Our departure was planned for 12:00 noon, and after a short wait while a parent retrieved a forgotten Class-A shirt, we pulled out of the parking lot at 12:03. Our lead van had been decorated with special colored spray foam that proudly announced who we were, and where we were going. After a much shorter drive than our usual trip to Arrowhead, we pulled into Camp Cherokee at 1:10 p.m. where we met up with Troop 39 who would be camping with us.

Troop 39 had just returned from a high-adventure trip the week before and had 5 boys attending but only 1 adult. We were excited to have them join us since many of the Troop 39 scouts were known to our Troop from their help and attendance at previous crossover ceremonies and last years summer camp.

Check in didn't go as smooth as hoped since several of the adult health forms were missing. In the resulting confusion, what appeared to be a blank health form was handed to one of the adults who filled out the reverse side before turning it over only to find that it belonged to a youth member. This caused great consternation on the part of the medical officer at later review when he wanted to know why a 15 year old scout had listed his next of kin as the wife of one of the assistant scoutmasters! All of us, with the exception of the medical officer, found the situation quite amusing.

Camp setup went extremely well. Unlike Arrowhead where we would walk into a completely setup camp, this year no tents were provided, and each group of scouts had to setup their own. It was amazing to see how quickly camp took shape. In fact we noted that the time required to have tents up and a weeks worth of gear stowed away was shorter than the setup for many of our regular weekend camp outs.

As soon as gear was stowed, everyone changed into swim trunks and headed up to meet with the medical team at the health office. Aside from the confusion mentioned above all went well. Leaving the health office it was down to the pool for our swim test.

Last year had been a challenge for many of our newer scouts, but this year there was nothing but smiles and high-fives as Scout after Scout was declared "swimmer" and received the coveted red-white and blue bars on their buddy tags. After the test it was back to camp and a leisurely finish to our camp setup, which included dining flys, flags and clotheslines.

Many of the first year campers, and most of last years new-joiners, were relieved to hear that unlike camp Arrowhead, there was no Crocodile that lived in the water near the boat dock, lurking, waiting to snatch an unwary scout as they loaded into and out of canoes and boats. Unfortunately, their relief quickly turned to apprehension as the older scouts informed them of the 4-8 ft. pike that lived in the lake and had been known to leave 3 inch gash marks on careless campers who dangled limbs and fingers into the water.

Since it was common knowledge that anyone taking canoeing or rowing merit badge had to intentionally swamp their craft, the existence of hungry pike as well as bovine sized flat head catfish that could inhale a grown man, caused a fair amount of concern to at least one camper who was heard to ask:

"... the three inch bites that those pike take...are they three inches wide or three inches deep?.. not that I'm scared or anything...".

It wasn't clear whether or not the answer he received set his mind at ease, because talk soon turned to the rumored restriction for water skiing merit badge that prohibited anyone less than 4 ft. tall from taking the class because, given the size of the pike, it was considered trolling.

Our first activity of the week was a flag ceremony and we gathered as a camp around the flag poles as flags were lowered and we prepared for supper.

Not having ever been to Cherokee before, we were quite surprised when the camp director simply said "camp dismissed for supper" and a horde of 154 boys quickly funneled themselves toward the two small doors of the cafeteria. Every member of our troop was haphazardly caught up in this flow, swept off and lost to view. Fortunately, as this human river bottle necked and was brought to a halt, kitchen staff managed to regulate entry based on campsite location; and when our campsite of Green Valley was called we were relieved to see all our members once again united as a group on entry to the cafeteria.

Supper was spaghetti and sauce and bets were placed on how many would carry the memories of this first meal with them daily on their class-A uniform until we had a chance to wash shirts at mid-week!

As we left the cafeteria we stepped into a swirling mass of candy, choc-o-taco's and pints of ice cream being ravenously devoured by wild-eyed scouts sitting on the steps of the trading post! It was a scene that would have brought fear to the hordes of Ghingas khan and tears to the eyes of a camp treasurer! It was soberingly clear that much of the money sent for summer camp would be gone by Monday noon.

While the rest of the troop went back to camp to get ready for opening campfire, the Scoutmaster and the SPL went off to their respective meetings. The program for campfire was great and appeared to be enjoyed by all. The Scoutmaster stayed behind to start filling out the 50(+) blue merit badge cards that he had been assured would be needed by instructors the next morning. It was quite a job and continued long into the night after scouts had returned to camp, completed letters home, and were shuffled off to bed at lights-out at 10:00.

Since many of the letters being written home were by first year campers, several of the adults attending graciously offered the benefit of their years of experience in composing camp letters in order to make sure that parents at home clearly understood what they all wanted to get across. Tony quickly became an expert in choosing the correct wording as this representative letter shows:

"Dear parent$,

$ummer camp i$ really $uper! The $un $hone $plendidly thi$ afternoon a$ we $uce$$fuly pa$$ed our $wim te$ts! $upper wa$ $peghetti and it $ure wa$ ta$ty! Thing$ $eem to be going $mothly, but you'll never gue$$ what I need more of..." Etc. Etc.

(As it turned out Tony's the message got across but the trading post declined to accept the Monopoly money that his Mom sent back!.)

As usual for the first night, it was hard to get the tents quiet with all the anticipation, but at last all was quiet and Troop 9 settled in for the night.

About 12:00 all the remaining adults headed for bed with the exception of Brad and Dan who probably would have stayed up talking all night had it not been for the brazen entrance to camp about 3:10 a.m. of a huge Raccoon. It was clear by his relaxed inspection of camp that he was the REAL resident here and any and everything that we might have brought into this area was clearly subject to his approval, including Brad and Dan!

When morning dawned we found that he had located a closed tin of Scout chocolate popcorn and had removed the lid and taken all contents as tribute.