Well, Here We Go

It all began as a wild hair idea... a couple of buddies sitting around talking about "what if?"

Well, the truth be told, the story really began back in 1981 at Camp John J. Barnhardt, close to Badin, NC, when I saw "Follow Me, Boys" during my first year at summer camp. I knew then that I wanted to be a Scoutmaster one day when I grew up. I took a run at it for the first time right out of college. It didn't go too well. I did manage to get a group of boys to go to summer camp, but couldn't get them to show up for meetings without me going and reminding them that we had one. So, unfortunately, I didn't continue on at that time.

Fast forward 18 years. It is now the 100th anniversary of Boy Scouting in America and I wanted to go see a campfire at Camp Barnhardt, figuring that it would be something special since it was the 100th anniversary etc. Various things had kept me from going through the summer, but I had a weekend come open and decided to go. When I began checking I discovered that that very night was the last possible opportunity to make it to a campfire that season. So I went.

However, in the process I spoke with one of the district Scouting executives and we got to talking about the condition of one of the troops close by my house. It sounded like things were pretty rough and that got the wheels of my mind turning.

I pondered things for a couple of weeks and then broached the subject with my good friend, Brad. "What do you think about helping out a Scout troop?" He liked the idea. His wife approved the idea. We began planning, made a few phone calls, and WHAM! We're Scoutmasters.

The purpose of this blog is to give us an outlet to record some of our experiences, challenges, joys, ideas, and solutions along the way in this wonderful adventure known as Scouting. So, here we go! Follow me, boys!