Text 21375, 181 rader
Skriven 2006-01-08 12:34:14 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
     Kommentar till en text av Carol Shenkenberger
Ärende: Re: The Road to Disneyland
==================================
> WD> ... well, read "Part-III" if you're really interested...
 
> I will!
 
July 1972 ... So, what have we learned this far?
 
1. Never order beers in French in the English speaking part of Canada (this
   also translates in Ed's law "When in a bar, never trust any clergy")
2. When a scout-bus from Alabama breaks down in Salt Lake City it is OK to
   load some 20 kids and their equipment in the back of a U-Haul and drive
   them that way for the remainder of the day north into Montana. (700
   miles?)
3. It is a sobering experience when at 3am you get out of the wooden and
   sheltering A-frame (staff cabin) with a full-bladder to relieve yourself
   only to find out that in the pitch dark you have been peeing against the
   back of a very juvenile bear;
4. Swimming in water which usually is around 40F (and by the end of August
   sometimes even reaches 44F) has a funny effect on the male genitals. When
   asked in the morning "How cold is the water?" you could honestly keep your
   thumb and index-finger one quarter of an inch apart and say "This cold!".
   Everyone understood. I never quite grasped why kids wanted to take the
   mile swim in that...
5. It is OK to load 25 scouts, leaders and/or staff-members in the "Napi
   Wagon" and drive them around (This was a Dodge-van built for 8-9 people,
   also used to haul garbage out of camp and other duties)
 
And of course ...
 
6. "These boots are made for walking!".
 
When leaving Europe I wasn't exactly dressed for the cold, the wet and Montana,
I figured I was going on a sunny vacation, remember? So I had a pair of
relatively strong walking shoes with me but ... with a flat sole. Try that on
the paths of Glacier Park, some of them still covered with snow.
 
I had been going to Switzerland before, the Alps there can be rugged and rough.
We were always taught to take it slow, step by step because that was the way
the old bent-over Swiss farmer went a long way ...
 
Then during my first camping week during July of 1972 I was a Camp Commissioner
(meaning I had to look after the needs of one specific troop in camp, make sure
they were awake in the morning, made the meals on time, kept their campsite
clean, got the scouts to their MB-sessions, etc... which is a hell of a job
when you're on waterfront-staff 'coz that is full-time work). The scouting
group was from Choteau in Montana. I can't remember the number nor the names
but the sight of the scoutmaster will always stay with me. A fine man,
ex-Marine who believed in the physical build-up of the human body.
 
So we were taken by the Napi Wagon into Glacier Park early one morning to hike
up to Grinnell Glacier, one of the park's one day hiking destinations. I
trotted of in the lead of the group as I had been taught by the Swiss farmers,
with slow deliberate steps knowing for certain I would reach my target not too
tired and within a comfortable time frame ...
 
About 30 seconds later I was pulled out of my dreaming by the scoutmaster who
charged by me to set a pace which was OK I suppose for boot-camp but not for
10-11 yr old kids. Within minutes they were all out of breath and instead of
admiring the incredible landscape and nature scenes which were unfolding in
front of us they were mainly worried about where to put there foot next and
what their buddy in front of them were doing.
 
So eventually I started walking at my own speed taking up the rear of the
column and many of the kids understood they could walk slower with me and still
get there. It had been an extremely snowy winter however and the path towards
the glacier had not been cleared already, there was still avalanche-danger and
Park-staff were still clearing the path with explosives.
 
The scoutmaster didn't like that his target could not be reached and eventually
we were forced to turn around. I took the lead this time and stayed in the
lead.
 
It was a very sunny, very warm, day and when approaching the end of the trail
we took a bend and I put my foot down on something uncomfortable which quickly
slid away in the brushes so fast that only 3 or 4 saw it. It was a medium-sized
rattler, quite uncommon at such an elevation yet it was there. The whole thing
happened too fast to take a scare and my assumption was the animal probably was
more scared by us than we from it. The scoutmaster however said there could not
be any snakes in the Park and dissmissed the confirmation by his scouts as
"balloney" ... a meat-product of certain quality which hadn't enlarged my
verbal culture yet.
 
In the end of that week on Saturday the scouts left camp and I am not 100%
certain they had had the scouting-experience they paid for. The scoutmaster
mostly considered it pre-boot camp for the Marines.
 
When the camp commissioners were scored I got an "Average" while many others
got "excellent" ...
 
The week after that I got a group from Helena with 3 scoutmasters who wore
T-shirts reading "Rocking Chair Patrol" ... and life turned sunny.
 
When Thursday arrived, that was "hiking day", I told these guys "Let me take
your boys hiking and why don't you just stay here, relax, enjoy some fishing,
etc...".
 
We went again on the Grinnell hike and snow still wasn't cleared all the way,
but we took it at a much more leisurely pace. The weather was excellent, the
flowers colourful and the vistas grand. Everybody just had a great day.
 
When we got back to camp the scoutmasters had finished their fishing with 3
pike and a pile of trout. As it happened to be cook-out day as well (no kitchen
services) they cooked them plus other things on an open fire and we had an
incredible meal in the woods. There was story-telling, song-singing and games
... when retiring to my sleeping-bag late that evening I must have smelled
half-barbecued myself but heck ... what a great day.
 
Come Saturday I was rated "Excellent" and the whole staff cheered me.
 
The third week disaster struck ... the weather changed for the worse, it
started raining and got cold. On top of that the scout-troop I was assigned to
arrived without scoutmaster ... he "didn't feel like it". These guys were from
Cut Bank. The oldest kid, I think he wasn't a day over 13, started assuming the
leadership position and got something going. There were "provisional
scoutmaster" services for an extra fee but these guys couldn't afford it and
their folks were hours away by car. So we took 'm just like that and tried to
give them a good week despite the irresponsability of the adults that got them
there.
 
Napi had some well trodden paths and campsites but due to demand some new sites
had been put together. That's where these guys were ... basically a hill-side
with some less-steep portions (this inspired the 1976 new Montana scouting-exec
from back east, the famous mr. Hanawalt, to rename the camp as "a ghetto on a
hillside" ... but an A100-ghetto then that attracted groups from all over the
48 states and Canada).
 
These scouts one morning just partially slid down the hill, their sleeping-bags
became soaking wet so we needed to drive them on a daily basis into St.Mary to
run these through the dryers. Eventually they were allowed to camp-out in the
... dininghall.
 
On top of that, approximately July 20th, we took some wet snow ... talk about
an experience if all the serious gear you have has been borrowed from someone.
 
The week ended, no scoutmaster showed-up, we made attempts of salvaging what
was salvagable of their scouting-summer but it didn't look all that well. With
a sigh of relief on our part Saturday arrived and at least some parents
showed-up to collect their youngsters. Frustrated as they were they blamed
everyone except the one who needed blaming for not sticking with them: the
kitchen was average, the programme was average, the waterfront was average and
their commissioner average. We all knew it was unfair but if that was what it
took them to feel good again ... OK then!
 
Week-end was chore-time, maintenance until appr.4pm and then time-off until
noon-Sunday. That week-end we needed to relocate some outhouses which were
nearing the full-mark. 2 diggers were assigned to the job (or volunteered?) ...
Norm Brown and Jay Rolfe. I'll never forget... Jay was shovelling with the
biggest smile possibe to clear a new hole a few feet further and work was
progressing real well. He mentionned something like: "Jee, I thought this soil
would be a lot tougher but I'm slicing through it as if a hot knife through
melted butter ... until someone mentionned "Jay, judging from what you're
unearthing you are excavating the contents of a previous outhouse location
...". We had the best laugh ever ... at least that day.
 
When checking the mailbox I discovered mail had come-in from my California
pen-pall. She with her husband and friends had gone to Disneyland and now were
sending me some photographs with stories ... the desire to go became even
bigger though I knew it would be difficult ... time-wise, money wise. My permit
to stay as an exchange-scout was due to expire the end of September ... I
needed to return to New York to fly home and California wasn't in that
direction.
 
Money ... Over the whole summer (close to 3 months) I had US$560 to spend ($300
from home, $100 from camp, $160 refund of my plane-ticket). With that amount I
had to pay all my off-camp expenses from June 27th till September 17th ...
non-camp travel, non-camp meals, non-camp entertainment, overnight charges if
not with friends or relatives, etc... virtually impossible.
 
Possibly I might never see Disneyland at all.
 
To find out how the summer continued and whether or not I got to Disneyland in
California watch-out for the next sequel ... "Signs in the sky, the Rotary Club
and the Munich Olympic games".
 
You still want it?
 
Take care,
 
 \%/@rd 

--- IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA
 * Origin: "Leonard will be free" - http://www.leonardpeltier.org (2:292/854)