out, in our rain gear. Thankfully the GPSrs are water resistant. I had a group of six this time, very nice scouts that were enthusiastic about caching and gave each other turns in using the GPSrs and finding caches. One in particular that was enthusiastic was Michael, from the Isle of Man, about 12-13 years old. Had cached before at home though it sounds like as much letterboxing as geocaching. Have a great picture of him with the ammo can with the Isle of Man stickers in it, holding the stickers he’d just retrieved. Rain stopped completely about half way through our trip around the course.
Our last group was late in coming. We learned they’d been delayed at Shooting Sports because of the rain. More scouts from East Lansing as well as Okemos; Delafield, Wisconsin; Mexico, and Taiwan. The Taiwanese spoke very little English which made explanations a bit more challenging. I took a larger group out, 10 in all, a mixed group from all the different troops. The SPL was with us, James, who at 15 has just turned in his Eagle paperwork. Flaming red hair halfway down his back, but a great scout nonetheless. Can’t judge a book by its cover. A bit larger group which can be a challenge, but everyone took part in at least one find.
Back to the dining hall for dinner after squaring away Geo HQ – Walking Tacos, sitting down in the dining hall as the water had been tested and approved so the scouts could cook in their campsites. Staff eats in the dining hall regardless, but we’d been outside since everyone had to eat at the dining hall….
Realized that I did have some blisters forming so decided to go soak my feet in the lake for a while. That worked well until I noticed the little fishies swimming in the water below. Still soaked a bit longer, but then decided I’d go see the health officer to square them away. She wasn’t too worried about them until I mentioned I was diabetic, well then I had antibiotic on them, then moleskin, then tape around that. She would rather I stay off my feet for a few days but understands that there are still two days of program left. Hopefully they won’t get too bad. Also noticing just now that I may have finally picked up a bit of poison ivy. Hope not. (and it must not have been, it went away.)
Went over to the patch trading session tonight. Have never participated in an organized patch trading at a major event before – WOW. Instead of a bunch of event patches from my area, and patches I’d found in geocaches, I now have a very nice assortment of patches from many of the countries represented at the jamboree. Also a few neckerchief slides including my favorite, one from the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (from one of the British scouts, of course.) Sometimes the patch that was offered was one I already had, or didn’t particularly like, but I generally traded anyway and managed to trade them for something better every time. It was lots of fun!
Cut short early because there is developing weather – they sent everyone back to their sites. Right now, thunder and lightning and rain. I called home and talked to Steve and Clare was under tornado warnings. Hope it doesn’t come northeast because that’s where we are in relation to Clare. (the city in Michigan.) There are a lot of kids out there in tents and I’m just not sure where they plan to put them that would be safer.
Looking forward to the international dinner tomorrow night…provided the camp doesn’t blow away tonight!
MIC Day 3 - Tuesday
MIC – Day 3
Another day in the world of MIC. First really full day as there were three program periods today. Started out with a nice breakfast as usual, then down to Geo HQ. We pulled everything back out, and welcomed our first group at 9:30. Scouts from Eaton Rapids, Charlotte, Somerset Ohio, Curacao, and Korea. After my introduction talk, we divided the group into four patrols and headed out. Tom stayed behind during the first program, and I got my first taste of taking a group around. We worked the course backwards, which turned me around in a few places. But the group soon figured out what they were doing, and enjoyed the experience. We returned to Geo HQ, and dismissed the group at 11:30. At 11:45 our next group, as well as lunch, came. We had roast beef and cheese on hot dog buns, chips & salsa, fruit, cookie, and Gatorade. At 12:30 we were ready to roll with the second group. We welcomed scouts from Haslett, MI; Indianapolis, White Plains NY, the Czech Republic, and the Isle of Man. My group was mostly from NY and the Isle of Man. We went the other direction than my first group, and we had a great time as well. One of the Isle of Man scouts, Shannon, actually found a cache that had been moved – we may never had found it otherwise. Another two scouts, both girls, were allowed to go back to the campsite by their leader because one’s wrist hurt… and the leader admitted after they left that it was probably because she had been texting too much. Life at a scout camp in the 21st century.
By now I was beat. Four miles plus of walking. So when I was given the chance to stay back and mind the store for the third session, I gladly accepted. Our scouts were from Kentwood & Walker; St. Paul, Minnesota, Costa Rica, and Hungary. After the scouts left, I showed several Kentwood/Walker leaders how to geocache, using the cache at our HQ as an example. I knew them as they’d taken COAST back when I was in co-charge. They may be interested in having me merit badge counsel the geocaching MB for them this fall, they’ll be in touch.
Walk back to the dining hall after the third session for a camp wide BBQ chicken dinner. Tasty! Then a bit of relaxing time before changing into uniform for the evening show. Every country (except the U.S.) put on a performance designed to help us better know their country. Felt like I was around the world! Lots of colorful national costumes with dances and songs. I had brought my little portable stool. A mistake as it doesn’t have a back and I wasn’t parked on level ground. I soon gave up and sat on a low stump. As scouts walked (or ran in some cases) to the stage, clouds of dust rose up. Felt like pig-pen by the end of the show. So went to the back of the firebowl during the last performance and quickly got back to the cabins right after it ended, grabbed my shower gear, and headed for the showers. Still had to wait but I was first in line.
Hope my feet hold up tomorrow!
Another day in the world of MIC. First really full day as there were three program periods today. Started out with a nice breakfast as usual, then down to Geo HQ. We pulled everything back out, and welcomed our first group at 9:30. Scouts from Eaton Rapids, Charlotte, Somerset Ohio, Curacao, and Korea. After my introduction talk, we divided the group into four patrols and headed out. Tom stayed behind during the first program, and I got my first taste of taking a group around. We worked the course backwards, which turned me around in a few places. But the group soon figured out what they were doing, and enjoyed the experience. We returned to Geo HQ, and dismissed the group at 11:30. At 11:45 our next group, as well as lunch, came. We had roast beef and cheese on hot dog buns, chips & salsa, fruit, cookie, and Gatorade. At 12:30 we were ready to roll with the second group. We welcomed scouts from Haslett, MI; Indianapolis, White Plains NY, the Czech Republic, and the Isle of Man. My group was mostly from NY and the Isle of Man. We went the other direction than my first group, and we had a great time as well. One of the Isle of Man scouts, Shannon, actually found a cache that had been moved – we may never had found it otherwise. Another two scouts, both girls, were allowed to go back to the campsite by their leader because one’s wrist hurt… and the leader admitted after they left that it was probably because she had been texting too much. Life at a scout camp in the 21st century.
By now I was beat. Four miles plus of walking. So when I was given the chance to stay back and mind the store for the third session, I gladly accepted. Our scouts were from Kentwood & Walker; St. Paul, Minnesota, Costa Rica, and Hungary. After the scouts left, I showed several Kentwood/Walker leaders how to geocache, using the cache at our HQ as an example. I knew them as they’d taken COAST back when I was in co-charge. They may be interested in having me merit badge counsel the geocaching MB for them this fall, they’ll be in touch.
Walk back to the dining hall after the third session for a camp wide BBQ chicken dinner. Tasty! Then a bit of relaxing time before changing into uniform for the evening show. Every country (except the U.S.) put on a performance designed to help us better know their country. Felt like I was around the world! Lots of colorful national costumes with dances and songs. I had brought my little portable stool. A mistake as it doesn’t have a back and I wasn’t parked on level ground. I soon gave up and sat on a low stump. As scouts walked (or ran in some cases) to the stage, clouds of dust rose up. Felt like pig-pen by the end of the show. So went to the back of the firebowl during the last performance and quickly got back to the cabins right after it ended, grabbed my shower gear, and headed for the showers. Still had to wait but I was first in line.
Hope my feet hold up tomorrow!
MIC Day 2 - Monday
MIC Day 2
Discovered the disadvantage of having a member of the kitchen staff in your cabin – their alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m.! Thankfully I was able to get back to sleep, and woke up, went to breakfast. Eggs, cereal, and fairly unripe bananas.
After breakfast we headed down to the geo-HQ to finish getting ready for our first program group. It was great to walk in and see a canopy – it was pretty hot working in the sun yesterday. We were also happy to welcome a new member to the team – Patrick from Louisiana, who was on the media team but was asked to move to our area since one of our staffers didn’t show up. He at least had been geocaching a couple of times. Patrick, Tom, and Mike cut more flag labels while I worked on CITO containers. Attila and Alex took two of the GPS receivers out on our course, and finished in an hour. Pretty good for no prior geo-experience!
We were joined for a while by Scott, the MIC chaplain. He is a pretty neat guy, served as chaplain at the national jamboree and has served other camps in that capacity as well. Very down to earth and friendly, really makes an effort to get to know other people. While Scott was with us, there was a camp wide disaster drill – sirens, then we were to stay in place and security came around to see if we were all accounted for. Yep.
We finished set up by pulling out geocaching items to show the scouts, and displaying items such as my scouting geocoin collection. Also hid a few of the tricky containers – my log from Obvious? , my electrical outlet cache, and Michael’s rock with a container inside.
At 11:30ish, lunch was delivered. Lunch plan for the week is that our lunch is delivered to our program site along with the lunches for the 12:30 program group. Today that was our first group. Tortillas, turkey meat, cheese, carrot & celery sticks, fruit, cookies, chips, and Gatorade. We are to eat first, so that we can finish getting our area ready for that group. We had plenty of water but were asked to save our Gatorade bottles to refill with water if we hadn’t brought our own water bottles as styro cups were already running low.
Our first group showed up for lunch – we had scouts from Michigan, Georgia, Austria, and Honduras. At 12:30, I started out with a welcome, then about 10 minutes worth of an intro to geocaching, adapted for MIC. We then gave a GPSr to every two people, divided them into their patrols, gave them some instruction in how to use the GPSr, and they were off, with their geo staff guide. I had to stay back for this first round as somebody needed to “mind the store” so to speak. While everyone was gone I worked on CITO containers some more, I actually used up all the bags that I’d brought so we’ll see if we run out of containers. We have a quantity of MiGO CITO containers that we could replace the labels with MIC labels or just hand out as is. We’ll see. Not so many took them as I thought would.
When each group came back to geo HQ, they still had one more cache to find, then were able to get the American flag sticker to complete their set. During the remainder of their time, they could look at the displays and ask questions. Three out of four groups came back with very little time to do so, though. Several of the scouts from Honduras had brought trade items, not sure if because of geocaching or they just liked to trade. So since I had brought some patches with me, I traded with many of them. I now have several scenic Honduras keychains and magnets. When I returned, my two Honduran cabin mates were “home” and they were able to tell me more about what I had traded for. The scenes painted on several magnets were representative of a typical Honduran village. Another keychain was a mini sandal with inscription on the back which (in English) said “remembrance from Daniel.”
Second group came. On their heels came one of the camp commissioners to let everyone know that the well pump which serves most of the camp was broken so water was unusable. So dinner would be together at the dining hall instead of in their campsites. Ok fine. I started my geo-introduction and was interrupted by the SPL, who announced he’d just been told that the camp had declared a heat emergency and that programs were shutting down for the afternoon. So that was that, so we thought.
After securing our area, we started walking toward the internet café area. Tom and I were able to access email, although very slow it was nice to be able to check. Went to the air conditioned trading post afterward where we ran into Bruce, the head of the camporee. Very nice older guy, BTW. Working very hard to pull together something he really believes in, for the fifth time. He assured us during our conversation that program had not been shut down…not sure where the miscommunication was between the SPL and someone, but clearly he’d been misinformed.
Went back to the dining hall to get ready for our 5 pm dinner (staff was to be first, then the participants staggered for the next hour.) Tom and I were recruited to be servers, so we went into the dining hall and I got to serve vanilla pudding, paired with Scott the chaplain who served the chocolate pudding. We had fun doing a tedious job.
After dinner was open program time. We’d previously made the decision to not open geocaching tonight as we weren’t ready for anything else besides what they will be doing during program time, and to do that twice, or before their session, wouldn’t be any fun. So we had free time! Since it was so hot and I was so sticky, opted to head for the waterfront. Since I didn’t have an opportunity to take a BSA swim test, I was relegated to the beginner area. Got to be swim buddies with a young scouter from Austria, and we got to share the beginner area with a bunch of twelve year oldish scouts that were intent on recreating a mud war. That got old fast for me, so got out and headed back to the cabin. Still pretty warm in there so I headed for the dock by the dining hall and got to have some nice conversations with several people as we watched the sun set.
Looking forward to another fun day tomorrow, though hope it’s not quite so hot!
Discovered the disadvantage of having a member of the kitchen staff in your cabin – their alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m.! Thankfully I was able to get back to sleep, and woke up, went to breakfast. Eggs, cereal, and fairly unripe bananas.
After breakfast we headed down to the geo-HQ to finish getting ready for our first program group. It was great to walk in and see a canopy – it was pretty hot working in the sun yesterday. We were also happy to welcome a new member to the team – Patrick from Louisiana, who was on the media team but was asked to move to our area since one of our staffers didn’t show up. He at least had been geocaching a couple of times. Patrick, Tom, and Mike cut more flag labels while I worked on CITO containers. Attila and Alex took two of the GPS receivers out on our course, and finished in an hour. Pretty good for no prior geo-experience!
We were joined for a while by Scott, the MIC chaplain. He is a pretty neat guy, served as chaplain at the national jamboree and has served other camps in that capacity as well. Very down to earth and friendly, really makes an effort to get to know other people. While Scott was with us, there was a camp wide disaster drill – sirens, then we were to stay in place and security came around to see if we were all accounted for. Yep.
We finished set up by pulling out geocaching items to show the scouts, and displaying items such as my scouting geocoin collection. Also hid a few of the tricky containers – my log from Obvious? , my electrical outlet cache, and Michael’s rock with a container inside.
At 11:30ish, lunch was delivered. Lunch plan for the week is that our lunch is delivered to our program site along with the lunches for the 12:30 program group. Today that was our first group. Tortillas, turkey meat, cheese, carrot & celery sticks, fruit, cookies, chips, and Gatorade. We are to eat first, so that we can finish getting our area ready for that group. We had plenty of water but were asked to save our Gatorade bottles to refill with water if we hadn’t brought our own water bottles as styro cups were already running low.
Our first group showed up for lunch – we had scouts from Michigan, Georgia, Austria, and Honduras. At 12:30, I started out with a welcome, then about 10 minutes worth of an intro to geocaching, adapted for MIC. We then gave a GPSr to every two people, divided them into their patrols, gave them some instruction in how to use the GPSr, and they were off, with their geo staff guide. I had to stay back for this first round as somebody needed to “mind the store” so to speak. While everyone was gone I worked on CITO containers some more, I actually used up all the bags that I’d brought so we’ll see if we run out of containers. We have a quantity of MiGO CITO containers that we could replace the labels with MIC labels or just hand out as is. We’ll see. Not so many took them as I thought would.
When each group came back to geo HQ, they still had one more cache to find, then were able to get the American flag sticker to complete their set. During the remainder of their time, they could look at the displays and ask questions. Three out of four groups came back with very little time to do so, though. Several of the scouts from Honduras had brought trade items, not sure if because of geocaching or they just liked to trade. So since I had brought some patches with me, I traded with many of them. I now have several scenic Honduras keychains and magnets. When I returned, my two Honduran cabin mates were “home” and they were able to tell me more about what I had traded for. The scenes painted on several magnets were representative of a typical Honduran village. Another keychain was a mini sandal with inscription on the back which (in English) said “remembrance from Daniel.”
Second group came. On their heels came one of the camp commissioners to let everyone know that the well pump which serves most of the camp was broken so water was unusable. So dinner would be together at the dining hall instead of in their campsites. Ok fine. I started my geo-introduction and was interrupted by the SPL, who announced he’d just been told that the camp had declared a heat emergency and that programs were shutting down for the afternoon. So that was that, so we thought.
After securing our area, we started walking toward the internet café area. Tom and I were able to access email, although very slow it was nice to be able to check. Went to the air conditioned trading post afterward where we ran into Bruce, the head of the camporee. Very nice older guy, BTW. Working very hard to pull together something he really believes in, for the fifth time. He assured us during our conversation that program had not been shut down…not sure where the miscommunication was between the SPL and someone, but clearly he’d been misinformed.
Went back to the dining hall to get ready for our 5 pm dinner (staff was to be first, then the participants staggered for the next hour.) Tom and I were recruited to be servers, so we went into the dining hall and I got to serve vanilla pudding, paired with Scott the chaplain who served the chocolate pudding. We had fun doing a tedious job.
After dinner was open program time. We’d previously made the decision to not open geocaching tonight as we weren’t ready for anything else besides what they will be doing during program time, and to do that twice, or before their session, wouldn’t be any fun. So we had free time! Since it was so hot and I was so sticky, opted to head for the waterfront. Since I didn’t have an opportunity to take a BSA swim test, I was relegated to the beginner area. Got to be swim buddies with a young scouter from Austria, and we got to share the beginner area with a bunch of twelve year oldish scouts that were intent on recreating a mud war. That got old fast for me, so got out and headed back to the cabin. Still pretty warm in there so I headed for the dock by the dining hall and got to have some nice conversations with several people as we watched the sun set.
Looking forward to another fun day tomorrow, though hope it’s not quite so hot!
Michigan International Camporee - Precamp and Day 1
MIC precamp and Day 1 (July 21/22)
Arrived at camp just before noon as that is when we were told check in was to start. Well, no. Finally got my cabin assignment and then we started working on geocaching materials. Finally was allowed to “check in” at about 4:30 p.m. The chief ranger is a particularly testy guy, and things don’t seem to run on schedule, at least during preparation time.
We spent the afternoon cutting apart flag stickers for the geocaches, and finally met Attila from Hungary (yep, Attila the Hun…) who is on our geocaching staff. Reminds me of Eric – tall, athletic looking, young (he is only 18) but unfortunately he is not a geocacher. We gave him a crash course today but it’ll take a bit more experience before he can take a group out on the course.
Dinner was spaghetti , salad, and garlic bread – and a short meeting afterwards. Just before dinner, we met Tom, who is from Roseville and thankfully an experienced cacher.
After dinner, we finally were able to get our geocaching supplies secure, and did some more cutting of stickers. A shower felt good and I was settled in for the night by dark.
I am in a cabin that holds 13 people. Since I was first in, I picked my favorite type of location, a corner bottom bunk. Electric outlet right next to the bed so I can keep my iPod plugged in and charging when I’m in bed. So far we have Bonnie, a unit commissioner from Michigan, Mary (not me) another unit commissioner from Michigan, Karla, media staff from Honduras, Sulma, also from Honduras and on the Media staff, and Denise, from Curacao, on the kitchen staff. Karla speaks very little English, but thankfully everyone else but me does speak some Spanish. I know very little, just a few words.
Sunday – Day 1
Woke up and had a good breakfast – egg casserole and bagel. Then had to join a caravan of cars – we had to move our cars to a campground several miles away so there would be room for participants to check in later in the day. That took a bit longer than I thought but eventually we were back in camp and headed for the geocaching headquarters. We chose a variety of containers and soon headed out to hike the route we’d laid out in April. We were joined by Paul, who was to be on our staff but has been called away to other scouting duties, though he was able to help us today.
Our route includes 12 geocaches and is about 2 miles long. As staff, we’ll be hiking it three times per day, though only twice tomorrow. We have a variety of containers and hides, though we’ve kept it simple as we assume we’ll have many beginners. We hid all but the last cache, at our headquarters, and then headed for lunch. Tacos hit the spot.
By now, many contingents had arrived and the sound of many languages was heard around camp. We headed back to the geo-HQ after lunch and that’s where Alex, our staffer from Austria, finally caught up with us. Nice guy, from Vienna, 24 years old and in law school. Also not a geocacher. We’ll get by.
Hid that final cache (Alex found the spot, great for a newbie!) and then Tom, Alex, and Attila spent some more time cutting flag labels. I put CITO containers together , and Michael entered information into GSAK so that we could load them into the GPSrs. Heard some rumbles of thunder so decided to move our operations to the chapel down the road where we would be under shelter. Got the GPSrs loaded then went back to our cabins to get ready for supper.
Supper was pizza, salad, and a brownie, served in four lines as the entire camp was eating together. All in their country’s scout uniform as we were going to the opening ceremonies after dinner. Really neat to see the many different uniforms and nationalities as we ate dinner and visited afterwards. Had really neat conversations with a man from Australia that works with international scouting , a woman from England that is really glad to be here rather than anywhere near the Olympics, and a scouter from Korea – we talked about Kunsan just a bit then he gave me his calling card which has a picture of his family in traditional Korean costume on one side and his contact info on the other. Many other conversations, too – and lots of pictures.
On to the opening ceremony. Flagpoles for every country – and the American scouts lined up by campsite, the international scouts paraded in one country at a time, we heard about the history of scouting in that country, then they brought their flag to the Americans in their campsite, and the Americans and the international scouts raised the flags together when all had been presented. Pictures afterwards, including a hovercraft equipped with a camera to get crowd shots.
After the ceremony was done, I headed back to my cabin and quickly gathered my things to get a shower in and avoid the crowds. Good plan. I’m sitting here relatively cool (Bonnie brought a box fan, and I brought my little personal fan) and comfortable. Got to know a new cabin mate, Chris from Louisiana. Traded patches with Karla from Honduras. Hope to get an early start on sleep tonight but not holding my breath as there are only three in our cabin right now.
Tomorrow’s schedule includes breakfast, a possible walk around the course to check the Magellans that the participants will be using, then lunch and our first group at 12:30 p.m. Looking forward to it though not to the heat!
Arrived at camp just before noon as that is when we were told check in was to start. Well, no. Finally got my cabin assignment and then we started working on geocaching materials. Finally was allowed to “check in” at about 4:30 p.m. The chief ranger is a particularly testy guy, and things don’t seem to run on schedule, at least during preparation time.
We spent the afternoon cutting apart flag stickers for the geocaches, and finally met Attila from Hungary (yep, Attila the Hun…) who is on our geocaching staff. Reminds me of Eric – tall, athletic looking, young (he is only 18) but unfortunately he is not a geocacher. We gave him a crash course today but it’ll take a bit more experience before he can take a group out on the course.
Dinner was spaghetti , salad, and garlic bread – and a short meeting afterwards. Just before dinner, we met Tom, who is from Roseville and thankfully an experienced cacher.
After dinner, we finally were able to get our geocaching supplies secure, and did some more cutting of stickers. A shower felt good and I was settled in for the night by dark.
I am in a cabin that holds 13 people. Since I was first in, I picked my favorite type of location, a corner bottom bunk. Electric outlet right next to the bed so I can keep my iPod plugged in and charging when I’m in bed. So far we have Bonnie, a unit commissioner from Michigan, Mary (not me) another unit commissioner from Michigan, Karla, media staff from Honduras, Sulma, also from Honduras and on the Media staff, and Denise, from Curacao, on the kitchen staff. Karla speaks very little English, but thankfully everyone else but me does speak some Spanish. I know very little, just a few words.
Sunday – Day 1
Woke up and had a good breakfast – egg casserole and bagel. Then had to join a caravan of cars – we had to move our cars to a campground several miles away so there would be room for participants to check in later in the day. That took a bit longer than I thought but eventually we were back in camp and headed for the geocaching headquarters. We chose a variety of containers and soon headed out to hike the route we’d laid out in April. We were joined by Paul, who was to be on our staff but has been called away to other scouting duties, though he was able to help us today.
Our route includes 12 geocaches and is about 2 miles long. As staff, we’ll be hiking it three times per day, though only twice tomorrow. We have a variety of containers and hides, though we’ve kept it simple as we assume we’ll have many beginners. We hid all but the last cache, at our headquarters, and then headed for lunch. Tacos hit the spot.
By now, many contingents had arrived and the sound of many languages was heard around camp. We headed back to the geo-HQ after lunch and that’s where Alex, our staffer from Austria, finally caught up with us. Nice guy, from Vienna, 24 years old and in law school. Also not a geocacher. We’ll get by.
Hid that final cache (Alex found the spot, great for a newbie!) and then Tom, Alex, and Attila spent some more time cutting flag labels. I put CITO containers together , and Michael entered information into GSAK so that we could load them into the GPSrs. Heard some rumbles of thunder so decided to move our operations to the chapel down the road where we would be under shelter. Got the GPSrs loaded then went back to our cabins to get ready for supper.
Supper was pizza, salad, and a brownie, served in four lines as the entire camp was eating together. All in their country’s scout uniform as we were going to the opening ceremonies after dinner. Really neat to see the many different uniforms and nationalities as we ate dinner and visited afterwards. Had really neat conversations with a man from Australia that works with international scouting , a woman from England that is really glad to be here rather than anywhere near the Olympics, and a scouter from Korea – we talked about Kunsan just a bit then he gave me his calling card which has a picture of his family in traditional Korean costume on one side and his contact info on the other. Many other conversations, too – and lots of pictures.
On to the opening ceremony. Flagpoles for every country – and the American scouts lined up by campsite, the international scouts paraded in one country at a time, we heard about the history of scouting in that country, then they brought their flag to the Americans in their campsite, and the Americans and the international scouts raised the flags together when all had been presented. Pictures afterwards, including a hovercraft equipped with a camera to get crowd shots.
After the ceremony was done, I headed back to my cabin and quickly gathered my things to get a shower in and avoid the crowds. Good plan. I’m sitting here relatively cool (Bonnie brought a box fan, and I brought my little personal fan) and comfortable. Got to know a new cabin mate, Chris from Louisiana. Traded patches with Karla from Honduras. Hope to get an early start on sleep tonight but not holding my breath as there are only three in our cabin right now.
Tomorrow’s schedule includes breakfast, a possible walk around the course to check the Magellans that the participants will be using, then lunch and our first group at 12:30 p.m. Looking forward to it though not to the heat!
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