Blog 6: National Boy Scout Jamboree

        The summer before 7th Grade, I had been in Boy Scouts just over a year. Our troop planned to go to the National Jamboree in Idaho. It was going to be one week driving up, a week at the Jamboree, and a week coming home. For all of us to go would cost $4000. My father said he absolutely would not pay the way for my brother, Darrell, and me. So, for us to go we had to participate in MANY fund raisers. 

        I wanted to go to the Jamboree very much. So, I participated in every fund raiser that came along. The money would be split between the the scouts that participated that day. We sold everything from fireworks to light bulbs. It didn’t take me long to get mine paid. (I learned very quickly how to accept “NO” until you get the one “YES”.) The firework stand was the easiest. People came to us. Our goal was to get them to buy more than they came for! We slept in tents and a camper, rotating who got the camper.

        However, Darrell was not as eager to work so hard, so he was still behind on his quota. It sounds cheeky, but I started participating to pay his way. (I will be designating an entire blog about Darrell and my relationship. I promise you will love it.) Once we reached our goal, we were on our way. The trip was, in easy words, the best and worst thing to happen. The escapades about 16 teenage boys with only 2 adults can be rather cumbersome. Camping all the way. We had our good days and we had our “hellraiser” days.

       On the drive, to and from, we saw many sights. The Old Faithful Geyser was the best, but going through the mountains came in a close second. After the first week, the leaders took us to this town to restock on groceries, as guys went around town looking for a laundry mat,(and girls to talk to!) We were going down a street with our laundry in backpacks. Suddenly, we saw these two girls come out of a building and like heathens, we yelled and began running towards them. The girls screamed and ran back into the building. To our luck, it was a laundry mat!!

      Even though we were in scout uniforms, the girls kept screaming as we came inside. We apologized and showed them our clothes to prove we were not there to bother them. After calming things down, the girls began talking to us. They both were seniors, I was 12. Because of my age and size, I guess I was not to much of a threat so one of them sat on a table and talked to me. Her name was Rosebud. When they were ready to leave, she gave me her name and address and we became pen pals for about 2 years.

        After Rosebud graduated, she got married and, of course, her last name changed. Not long after, she got pregnant and we wrote through her pregnancy. But, when the baby came, Rosebud told me we would have to stop writing because of her new life. I actually wrote her a poem titled “Rosebud” and sent it to her thanking her for her friendship. She sent me a picture and the writing stopped.

(Oh, yea, the Jamboree.)

        The Jamboree was awesome. There were scouts from all over the globe. It was huge and so much to do if you like the outdoors. We got to meet the REAL Colonel Sanders when he furnished a supper one night. Better than that, we had Bob Hope do a stand-up show. A few of us guys were walking through the trails when we heard what sounded like a microphone. We followed the sound and ended at an open hillside where people were setting up a stage. We were afraid to get too close so they would not tell us to leave.

        As we sat on the hill watching and listening, all of a sudden Bob Hope came out on the stage. We could not believe it. We slowly kept scooting down the hill to get a better look, but kept our distance. Mr. Hope began testing the microphone while rehearsing his act. He looked up at us and said “You boys wave if you can hear me from there!” Stunned, we wave and he said “do I sound alright?”. We waved again. They let us stay while he continued rehearsing, then he left the stage. Though we were too scared to go up to the stage and get his autograph, we ran back to camp and told everyone what happened. We told them a joke he told, but they did not believe us. That night, after he told the joke, everyone was looking at us and we just smiled from ear to ear.

        The joke went like this, “A grasshopper hopped into this pub and jumped onto the bar. The bartender came to him and said {“You know, we make a drink named after you!”} and the grasshopper replied, {“you make a drink called IRVING?”}…. Oh, come on, he was performing to kids. Did you really think it would be dirty? …I will continue the Jamboree in my next blog. My fingers are getting sore and I have so much more to tell.

• 22nd Jul 2017
• mylife
• 1 Comment
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