Scout Stories: Subset : I FORGOT!!

[SSScout 1616]

Very good. I like the one about the pile of clothing in the changing tent. And I 'd really like to hear more about how Cub Scouts help catch bank robbers. Kinda like the Li'l Rascals episode, I guess.

 

What I'd like to do is jog your memories about trips, adventures, and activities where you got to the point when you had to say (to yourself, if no one else) "oh nuts... I forgot the ... " and then had to scramble to get thru things...

 

Frinstance, I was co-leading a bike trip once, was the 'go to' guy for bicycling. Early in the morning, I packed the car, lunch, tools, bike... and met everyone at the start of the tour, went to unload the car, opened the trunk, and ... no front wheel. It was leaning against the house back porch where I had put it to load the bike in the car.

I was the "sag wagon" that trip. And folks were sloooow to let me forget it!

 

C'mon, now, any other admissions of commissions?

[SMT224 10]

Every camping trip we forget something! We just don't know what until we get there!

 

We've forgotten lanterns, cooking equipment, the tarp for the dining fly, food items, sleeping bags, dish washing equipment, and lot's of other stuff.

 

And each time we have an opportunity for innovation! Rather than getting upset about it, we gather everyone together and think how we can solve the problem. It has led to some very creative thinking and problem solving.

 

Sometimes we've had to locate the nearest WalMart, but usually we can figure it out and come up with a home made solution that lets the Scouts know there's always more than one way to do something. And sometimes we just accept the reality with out whatever item we forgot - like darkness when we forgot all our high-powered propane lanterns - and discover it's not bad at all!

 

[drmbear 10]

Hey, in Cub Scouts this month's Character Connection is Resourcefulness. There is a definite reason why Scouts need to be resourceful. Although we do our best to "be prepared," there is just as much possibility that we are not as prepared as we'd like to be and the need arises to be resourceful. In my experience, there have been so many instances where something was forgotten, missing, broken, or some other calamity, there is not even a reason to account for them. Instead, I just expect that something will be forgotten.

 

Probably the worst for me was trying to find something to light the camp stove with and not being able to find anything, and no one in the group having a lighter or matches as well. It is definitely a challenge being resourceful in such a situation when you just want a cup of coffee.

[moosetracker 132]

My first District IOLS training.. I had to bring everything.. Like EVERYTHING, as if I was a fully functioning troop, but it was with my own supplies.

 

So we took down our large Garage Tent, my husband uses in summer to store lawnmower and other things. Washed it down. And put all the poles and Canopy in a large trash can we also needed..

 

My son & I get there on Friday day to set up.. Pull out the garage tent and find that one of the corner knuckles that pulls 3 poles together are missing.. We are like 3 hours from home, no way to return for it..

 

Now I am not the BS so I am of the mindset that we just can't have a Canopy, hope it does not rain.. My son luckily is the BS so he goes off finds a thick stick with a corner jams it into one of the poles lashes on another stick Jams that into another pole.. It was probably the most sturdiest corner, although the long side pole was not quite level.. At least while the whole canopy lasted.. It was the most blustery weather, several people lost their tarps some ruined for good.. Ours blew into a gully.. when we hauled it out that 3 corner grouping had held up..

 

When we went home the corner peice was found on the ground where we had disassembled it.

[skeptic 1002]

Way back when, the first year as a SM at summer camp, I was overly zealous at packing to go home time, bugging the boys to make sure they checked their tents, then rechecked, then checked each others' as well. We were 6+ hours away, and I did not want to deal with missing gear and so on.

 

The following Monday, as I was preparing for our follow up meeting, I could not find my scout pants. Of course, I had left them at camp; I remembered stringing them over the ridge pole in the tent to keep them neater. Took me weeks to arrange to get them; but the camp did finally send them to me.

 

We had our late summer COH, and at the end, up comes the SPL and announces the boys had a special award for me. They then proceeded to present me with a Steve Scout sized pair of pants with all the signatures of all the boys and assistants that had been at camp. I still have that momento hanging on a pine stave in the corner of the scout room.

[DeanRx 69]

Patrol campout... we all showed up with our gear, the patrol box, the food, mess kits, etc...

 

Just finish cooking the first night's meal and getting ready to serve our chili and cornbread when we discover the patrol box was missing ALL silverware and everyone expected it to be there, so noone packed any in their mess kits. (It was later found out that a rival patrol had sabotaged our box prior to the campout!)

 

So, we end up "drinking" the chili out of cups. A couple guys try to eat it out of a ladle, one other guy uses a HUGE serving spoon.

 

1st order of business the next morning... as 1/2 the patrol cooked breakfast, the other guys found pieces of bark off a fallen oak tree and hastily used their pocketknife skills to fashion forks and spoons for us to use the rest of the weekend.

 

After that - it became a patrol tradition to "whittle" your own untensils for a campout.

 

BTW - we took the other patrol's frying pan and coffee pot out of their patrol box before the next campout