Thing One’s report: Order of the Arrow ordeal
by Thing One
Gimlet’s Note: Every once in a while you get to do something as Scoutmaster that indicates the program is working for the boys you work with. When one of the boys is your son, it is that much more fulfilling. As we drove to Camp Pigott for the Order of the Arrow Ordeal, the boys started talking about the fun they had at Camp Pigott last year. The bottom line is that when they were talking about plans for this year and the future, I wanted to step out of the car and do a “Toyota Jump”.
The most fun on this trip for me was checking them in for the Ordeal and then saying, “See you tomorrow at 9:00, bye.” It was a little odd sitting in the car and calling home to say I would be there in an hour. I usually am staying with the boys.
Another father of one of the boys wanted to come to pick them up because he wanted to hear the immediate reaction of the boys to the Ordeal. He was not disappointed and enjoyed hearing about the cold night and hard work. “Cheerful service” is what the OA is after. The drive home was talkative for a while until the dark night, lack of sleep, and hard work took hold. Everyone stayed awake for the ride home but I don’t think anyone stayed up after a quick shower.
Grandpa Gimlet was a brotherhood member (and charter member) of Twoa Ba Cha lodge, The Gimlet was a brotherhood member of Topa Topa lodge, and now Thing One is an ordeal member of T’kope Kwiskwis lodge.
Four scouts (including me) from my troop were nominated to join the Order of the Arrow, and three of us were able to go to Camp Pigott for the ordeal this weekend. We got there and waited at the dining hall for a few hours waiting for everyone to get registered. By the time they were finished in the dining hall, it was dark, and they had everybody go to the circle and they had an introduction presentation. Then the staff started the silence and the counselors took us to a forested part of the camp to sleep that night. It was dry outside, but 33º F, and the ground was bumpy, even under a tarp and sleeping bag.
After waking up at 6:45 we had to pack up our stuff and go to the main hall for a small breakfast. After the small breakfast, the chapter the troop was in went to work on putting the canvas on the wall tents, while other groups got rid of brush and help build the foundation for a barbecue shelter. The lunch was 1/2 of a hot dog and some chips. That was sort of helpful to helping us work, but we still were tired. By this time the tents were already set up and we were now helping get rid of brush. Putting brush on the fire was not as organized as putting up wall tents, because with the brush, you wandered around, got some sticks, and put them on a bonfire. With the wall tents, you would be doing the same thing, with each person doing something. At the water break, the water tasted bad, but that was mostly because ash was being blown in that area. We also moved plywood around.
This was up until 3:30, when we sat at the place where our backpacks were in silence for an hour. Then, at the circle, we got our order of the arrow sashes, and then watched the rest of the camp get the sashes. Then we went to dinner, which was big compared to the other meals. We had to wait for 10 minutes however so they could get the food out. After that, we got our dinner, which was spaghetti, chicken, and Jell-O. Our district kind of made a good dinner show, because one staffer put cat food in another staffer’s noodles. The prank-ee staffer started yelling “WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY NOODLES?!” since it looked like salmon and he can’t eat salmon, so they told him “it’s salmon seasoning.” We eventually told him it was cat food.
After dinner, since my troop had to go back the night before everybody else went, we got our backpacks, and the camp counselors took everybody to the circle to show us native American dances, songs and stories, which were interesting. After that, there was chocolate pudding, cake, root beer floats, board and card games, and soda and candy for sale. After doing that for a while, my dad and another scout’s dad came and took us home. I was really tired, and slept until 11:00 AM and then started to write this article.
Related posts:
Tags: camp pigott, OA
