4 pm Friday at the mall parking lot - all 10 of my scouts were gathered around my truck after having loaded all their gear into the truckbed. Everything fit with a little room to spare because I had taught my scouts how to pack their gear properly. Scouter Ray's 4 scouts had packed their gear into his extended van and were looking ship shape and ready to get on the road. Where the heck was Scouter Jim and his 6 scouts??
A minivan wheeled into the parking lot and screeched to a halt beside the sidewalk across from where we were parked, I heard the panel door open and close and the minivan peeled away with a chirp of it's front tires. Standing on the sidewalk was one scrawny scout and a mountain of what I assumed was his gear in a large duffle bag and two green garbage bags - No pack - No hiking gear - No scout leader! The parent must have thought the kid was going to summer camp!
I walked over to this scout and introduced myself and gave him the scout handshake which at least brought a smile from him.
"Where's Scouter Jim" I asked.
"He's running a little late so he called my mom and asked her to drop me here because he didn't have time to pick me up" said the scrawny scout.
'Perfect' I thought, well he couldn't be far behind at least. I explained the situation to Scouter Ray and we piled this kid's gear into the back of my truck while we waited for Scouter Jim and the rest of his troop to show. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes passed and still no Jim, so I called him on his cellphone but only got his voicemail and had to leave a message "It's 4:15 - CALL ME". Another 10 minutes passed and still no sign of Jim or the rest of his scout troop. Scouter Ray and I have a pow wow, our scouts are getting restless as they know it's getting late and we can't just leave Jim's lone scout by himself in the parking lot so we can't leave. Our window for departure is closing fast and we may have to cancel the trip if Jim doesn't show up soon. Just then Scouter Jim's minivan pulls into the parking lot, it's 4:28 pm.:veryangry:
"Hi Guys" he says "Are you ready to go?" I could have choked him but there were too many witnesses and there was no time to waste chewing out a fool, that could come later.
"Yes! We are." I exclaimed "We're going to have to make up some lost time so try to keep up with Ray and myself." We load up our scouts and put the pedal to the metal, Ray is right on my tail in his van and Jim is following behind. After about 15 minutes on the gravel road I get a call from Jim on my cell phone (I've noticed in my rearview mirror that he's starting to fall behind) "Ah, Scouter Eric" he stammers I think you're going a little fast for these conditions". I've been doing 80 km/h which is the speed limit on these straight gravel concession roads. "The scouting by-laws require all leaders to exercise due care when transporting the youth" says Scouter Jim. "Scouter Jim" I responded "the posted speed limit is 80 km/h and we have to make up lost time because you were late, OK?" then I hung up. Scouter Jim slows down to 60 km/h and starts to fall way behind, my scouts can see this and Malcolm my worst hellraiser (ADHD) says "Let's lose him, Scouter Eric!". I'm tempted but I slow down to 70 km/h because I still have the scrawny scout from Scouter Jim's troop in my truck because there was no room left in Jim's minivan.(it is literally stuffed with gear, Scouter Jim and 5 scouts)
We finally make it to the logging road and it's pretty washboardy but no problem for my truck or Ray's heavy van but Jim slows down to 40 km/h. The rattlesnake road has a couple of bad washouts but we get through okay and obviously Jim barely manages because he's all stressed out when we arrive at the locks; it's 6 pm and we're going to lose daylight in an hour.
Ray and I organize our scouts into getting the supplies down to the boat as fast as possible so Ray can ship them into the cabin.
Ray and I are loading the boat with our troops' food and tents when Jim shows up on the dock with believe it or not 2 suitcases!
It's all Ray and I can do to stop ourselves from busting a gut, Ray says "What's with the suitcases, Jim?". "It's my kit" says Jim "Where should I put them in the boat?"
"There's not enough room" says Ray "where's your troop's supplies and tents?"
"Oh, we don't have any tents because we're sleeping in the cabin" is Scouter Jim's reply. At this point, Jim's scouts show up with a huge pile of garbage bags holding their clothes, sleeping bags, pillows, fishing rods, tackle boxes and God only knows what else; I can hardly believe my eyes.
"Scouts" I bellowed at Jim's troop "Stop right there and put everything on the ground, Now!" They dropped all their gear to the ground in an instant, I took Jim aside and explained the situation.
"Jim" I said in my most patient tone "you can see this is a small boat and it will only take Ray and his son Tom plus our supplies in one trip, the intinery I gave clearly stated that we would be hiking in to the cabin on foot."
Jim looked shocked at this revelation "but I thought the boat would carry all our gear in" said Jim. I explained to Jim that his troop would have to leave their excess gear behind as there was no room in the boat and we would all have to move out in 5 minutes or we wouldn't make the cabin before dark.
Jim's troop put their food in the boat and piled the rest of their junk back into his minivan, fortunately, half of them had brought backpacks.
We cast off the lines on Ray's boat and watched him head up river with his son and all of our food. Ray's scouts formed up with my troop so we could start the hike in and at that moment it began to rain. It wasn't raining hard but I could see that a small front was moving in from the west and it didn't look good.(the radar image was clear when I checked it at lunchtime but the weather can change fast in this part of Canada)
The scouts and I started breaking out our raingear but Jim and his troop headed back to his minivan, I assumed to get their raingear. After a minute or so I could see they weren't coming back so I went over and Jim explained that they didn't have any raingear and he thought we should wait until the rain passed.
I grabbed some garbage bags out of the cab of my truck and cut holes in them with my leatherman to make improvised raingear for Jim and his scouts. Finally prepared to leave, we crossed the boat locks and began the 2 km. hike through the bush to Scout Cabin, in the rain.
A minivan wheeled into the parking lot and screeched to a halt beside the sidewalk across from where we were parked, I heard the panel door open and close and the minivan peeled away with a chirp of it's front tires. Standing on the sidewalk was one scrawny scout and a mountain of what I assumed was his gear in a large duffle bag and two green garbage bags - No pack - No hiking gear - No scout leader! The parent must have thought the kid was going to summer camp!I walked over to this scout and introduced myself and gave him the scout handshake which at least brought a smile from him.
"Where's Scouter Jim" I asked.
"He's running a little late so he called my mom and asked her to drop me here because he didn't have time to pick me up" said the scrawny scout.
'Perfect' I thought, well he couldn't be far behind at least. I explained the situation to Scouter Ray and we piled this kid's gear into the back of my truck while we waited for Scouter Jim and the rest of his troop to show. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes passed and still no Jim, so I called him on his cellphone but only got his voicemail and had to leave a message "It's 4:15 - CALL ME". Another 10 minutes passed and still no sign of Jim or the rest of his scout troop. Scouter Ray and I have a pow wow, our scouts are getting restless as they know it's getting late and we can't just leave Jim's lone scout by himself in the parking lot so we can't leave. Our window for departure is closing fast and we may have to cancel the trip if Jim doesn't show up soon. Just then Scouter Jim's minivan pulls into the parking lot, it's 4:28 pm.:veryangry:
"Hi Guys" he says "Are you ready to go?" I could have choked him but there were too many witnesses and there was no time to waste chewing out a fool, that could come later.
"Yes! We are." I exclaimed "We're going to have to make up some lost time so try to keep up with Ray and myself." We load up our scouts and put the pedal to the metal, Ray is right on my tail in his van and Jim is following behind. After about 15 minutes on the gravel road I get a call from Jim on my cell phone (I've noticed in my rearview mirror that he's starting to fall behind) "Ah, Scouter Eric" he stammers I think you're going a little fast for these conditions". I've been doing 80 km/h which is the speed limit on these straight gravel concession roads. "The scouting by-laws require all leaders to exercise due care when transporting the youth" says Scouter Jim. "Scouter Jim" I responded "the posted speed limit is 80 km/h and we have to make up lost time because you were late, OK?" then I hung up. Scouter Jim slows down to 60 km/h and starts to fall way behind, my scouts can see this and Malcolm my worst hellraiser (ADHD) says "Let's lose him, Scouter Eric!". I'm tempted but I slow down to 70 km/h because I still have the scrawny scout from Scouter Jim's troop in my truck because there was no room left in Jim's minivan.(it is literally stuffed with gear, Scouter Jim and 5 scouts)
We finally make it to the logging road and it's pretty washboardy but no problem for my truck or Ray's heavy van but Jim slows down to 40 km/h. The rattlesnake road has a couple of bad washouts but we get through okay and obviously Jim barely manages because he's all stressed out when we arrive at the locks; it's 6 pm and we're going to lose daylight in an hour.
Ray and I organize our scouts into getting the supplies down to the boat as fast as possible so Ray can ship them into the cabin.
Ray and I are loading the boat with our troops' food and tents when Jim shows up on the dock with believe it or not 2 suitcases!
It's all Ray and I can do to stop ourselves from busting a gut, Ray says "What's with the suitcases, Jim?". "It's my kit" says Jim "Where should I put them in the boat?"
"There's not enough room" says Ray "where's your troop's supplies and tents?"
"Oh, we don't have any tents because we're sleeping in the cabin" is Scouter Jim's reply. At this point, Jim's scouts show up with a huge pile of garbage bags holding their clothes, sleeping bags, pillows, fishing rods, tackle boxes and God only knows what else; I can hardly believe my eyes.
"Scouts" I bellowed at Jim's troop "Stop right there and put everything on the ground, Now!" They dropped all their gear to the ground in an instant, I took Jim aside and explained the situation.
"Jim" I said in my most patient tone "you can see this is a small boat and it will only take Ray and his son Tom plus our supplies in one trip, the intinery I gave clearly stated that we would be hiking in to the cabin on foot."
Jim looked shocked at this revelation "but I thought the boat would carry all our gear in" said Jim. I explained to Jim that his troop would have to leave their excess gear behind as there was no room in the boat and we would all have to move out in 5 minutes or we wouldn't make the cabin before dark.
Jim's troop put their food in the boat and piled the rest of their junk back into his minivan, fortunately, half of them had brought backpacks.
We cast off the lines on Ray's boat and watched him head up river with his son and all of our food. Ray's scouts formed up with my troop so we could start the hike in and at that moment it began to rain. It wasn't raining hard but I could see that a small front was moving in from the west and it didn't look good.(the radar image was clear when I checked it at lunchtime but the weather can change fast in this part of Canada)
The scouts and I started breaking out our raingear but Jim and his troop headed back to his minivan, I assumed to get their raingear. After a minute or so I could see they weren't coming back so I went over and Jim explained that they didn't have any raingear and he thought we should wait until the rain passed.
I grabbed some garbage bags out of the cab of my truck and cut holes in them with my leatherman to make improvised raingear for Jim and his scouts. Finally prepared to leave, we crossed the boat locks and began the 2 km. hike through the bush to Scout Cabin, in the rain.
