I tried to be there. I didn't get back from the hills until about 1, though, and by the time I had the scouts home and stuff unpacked, it was too late.
Too bad, too. I had a good story to tell. Not related to firearms at all, much less OC, but still good. What the heck, I'll tell it here.
I'm the Varsity Coach and the Varsity Scout program is, ideally, supposed to be organized and led by the boys themselves with the adult leaders in a "coaching" role. In practice, that's pretty hard because the kids are rarely very good at running their program, and the adults tend to step in to fix things so activities run smoothly, etc.
I've been convinced by the district that if we don't let the boys run their own programs, we're doing them a real disservice. We need to give them the opportunity to learn how to organize, plan and lead. Further, the district representative pointed out that it's not only okay to let them fail (safely, of course), it's the sometimes the best way for them to learn.
So, this was our first campout planned and executed entirely by the boys, with the adults along for the ride and just focused on making sure no one got hurt. Needless to say, we ate a cold dinner well after dark and they all froze all night (we made sure that no one was in danger of hypothermia). The best part was breakfast.
They had planned a breakfast of waffles and eggs. Yes, waffles.
Google tells me that there are non-electric waffle irons, including some that can be used over a campfire, but I've never seen one and I assumed they were bringing Eggo waffles, or similar. Nope, they brought a tupperware container full of batter.
So, they pulled out this semi-frozen container of batter and realized they had no way to turn it into waffles. Being resourceful, they immediately decided they could cook it into pancakes with a skillet or griddle. If only they had a skillet or a griddle.
I decided to relent and offered the griddle I had in my truck, but they not only didn't bring a spatula, they didn't bring any utensils other than plastic spoons. They decided they could maybe use a pocketknife as a spatula, but then realized they had no butter, grease, etc. to put on the griddle to keep the pancakes and eggs from sticking, no condiments of any sort other than a wholly inadequate supply of syrup and no plates to eat on even if they could cook their food (my son had a mess kit, but he was the only one).
Ultimately, we broke camp early and went home because they had no breakfast.
Fortunately, the scouts did have a really good time in spite of the breakfast fiasco, and I anticipate a good post-mortem discussion during our meeting on Tuesday. I also fully expect that for next month's campout, they'll appreciate the fact that cooking and eating tools are both important and
don't just appear by magic. You have to bring them, and that means you have to think beforehand about what you might need, and why.
