Dear Mom and Dad,
I’m at camp!!! It seems like this morning was a year ago. I know I cried a little before we left, but there is no need to worry about me anymore! I’m doing fine in the land of the rising and falling waters (that’s what “Ho Non Wah” means).
I hope you were proud of me for reading in the church this morning. I felt like a grown-up. I think you had left before we got our Rush’s t-shirts. They are awesome!
I got to ride on the bus all the way from Spartanburg. Mom, I think some of the grown-ups drive even faster than you! When we got to Rush’s, I ran pretty fast so that I wouldn’t be at the back of the line, but I still got behind a lot of the guys. You wouldn’t believe how happy the people behind the counter were when they saw our t-shirts. I bet they all wished they had one, too. One of the older scouts told me that Mr. Gage has been going to Rush’s with Troop 1 for almost 40 years!
I had a double cheeseburger, french fries, an Oreo milkshake, and a really big Coke. Did you know that Rush’s sells clam chowder? Grandma might want to try that sometime.
After lunch, Mr. Gage collected all our t-shirts and put them in a giant garbage bag because we are going to wear them again later in the week. I know that we only wore them for about two hours, but the bus wasn’t air conditioned, so I’m thinking those shirts aren’t going to smell so good after a few days.
When we made it to camp, our guide took us to the dining hall and the health lodge. In the dining hall, the cook (we call him “Sarge”) told us how we should wait tables and how we should clean up when we are done. Mr. Gage and Mr. Satterfield had made seating charts for each table and a chart that tells us who the waiter is for each meal.
We waited under a big tree before we got checked in the health lodge. After Mr. Howard decided that we were ok, we each got a wristband that we have to wear all week. I’m not sure what that’s for… but I guess it helps the staff know that we aren’t sick with the plague. The wristbands are red, but the older scouts told me that the color changes every year.
I’m in an Adirondack (I don’t really know how to spell that, so I’m hoping you can figure it out) with five other guys who crossed over with me. Our Adirondack is called the “Frido Bandido Patrol.” There was a giant dirt-dobber nest in our cabin, but Mr. Satterfield took care of it for us. I think I’m going to be fine sleeping there, especially with my mosquito net.
Lots of boys went to the Trading Post as soon as we unpacked and spent tons of money. I was good and only bought an ice cream sandwich, so you don’t need to send me any more money… yet.
There was a little bit of excitement in camp before supper, and that is one of the reasons why this letter is so late tonight. One of the older scouts (I promised him I would not put his name in my letter home) got stung by SEVEN yellow jackets (I promise I am not exaggerating… we counted them). He was super brave, he didn’t say any bad words, and he didn’t even cry. But after taking a little Benadryl in the health lodge, his started swelling up all over the place, so he had to go the emergency room right as supper was starting. Mom and Dad, I promise it wasn’t me. You know that Mr. Satterfield would have called you if I had to go to the hospital because nobody would have treated me without your credit card number.
It’s funny, but I hardly remember anything about supper. Dr. Dunbar just reminded me that we had Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, a roll, and iced-tea. There was a salad bar, but I didn’t really feel like eating a salad. I figured that since you are what you eat, and since I had a milkshake at Rush’s and an ice cream sandwich at camp… and since those cows had already eaten a lot of grass… I had eaten enough vegetables for the day.
After supper, a lot of the older kids took showers. Not me. Everybody tells me that that I have to watch out for the “Ho Non Waddle” – but I know that wouldn’t ever happen to me. I figure that I’m going to sweat so much every day that it’s pretty much the same as a shower. I’ve got to be washing all that dirt off naturally.
We played some cards after supper and there was a lot of frisbee throwing around camp. We are going to beat all the other troops AND the counselors this year in Ultimate Frisbee.
It’s after 11pm, and I need to go play I need to get some sleep.
I’ll send lots of pictures tomorrow.
I love you both,
Your son the Boy Scout
P.S. – The boy with the yellow jacket bites just got back to camp and he’s going to be ok. They gave him some shots at the hospital and a lot of medicine to talk over the next few days, but he’s going to go to all of his classes.
P.P.S. – Did you know that Mr. Gage, Mr. Satterfield, Dr. Dunbar, Mr. Montgomery, and Troop 2’s leader are all related to Dr. Lawton? That’s crazy!