“More Explorer Scout ramblings”

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, Tenn. post to have a dance, and the Explorer Sea Scout Ship in Cairo, Ill. 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, forgot his first name, 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, he said that 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-and-a-half dozen scrambled eggs that went to the garbage pit. Luckily 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 an 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!, Pyrex glass chards and soup flew from one end of the kitchen to the other. Somehow, none of it was on me. I had told her ahead of time that I was not a cook. How was I to know not to use Pyrex on a gas burner?

Our Explorer Scout post consisted of five or six grades in school, and I am really surprised we did not keep in touch after we all graduated. 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 weekend and to see how the cottonwood seedlings we had planted were doing. I think getting to cross the Wolf Island 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 Friday afternoon 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 to boot. Church around a campfire with 10 or 15 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 then), Wilson Cannon and Martha, Doc and Betty Barber and J.W. Chandler (also not married yet) all took turns as chaperones but would be there a lot of the nights that they did not have to chaperone. Later, Jerrald Chandler and Bette got married with two Explorers as ushers. I could not dance, initially, and Betty Barber and Martha Cannon 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. I mean really fantastic.