Being a member and leader in the post meant
that I was expected to be an example at all times. We often met with the Raleigh, Tn. Post to
have a Dance and the Explorer Ship in Cairo, IL would join us there. We would each stay with one of the Raleigh
members. We would alternate visits with
each group taking turns as host. I was
already friends with one of the Tennessee scouts and dated his sister some so I
always stayed with them. One
of the scouts there was the son of the CEO of Plough Inc. and he was licensed
to drive. Six of us decided to go to
Mississippi and buy some fireworks. On
the way through Memphis, (you know the no noise city), we decided to throw some
firecrackers out the window. We were
nearing an intersection and I did not throw a firecracker no I had to throw a
cherry bomb. It rolled and rolled, in
slow motion it seemed, I spotted the patrol car it went off under, just as it
got to it. Buckman decided to try to get
away and started street changing. When
the squad car was out of sight he pulled into a drive and turned off the lights
and we all ducked. In a minute or less
the squad pulled in behind us. There we
were in our uniforms. After reminding us
of the scout oath and how many charges there were, if we would meet him outside
the no noise city, he would help us shoot them.
Whew! No charges but he did make
us feel a bit smallish.
When we went on our first long camping trip
we made up a schedule where we would take turns. For instance I would cook on one day and the
next day it would be my turn to wash dishes.
Then I got some time off. I
really did draw cooking the first day and for breakfast I believe it was two a
half dozen scrambled eggs that went to the garbage pit. Lucky we had cereal and milk on hand. At least we were able to eat the toast that
was toasted on an open fire toaster.
From then on it was my job to see to it that
camp was set up properly with the sump and pit dug. After that I was not allowed near food in
preparation.
Not too many years ago my wife left me a can
of soup on the stove and a pan to fix lunch while she was gone. Inadvertently she also had a oven and
microwave safe bowl on there. I poured
the soup in the glass bowl and added a can of water and placed it on a front
burner of the gas cook stove. In a few
minutes it showed signs of coming to a boil so I picked up a big ladle and began
to stir. About two turns later, Boom,
glass chards and soup flew from one end of the kitchen to the other. Somehow none of it was on me. I told her ahead of time that I was not a
cook.
Our post consisted of five
or six classes and I am really surprised we did not keep in touch after
school. I think we were closer than the
usual class was. Even when not at a
scouting function a lot of us, from different classes, would be together. Whenever I run into one of them it is more
like seeing a favored family member than a friend. A lot are gone now but every time I think of
the scouts I remember them. I also think
of them when I pass Beulah as we spent many days planting bushes, in that area,
for erosion control.
We decided to go back to Wolf Island to camp
for a week end and to see how the cottonwood seedlings, we had planted, were
doing. I think getting to cross the
chute on the rope pulled ferry had a little to do with it as well. We got more kick out of it than the ferry
across the river that was diesel powered.
On this particular trip we carried a live
goat to BarBQ. As soon as we got there we dug the pit and
started the coals to start the meat early Saturday for eating Sunday.
Before leaving Clinton we had church
services with one of the local pastors.
We had a different one each trip.
On Sunday morning Phillip McClure would hold church services wherever we
were. None of us doubted he was a
minister even then and a good one.
Church around a campfire with ten or fifteen teens is a moving
experience and he was a big part of that.
Sunday morning we took the goat off the spit
to keep it from burning and wrapped it up to retain the heat. We placed that near the coals. We did not expect the canvas around the
outside to keep it insulated from the heat and when we opened it for lunch we
found that the ants had also found it.
We washed it and re-basted it, put it back over the coals for a while,
and then ate it anyway. May have been
the unusual seasoning but it was delicious.
We kept the teen town over
“Pop” Johnson`s pool room going for a long time. There is no way to count the hours put in by
our scout leaders and their wives both in scouting and the teen town. Howard and Judy Rogers, Gene Dowdy
(unmarried), Wilson Cannon and Martha, Doc and Betty Barber and J. W. Chandler (unmarried)
took turns as chaperones but would be there a lot of the nights that they did
not have to chaperone. I could not dance
initially and Betty and Martha could not stand that. They were both wonderful dancers and made me
meet them after school every afternoon and they taught me to dance at least a
little. During the classes I always
talked them into doing the jitterbug for me and they were fantastic jitterbug
dancers.
This is a switch for me,
but a friend just reminded me of the welcoming of our girls, Debbie and
Tracey. Every time Frieda would have a
doctor appointment she would come home fussing that the doctor got on to her
for too much weight gain. It was obvious
that all her gain was baby.
