A Century of Scouting

The Boy Scouts of America are celebrating a century of scouting this year. The boys and I joined in on the fun at the Middle Tennessee Council Jamboree at the Wilson County Fairgounds in Lebanon this weekend. It was HUGE with over 12,000 scouts and scouters there. It was a weekend the boys and I will always remember. We got to the Jamboree Friday evening and left yesterday morning.

CAMPING OUT. I have never seen so many tents in one place before. There were acres and acres of tents. We camped out with our pack (I think there were eight families from our pack there).

The area was one big, organized tent city. We were fortunate to be right by the entrance for our side of the fairgrounds -- and right by the bathrooms. (This was something of a curse though, because our campsite was a high traffic area.) We unloaded the truck and then I had to go park about a half mile away. Again, walking by all the conglomeration of tents just blew my mind. The whole scene reminded me of the tent city described at the Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

We were responsible for our food (unless we wanted to take advantage of the food vendors). I am no cook. My only motivation to even prepare food is because I need to eat. I didn’t make us sick, but I think the boys were being kind when they complimented my cooking. At breakfast I burned the toast and bacon (but not the eggs). The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches didn’t involve a stove so that was safe. The hamburgers were a near disaster. I had to cook those in two skillets because they patties didn’t fit in one. Before one side the to hamburgers were done the grease in one skillet caught on fire. I removed that skillet from the heat and the fire went out pretty quickly, but I still needed to cook the other side of the burgers. About that time the grease in the other skillet caught fire. I got that out quickly enough, but not before catching some dry grass afire. Somehow I got the burgers done without burning them, but it was an adventure I’d rather not repeat. The cold cereal we had yesterday morning was served with glad hands.

WEATHER. We had great weather for the Jamboree, though it was unseasonably hot for this time of year. We felt like we were living in extremes. We woke up to 46° Saturday morning (which is about 5° below average) and were a bit chilly in our sleeping bags. By mid-afternoon our chill had worn off in the 91° heat (18° above average). If we were hot by the end of the day we got over that with another cool nighttime low (45°). At least it wasn’t 30° and raining as those who attended last year’s Cub and Family event were reminiscing about.

COOL THINGS TO SEE AND DO. We were awakened by cannon fire Saturday morning. After the opening ceremony we had a whole day of things to see and do. There was no way we could get everything in. The Tennessee National Guard had two Bradley tanks and other vehicles there for scouts to tour. They also flew in a Blackhawk helicopter for the day. Other exhibits we saw were the caving demo and spelobox, the Tennessee State Trooper’s car crash exhibit, and the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency’s wild animal display. We missed about a dozen other exhibits.

The boys completed requirements for their Science, Language and Culture, Marbles, Music, and Weather belt loops. Ben also got a chance to complete several requirements for his Readyman activity badge. He was chosen to be the demo boy in three of these activities.

We also made paper airplanes, painted pet rocks, made ball and cup games, jumped in a sack race, sailed in a rain gutter regatta, and did some geocaching. These were just a few of the dozens of elective activities around the fairgrounds.

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. Saturday night everyone went to the arena for a show which celebrated a century of scouting here in America. There were about twice as many people as the arena would hold and we wound up sitting on the ground outside. The show features a series of skits depicting scouting in each decade over the last 100 years. It was interesting and well done.

SUNDAY SERVICES. The last thing on the schedule before departure were worship services yesterday morning. A pastor from Columbia, Tennessee, spoke to us. The boating story he told from his adolescence and the message were well said and memorable. After that we loaded up and headed home with many great memories.

All in all this has been a great way to begin our fall break!

Joe