"Summer Camp" 2008

This is Jason. I am stuck in Rochester Minnesota (home of the Mayo Clinic) for work over the Father's Day weekend. Bummer. I had been editing a post before I left and thought it would be nice to let it go and add some to the start. Joy, Allie, Luke, and Wesley are back at home- I think Joy is a bit envious of my weekend alone, but it is no fun without her and the kids here. I have tried to make the best of it - my rental car is a Crysler 300 (a 20s ganster looking car) - it is the best and fastest rental I have ever had. Since none of my co-workers would ever eat raw fish, I have had sushi twice so far; we'll see what tomorrow brings. Anyhow, here is the post I was working on:

Jason here: Last week I spent two days at Boy Scout camp. It was held southeast of Gallup, NM in the Zuni mountains with just our local troop. Yes it snowed, in June, in New Mexico, in sqatty little mountains- wierd. This year I helped with orienteering and encouraged the boys sleep outside without a sleeping bag for a wilderness survival requirement. Speaking of, on the way up at about 10:45 PM or so I was driving along an obscure forest road and this guy jumped out into my headlights waving an elk antler. It turns out he was lost since 2PM that day (a Wednesday). He drove off the dirt road to a place where he had elk hunted 3 years prior then left his truck with zero gear (short sleeve shirt in the warmth of the day) to have a look around in the back country off trail. He never made it back and was quite lost. This guy (Jim) finally found a road and started walking. There is no way he would have made it anywhere close to Grants. He is diabetic and had lain down under a tree on the side of the road but made himself get up and keep walking with blistered feet. He got in my truck and we went to look for his truck (only a mile or two away as it turned out). I did not have any sugar soda which baffled him to no end (I guess his blood sugar was low?). He drank a water bottle and I gave him a Power Bar, we found his truck and off he went. Out of cell service, we called his wife's answering machine with the ham radio... Crazy, I wonder if he would have made it through the night- he only saw one Jeep much earlier in the day until I showed up...
I went to bed ~ midnight and it was still quite warm (40s). I just slept under Joy's poncho in a bunch of clothes and long johns rather than a sleeping bag (in the truck a few yards away). The first hour was fine, then it started raining about 2AM, blowing like crazy and snowing from 3AM to 5AM. I shivered and listened to some random creatures in our camp kitchen (one which galloped by me after I made a little noise re-locking my truck) and figured I got credit for the night and got up at 5:45. Needless to say, we decided not to sleep out last night...

Here are some other pics of the camp
Scott Griffin is the Scoutmaster for those of you that know him...