DAY 11
Wednesday,
August 2

What a difference a couple of hours can make…. Some of you may have picked up on some subtitle references to it being HOT here. I know all you folks are saying, “Yea, but it was hot here in the cities and it must have been 15 degrees cooler at Many Point”. WRONG, Saturday, Sunday and Monday here were down right absolutely miserable and we don’t have fans (save one) or air conditioning like you guys. When the temperature and humidity is up around 100 here, all you can do is try to sit still in the shade and sweat.

But then….Monday afternoon was scheduled as a day at the beach. We had an Ethics class scheduled at the beach first. Since we have a “few” Lifeguards in our troop (we graduated 12 last week), the staff moved our Ethics class into the water. After ethics the scouts had canoeing. It seems that most of them managed to “accidentally” swamp their canoes so they could get wet. About 45 minutes into the canoeing there were threatening clouds to the west and numerous thunder claps, so they cleared us from the water. We stood around waiting to see if we were still going to have our greasy watermelon tournament at 3:00 (another water event). At about 3:15 they formed up our teams and started getting us into the water. Then there was more lightning and it was out of the water again to go ahead and eat the water melon.

During all this storm activity, the temperature began to drop little by little. We had a short rain shower and by 6:00 it was 15 degrees cooler. It is SO nice here when your brain is not cooking itself in your skull. Ever since then it has been pleasant during the day and nice and cool at night (just right for sleeping). It is suppose to stay this way the rest of the week.

Sunday night everyone was sweating, lying on top of their sheets with nary a breeze through our tents. It was hot noisy and hard to sleep. Between the raccoons, the crows, the owls, the creak of cots, the snoring of adults, loons, blood curdling screams (I made up that part), etc., Many Point can be noisy place at night. So Monday night I finally put in my ear plugs. Between the cooler weather and the ear plugs, I have been sleeping like a baby instead of up every two hours. That makes a big difference too.

Monday was the usual start of another week. Classes starting, and re-starting the same menu of last week. Monday afternoon was described above, and Monday evening was the usual free time. Now that the weather has cooled, the adults are re-starting some of our service projects around here. Gunnar, Craig, and Tom moved the camp mailboxes while staff was off to Ironman. I finally routed the new Voyager Camp sign for the new archway we’re going to install. There use to be an arch way at the entrance to the Voyager Lodge, but it rotted out years ago. We’ve gotten the logs for a new archway from the service center and we’ll be digging the holes for it today during supertroop service project time. I got the poles painted yesterday and we’ll bolt them together today. The plan is to hang the “Voyager Camp” sign and the oval logo sign from the archway. Before the weather cooled down we couldn’t even think about working.

Yesterday the boys didn’t get up until after 7:00 and it really through the morning off. We haven’t had a bugler in camp until Monday night and then we discovered that he forgot to bring the bugle. Fortunately Al Barnicale had one that he lent us. One of the boys was drafted to be bugler (I’m not sure why the designated bugler isn’t doing it). I took a shower early today (to avoid the rush) and I’ve been sitting here in the lodge typing, waiting for the food truck. Just after the truck left, I heard strains of a bugle wafting up from Ft. Bill. I’m not sure what it was he was playing, but it was loud and long and I’m sure it is doing the trick. Ten minutes later, the bugle is still being blown (it’s 6:55 am) so they must have some stragglers down there. Tom came up with his vehicle to pick up the food and I stayed here to work on the blog while they get started on breakfast. Wayne the food truck driver is a great guy and we’ve been taking care of each other (we as in the troop and him). We try to meet him at every delivery, so he doesn’t have to climb out of his truck to unload the full crates or reload the empty ones. He usually shows his appreciation by give us a some trays of fresh rolls sometime during the week. I’m not sure how we’ve become so lucky, but this morning was the third morning this week that we’ve gotten rolls. Cinnamon rolls on Monday, Cinnamon and caramel rolls yesterday, and caramel rolls today. They are warm and fresh and it sure is hard to limit myself to one. Leadership has been real good this week about dividing the rolls up and distributing them evenly to all the scouts (and adults).

Monday night during free time, the boys got restless and then got creative. Many in leadership decided that a toga party was in order. They wrapped themselves in their sheets, made tin foil helmets and accessories, and visited various venues in camp including the lodge, the trading post, and the beach. They were a smash. Another scout decided to avail himself of several mud puddles on the road and covered himself completely with mud. There were multiple reports of “the mud man” roaming the camp until we finally “sent him to the showers”. It’s amazing how creative the boys can be, and even better when it’s harmless fun like that. They more I hang out here, the more it reminds me of MASH (the movie more than the show). With various stunts and pranks to pass the time and everyone running to look at Greg’s famous blister every time it is unwrapped. We’ve been thinking of charging admission, but decided not to.

Tuesday, in addition to classes and the usual activities, we had Ironman. The kids had a great time and seemed to do well in the race. We had 18 scouts leave for overnights at the Huck Finn raft and Treehouses (boys did leadership eat well last night with 18 extra riblets and rice crispy bars!!!). It turns out the Scouting magazine is here to do an article on the treehouses, so the boys we send may be in the article. However, they “requested” that all of the scouts wear official scout shorts or pants and scout socks. As you probably know, we insist on official scout above the waist, but we go for “close enough” below the waist. It was quite a scramble yesterday to find enough shorts, belts, and socks for six boys. We almost had to send two (skinny) scouts in my pair of scout shorts, but we managed to find enough to go around. However, I had to donate my scout (and only) belt, so I’ve been walking around since last night pulling up my pants every five minutes. As I’ve been sitting here, Wayne has returned with the staff rolls and we had a nice long talk. Then the scouts from Flintlock arrived back. Since we had 18 boys going to Flintlock we were able to get the camp bus to drive them up and back. That was REALLY nice not to have to arrange that transportation.

Well, it’s about 7:25 and the staff needs their eating area and our breakfast is probably ready by now, so I’m going to sign off. I may try to type some more later. It is cloudy today, so I don’t know if the satellite will work, but I’ll try to head up to admin later. That’s all for now from Many Point Scout Camp….Jon Yearous

P.S. It was cloudy this morning, so I stayed at Voyager working on our archway project for the lodge. It cleared up in the afternoon, but unfortunately I got tied up in camp all afternoon trying to resolve issues that have kept us occupied. I managed to escape when no one was looking and slip up to admin to send this email. The kids are off to the beach bash (I hope), some adults are at the SM Appreciation dinner and others are back at camp. Weather continues to be great.

DAY 9
Monday,
July 31

Sorry for the lack of updates; lack of time and access have been to blame. It has been truly interesting and busy times. Thursday evening during free time, there was a storm warning and they evacuated all of us to the storm shelters under the Nature and Handicrafts buildings. They are essentially glorified walk out basements with reinforced double doors. Last week was the busiest week for Many Point and Voyager Camp, with somewhere around 300 people at Voyageur. Trying to fit everyone in the two basements looked like something out of a Japanese Subway. They keep trying to push people all the way into the shelter. They were VERY crowded and very HOT. There were fans blowing around the hot air, but no external ventilation. You feel the hot air roiling out of the shelter. We never did get very bad weather, but better safe than sorry. We spent less than an hour in the shelter and got out about 9:00.

Fortunately, when the weather looked threatening, the boys covered the (unlit) campfire with a tarp to keep it dry. So after the storm shelter we headed back to the camp site for our Thursday night Troop campfire. Unfortunately staff had some other event that night, so they couldn’t come, but a good time was had by all. Many stories and jokes (some good) were told until Mrs. Dierauer and Mrs. Modi brought over ice cream bars. It got to be a pretty late night for everyone.

Friday was a busy day, with everyone going to their last classes and trying to finish up all their class work. You would not believe the pile of blue cards I had to turn in for these guys. We are going to have a very busy fall court of honor! I’m forgetting when we have had rain and not, but fortunately little of it has interfered with course work. The mile swimmers were not able to finish their swim Thursday night due to the storm, but were able to finish it on Friday. One night the Huck Fin raft guys were pulled off the raft and sent back to our site. The Kayak guys made it across the lake and stayed in Yurts. On Friday the Canoe Merit badge guys got to canoe to a local resort and get ice cream. It was great way to end the class. The final free time on Friday was spent finishing course work and buying souvenirs.

Friday night was also the closing fire, saying good bye to everyone, recognizing all the special events participants, and the usual fun skits. The troop 346 skit got “tree’d” (hooked) by the troop 346 guys. Scoutmaster Devitt had to leave for a funeral in Fargo, but Brad stood in for him, doing the Scoutmaster rendition of I’m A Little Tea Pot. And of course, after the campfire came the traditional yell down between the staff and Troop 346 (good natured cheers and counter cheers).

I’m at a laundry in Park Rapids that has wireless internet. The laundry’s done and my time is almost up so I’ll make this quick.

Saturday morning, we got up early, packed up the kids leaving, tore down Savanna Portage, got the kids on the bus a waved good bye. I took off for the day with my family, went to Itasca and fell into the Mississippi. I tried to send an email to everyone, but it was cloudy and the satellite connection wouldn’t work (we’re also having spam problems with the people on the first ¼ of our mail list). While I was gone, Gunnar Oas had an accident at the beach, broke a rib, tore some ligaments and ended up going to the hospital. He’s back with us now, but winces a lot. Meanwhile, he had the keys to the meds boxes, so we had to trace him down to get the keys back. While washing dishes Greg F. spilled hot water on his ankle and had the largest blister anyone has every seen. The last time he headed up to the health lodge, everyone handed him there disposable cameras and wanted him to take a picture of his blister with the bandage off. It was an exciting day! We all went to Ice Crackin Lodge Saturday night. Food was good as usual, but 50 people definitely taxed the seating and kitchen.

Many slept in Sunday morning. As many as possible got ride into town to try to be somewhere cool. The weather has been hot and miserable. We have bought LOTS of bottled water and ice and we are making everyone drink as much water as possible. The weather is supposed to cool back down tomorrow. Late night last night with opening campfire. Brian Jacobson is the new SPL. A lot of bleary eyes this morning. We met Wayne this morning to help unload the food truck and got two trays of cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Between the rolls, pop tarts, frosted flakes and orange juice, everyone has a sugar high that should carry them through to lunch.

Sorry for this very brief and abbreviated update. I will try to type out some thing more complete later and send it a long.

For now, that it from the Park Rapids Laundry…Jon Yearous

DAY 5
Thursday,
July 27

Another hot day. We got a little rain last night, but it had stopped by the time morning rolled around. It cooled down this morning; just long enough for the Polar Bear swim this morning. We got quite a few scouts to come down to polar bear with us this morning. That first time out of the water is a bit chilly, but this is the warmest that it has been for Polar Bear in the four years I’ve been here (as an adult). At the Polar Bear Swim they tell the story of Polar Bowlarinski and how he kept running into the water to escape a polar bear, until he finally arrives at Many Point Scout Camp to help Boots Hanson build the camp. Every time he runs into the water in the story, we run into the water and then come out again. Each time we go into the water we perform the Polar Bear Yell to wake up the Mobergs and other neighbors.

After the polar bear swim all the adults swung by the lodge coffee pot and headed back to camp for a great pancake and sausage breakfast. About mid-morning the clouds went away and the temperature soared. I listened to the forecast on weather radio out of Fergus Falls and it is not going to get any better. It’s supposed to be slightly cooler for a couple of days (90-95 during the day and maybe 65 at night) and then get even hotter Sunday and Monday (high 90s, 65-70). Everyone thinks I put the fan in for the staff, but it was really so I could sit under it while I type this stuff. We have 17 kids headed off the Flintlock this afternoon, so I’m making one of the runs and continuing to admin to transmit this later.

Last night was the big “parent teacher conference.” All the merit badge teachers sit around the outside of the room and all the advancement chairs go from teacher to teacher to find out how their kids are doing (and if they are showing up). The good news is that everyone is showing up like they should and keeping up. If kids miss class for Flintlock, the instructors are very good about allowing the scouts to make up things during free time. We’ve got lots of scouts running around trying to meet requirements by teaching Indian Lore games, Orienteering skills, and Severe Weather tips. And every time they do, I get write a note to the teacher saying they’ve done it. I’ve taken to keeping a pile scratch paper in my pocket with a pen, so I can write notes on demand. I think that the pile of (pre-printed) blue cards I dropped off last night was bigger than the pile of cards from all the other troops combined.

During free time last night, those of us that are going on the Northern Tier High Adventure Canoe trip next July (2007) went down to the beach and canoed over to family camp. Mrs. Dierauer and Mrs. Modi met us out on the point with ice cream. It was great chance to work on our canoeing skills and have a treat.

We’ve had a big up tick in interest in Dutch Oven cooking. The prize for the winning iron man team was a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I’ve had some corn bread and other baked goods made by various people. David V. made an apple (very) crisp that looked great (and definitely done). A couple of the Troop Guides have been doing Dutch oven demos for the first year scouts also. When I left the camp site, Mr. Devitt was in the midst of making a Bavarian Chocolate Cake with cherries and pineapple. I think Brad U. was planning to experiment with baking a cake made from scratch using pancake flour as cake flour and using margarine and drink mix to make frosting. It may be very good or rank right up (down) there with the “wiener schnitzel” (hot dogs sautéed in red cool aid) from the last canoe campout. I brought a lot of supplies, but between my other projects and a desire to avoid the calories, I have not baked yet. I am glad to see other interested parties using the supplies and getting interested in cooking. I even had to stop at the commissary on my way up to admin to pick up some more brown sugar.

All the new scouts made it back from the five mile hike last night (we think). They all had a great time, but were very tired. Several of the new scout parents and one troop guide (Nick) went with them since we sent 12 scouts. I understand that beach bash was much better this year than in the past. They evidently had a number of games that incorporated scout skills that use to be taught at Many Point. This is the 60^th anniversary of Many Point, so they have tried to incorporate that into many of the activities this summer. They had some skits with the anniversary theme at the opening campfire and they are having a medallion hunt (ala winter carnival).

Unfortunately, the SM Dinner was not up to their usual standards. We got the usual introductions and information about what’s new and what’s coming (always interesting). The talk was given my Travis (I’m sorry I forgot his last name), who up until this year as a teacher at Minnetonka High School. He’s been a long time summer employee of Many Point, he is the operations director this year, and will be leaving Minnetonka High School to be full time Many Point and North Wind Camps Director. He’s a great guy with lots of energy (a prerequisite for a camp director) and he’s married to our Voyager director from last year. However, the highlight of the dinner has always been the great ribs and granny bread. We got the granny bread, but they switched to a “crock pot” roast beef dinner, with potatoes, carrots, and VERY light on the beef. For those of us that have been attending the dinners for years we were a bit disappointed. It’s very subtle, but it pretty clear that there have been some cut backs this year. We’ll have to keep an eye on it.

Tonight will be the infamous Troop 346 troop campfire. The conditions up here are very dry. The rain that we’ve had this week is some of the first rain that they’ve had this year. They are allowing us to have our campfire, but we have to keep it a LOT smaller than usual. The patrols have all been told to prepare a skit and that is always interesting. This afternoon, most of the scouts are off to the rifle range and a troop swim. They will have aquatics at 4 and free time after dinner. One thing that I think they will be doing today is holding elections for SPL and patrol leaders. The SPL will then be selecting his new “cabinet” (ASPLs, librarian, scribe, etc.) of leadership positions.

Tomorrow will be the last day of classes, and following free time, there will be a closing campfire. I’m sure I will be busy after that trying to figure out who completed what merit badges. The scouts will begin tearing down some equipment Friday night. If the weather holds, some of the scouts will probably choose to sleep out under the stars (under their mosquito netting). Saturday morning will be a mad rush of trying to get open merit badge items signed off, packing, and moving (for scouts staying week two). We will tear Savanna Portage down completely and the remaining 45 scouts will consolidate in Ft. Bill. The buses are scheduled to leave about 10am and should arrive at the church somewhere about 3pm (or whatever you’ve been otherwise told). This time we will brief the bus drivers as to the CORRECT way to get home.

I will try to update the blog and send off an email letting you know when the buses leave.

Well I’ve rambled enough for now, there’s a horizontal surface somewhere calling my name, so I will sign off for now from Many Point Scout Camp…Jon Yearous.

DAY 4
Wednesday,
July 26

Sorry about the delay in updating the blog, we’ve all been very busy. We’ve been having A LOT of kids going to Flintlock. I made the mistake of having kids give me up to four choices of things, with the idea that we would get two slots for each kid and the additional choices would give us some guidance of what their preferences were. Well we got luck and some kids got up to four slots and now we’re running every which way trying to drop off and pick up kids morning, noon, & night. Mrs. Dierauer and Mrs. Linde have been a great help, especially with Mr. McGovern’s car spending more time in Park Rapids than he does. Fortunately, the dealer gave him a van for a loaner so we can use that for transporting kids too.

It continues to be HOT (90-95) and mostly sunny. The exception was last night. About 5:00 the sky clouded over, the thunder roared, and the sky let loose. They REALLY need the rain here, everything is very dry. Fortunately, the soil at Many Point is mostly sand, and the rain soaks in very quickly, so we don’t have a lot of mud puddles. The Huck Finn Raft overnight kids at Flintlock got pulled at the first sign of lightning and were sent back to the troop camp. The kayak overnight guys made it across the lake before it really hit, so they got to stay out for the night. However, the stove they took didn’t work, so they got to cook at Family Camp and they got to sleep in Mongolian Yurts instead of tents because of the rain. The rain stopped about 7:30 and, even tough vespers were canceled, they boys got most of their free time. Last night was TIE-DYE TUESDAY, where boys can go to the Handicraft Building and tie dye a shirt they boy at the Trading Post or (for a small fee) Ties Dye a shirt they bring. It stayed cloud and drippy most of the night, but cleared up this morning.

Salisbury Steak Monday dinner, French Toast Tuesday Breakfast, Ravioli Tues. Lunch, Riblets Tues. dinner, Eggs & hash browns this morning, and Chili for lunch today. No one’s starving yet. There is always PB&J for anyone that’s hungry. Some how we were missing three milk crates of food at lunch yesterday, but the staff here at Voyager did a GREAT job of taking care of us and providing replacement food. Speaking of food, Wayne the food truck driver is a great guy, and we try to meet him had help load & unload crates when ever possible. This morning he brought us a BIG pan of Granny’s Cinnamon rolls. They looked great (I decided to skip to calories). Unfortunately, due to safety issues, they are delivering our food up at the lodge again this year. However, several of the adults with trucks are taking turns driving up to the lodge to pick up the food and deliver it to Ft. Bill and Savanna Portage. It really helps the scouts get a jump start on cooking, instead of wasting time hauling food. Enough about food already.

The boys have all been very busy with activities. Beside the usual classes (in the morning and late afternoon), the older boys have been busy with Flintlock, and everyone has been busy with troop activities. Monday, the big one was the Greasy Watermelon. It’s kind of like water polo, but it is played with a greased up watermelon. It’s a lot of fun, but Mr. Devitt twisted his knee and has been icing it every since. Yesterday, the big event was water polo. Also a very popular activity. Yesterday, the other big event was the Ironman race. Mr. Scharf did a great job of promoting the event. We got a lot of teams to compete, with a Dutch Oven baked cake as the big prize. The times were handicapped, depending on how many new scouts were on the team. It really encouraged the old scouts to include the new scouts in their teams. The winning team was led by our SPL, Timmy V. and three new scouts. The second place team also included a lot of new scouts. It was a great success.

Today, the scouts all had climbing and a super troop service project in the afternoon. Some of them cleaned up a trail, while other did landscaping, and the rest did some work down in the scout craft area. After their activities this afternoon, the boys will have and hour of in site troop activities (where we will have them collect wood for tomorrow’s troop campfire). At 5:00 all the scouts will head to the beach. The first year scouts will leave from there for a five mile hike and the rest of the scouts will have aquatics and a Big Beach Bash. While the boys are doing all that, most of the Adults will be bussed up to the Buckskin Dining Hall for the Scoutmaster Appreciation Dinner. The adult get back at about seven and he boys will be released from the beach bash for free time.

Tomorrow morning the big event will be the polar bear swim. This year there won’t be much polar in the swim (the water and air are very warm) but it should be a lot of fun. We discovered that our SPL has never done polar bear, so we’re making sure that he’s going to be leading the charge! Well, I’ve rambled enough for now, I’ve got to get back down to the site and greet our new arrivals. Two of the new scout dads have left, two more are coming and I hear that Mr. Elliot is here. It is nice sitting here. Mr. Devitt and Mr. Helseth helped me finish installing our surprise for the Voyager Staff. We installed a 52” ceiling fan in the staff dining/meeting area and it sure feels nice. We started the installation yesterday, with cross supports that have “Troop 346” and “2006” routed into them. We added the electrical box and put a note on it that said “install heat lamp here.” It left a lot of the staff scratching their heads as to what we were up to. We finished the installation this afternoon, but most of the staff has not seen it yet, because they are all out at activities. When they sit down for dinner I think they will be please, because that draft of air sure makes it feel cooler. I just saw the troop walk by from their service project to camp, so I will sign off for now. I will be headed to the SM dinner early so I can stop at admin to transmit this entry. I hope you’re all having fun, because we are. From Many Point Scout Camp, this is Jon Yearous.

DAY 2
Monday,
July 24

Who'd ever thought that GOING to camp would be an adventure? Evidently we forgot to give the bus driver maps for getting to Park Rapids and they were using some Mapquest directions. While some of the adults ahead of the buses followed the “normal” route, and turned off 94 onto 24 to Clear Lake, the buses kept going. But when they got St. Cloud, they kept going. And when they got to Sauk Center, they kept going. And they finally ended up going up 94 past Fergus Falls to Hwy 59, then north to Detroit Lakes. The good news is that they got to stay on 94 longer, but they ended up west of Many Point. Any how, the buses stopped in Detroit Lakes for lunch (instead of Park Rapids) and made it to Many Point about 2:00.

We got everyone unloaded and changed into suits for their swim quals. The water is nice and warm this year and really felt good! After swim quals we all headed back to camp to finish setting up tents and unpacking. We had an easy dinner about 6:00, and just set up things and relaxed.

The opening campfire was scheduled for 9:30. We entered in our usual (not) calm manner. Marching up around the campfire singing out the 346 cheer and finally taking our (non) seats at the rear. This is the busiest week for the entire camp, so as usual there were not enough benches for us. When troop 346 was introduced, we presented the sign of the Voyager logo that many of you probably saw at send off Sunday morning. I will try to post a picture of it later. The campfire was a lot of fun with some silly skits and plenty of songs that included activities.

We had an unfortunate prank played on us from some members of another troop (we don’t know who…yet). Some stakes were removed from adult tents and some scouts were knocked down, but everything was quickly restored. The staff responded very quickly, apologized, and is trying to find the culprits. It is kind of disappointing that other scouts would even consider this type of vandalism funny.

Between the campfire, the normal leadership meeting (TLC), meeting with camp staff about the incident, and the normal adult leader meeting, the adults did not get to bed until about midnight. You can bet everyone was very tired. Almost as soon as we went to bed and the camp quieted down, we could here the raccoons (the animals, not the patrol) start to roam the campground looking for food. Fortunately, no one left garbage out or left the trailer open.

Revelry was at 7:00 and most of the kids got up with no trouble. We had troop flag assembly at 8:15, went over announcements, and went to the camp assembly at 8:30. After announcements and songs, they scouts headed off to merit badge classes at 8:40. Because of the large number of scouts we have in Lifeguard certification class (14), Many Point agreed to move the class to Voyager beach for one week. That really makes it a lot easier on us, or we have to transport them up to Ten Chiefs beach.

It’s been hot all day (it’s about 80 right now). We had thunder and a very light rain this morning. There was lightning spotted up at Buckskin, so the pulled the Lifesaving and Lifeguard classes out of the water. It has since cleared up and is sunny (and hot) now.

The scouts had tuna sandwiches and soup for lunch. One third of the troop had volleyball at 1:00 and the other two third had a free period. At 2:00, the entire troop headed to the beach for greasy watermelon. I’ve seen enough of those, so I cam up to the Voyager lodge to type this with an outlet. The entire troop has free time from 3-4, with “destructional” (instructional) swim from 4-5. We will be having a troop Ethics Program at the beach at 5, dinner at 6, and free time from 7-9.

We got our Flintlock (high adventure for 8^th grade and above) allotments this morning and have spent most of the morning making assignment. We had seven scouts head off to sailing at 1:00 and we have a bunch of scouts going to Huck Fin and Treehouse overnight tonight.

During free time, the scouts can go to the rifle range, go swimming, Archery, or a whole variety of activities. Some of the guys going to Northern Tier next summer will be meeting during free time to do some planning.

Well, I have to get back to camp. I will be driving some of the scouts up to the Treehouse Overnight, and then going up to the admin to try and up load this report.

That’s it for now from Many Point Scout Camp….Jon Yearous

DAY -1
Saturday,
July 22

Well, it's 11:20 PM and here I sit packing and updating the blog for my two weeks at Many Point. Am I certifiable or what?
The advance crew left this morning about 8AM. Two adults and six leadership scouts form our advance team. Their task is to establish the beach head for the rest of us. They are sent up to set up the two leadership tarps and leadership tents so that 1) Their stuff is set up and they can provide leadership when we arrive, and 2) So there is some place to change into swim suits when we arrive. As soon as we get to Many Point, we need to go down to our swim quals. If you would like to see out trusty crew, click here.
The rest of us happy campers will be meeting at the church at 6:30am tomorrow (6:15 for remaining leadership) with plans to pull out at 7:30. The big "picture on the hill is always a big production, with every parent trying to capture the event with their camera.
Well I have to go finish packing, so that's it for now. My next update will probably be Monday morning before lunch. I will send out a group email to let you know when it happens.
From my kitchen..Jon Yearous

DAY -5
Monday,
July 17

First, a little background.
This will be a weblog of the Troop 346 experience at Many Point Scout Camp in the summer of 2006. The past two summers I have kept similar blogs, and for some reason people seem to like them, so I guess I will continue.
I am the advancement chair and webmaster for Troop 346 from Minnetonka, Minnesota. Each year we spend the last week in July and the first week in August at the Voyager Camp of Many Point Scout Camp. There are numerous maps on the website for you to look at, to get a feel for where the camp is.
The first week, all scouts from the troop are welcome, in particular the new scouts. We have a troop of about 100 scouts and typically we will have 80-90 scouts the first week. The second week is only for scouts that are second year and above. You don't have to stay week two, but you must help with the new scouts week one if you want to stay the second week (few exceptions). The second week we will typically have 40-45 scouts.
The main administrative building at Many Point has a wireless web access, which is serviced by a satelite connection. It is slow and tenuous at best and doesn't work at all when it's raining. The adminstrative building is at the north end of Lake Many Point (from whense the camp is named) and Voyager is at the south end (see the maps). It's about a 20 minute drive over gravel roads up to the lodge and 20 minutes back, so I usually only go up every other day or so. Do not be suprised if updates are sporatic (as well as my spelling and grammar). While I like doing these blogs, I don't plan on chewing up a lot of time on them.
If there is something you would like to know about the troop, or what we are doing, you can reach me at Troop346@Troop346.org. Any comments or feedback is appreciated
The latest blog entries will be at the top of the page, and the entries will go back from there. It makes it difficult to read from start to finish, but then people can see the latest entries easier.
The Many Point prep meeting for all the boys was last Monday (July 10). They got a general run down of what will be happening and I went over with many of them, what merit badge classes they will be taking at Many Point. One change this year, is that the bus WILL NOT be stopping in Park Rapids for lunch. In the past when we have stopped, we end up spending 1.5 hours or more. It was decided this year that everyone should bring a sack lunch to eat and then we will have more time at camp on Sunday. It's a busy enough day as it is, with set up and swim qualifications. Well, someone changed their mind, we ARE stopping in Park Rapids for lunch, but we're going to limit it to 45 minutes. Scouts should be sure to carry money for lunch in Park Rapids.
Tonight, the leadership scouts will be meeting at 6:00 to discuss details for setting up and running camp, then the adults that are attending Many Point will get together at 7:00 to discuss our roles at camp.
Sunday morning, bright and early, we will be meeting at the church parking lot to turn in forms, load equipment, take pictures, load scouts, and head off to camp. Be sure to watch this blog for more details and the website for more information. Also, check out the countdown timer at the bottom of the home page to see the count down to Many Point.
That's it for now...Jon Yearous.