Troop 77

The Boy Scouts of America is a wonderful organization. I really enjoyed my time in the Boy Scouts and have just touched on the surface of my experiences with this story.

Troop 77

 

When I was 11 years old, I joined Boy Scout Troop 77 in Phillips, Texas. Paul was our Scout Master and we had several assistant Scout Leaders, one of which was my Uncle Harold. We met at 7 PM in the basement of the baptist church every Monday night to complete activities and to plan our outings. Every summer we went to our Regional scout camp called Camp Kiowa north and west of Canadian, Texas for two weeks of camping out. There was a beautiful lake there which we fished, swam, and canoed in almost daily. The best part for me was the canoe rides on the lake with no adult accompanying us. It kind of made us feel like we were growing up. They had a chow hall where we took our meals. I don’t remember doing KP so I guess they hired people to do that. The new guys always got to go on a snipe hunt their first time at camp. They would take the new scout into woods looking for Snipes at night and then take all the flashlights and run away leaving him to find his own way back to camp alone in the dark. I can’t recall permanently losing any scouts as a result.

Enjoying canoeing  at the summer Boy Scout camp.

 

On one occasion, they had a fishing contest which I entered. I got lucky and caught a 3 pound bass on a top water plug and won the prizes for the longest fish and the heaviest fish. I can’t remember what the prizes were, so they must not have been too good.

 

On another occasion, they had a turtle race. All you had to do was find a turtle and get him to the race area by noon. I looked high and low and finally found a turtle about 8 inches in diameter and took him back to our camp and painted “Turd…Racing for Troop 77″ on his back. They put all the turtles under a wash tub and drew a 12 foot circle around the tub in the dirt. The first turtle to reach the circle was the winner. They lifted off the tub and the little turtles started scrambling, but old Turd just stood there. All of the sudden he realized he was free and he took off with blazing speed trampling the little guys and he made it to circle first with us all screaming …”way to go Turd.” The prize was a plaque that said winner of the camp Kiowa turtle race which went into the Troop archives. We hauled old Turd back where I found him and let him go.

 

A year or so later we took a two week camping trip to Philmont Scout Camp near Cimarron, New Mexico, on the Cimarron River. We set up our tents and began to enjoy the beautiful scenery and scout activities. The river was ice cold and full of trout. The fisherman in the troop caught several messes of trout which the troop leaders cooked for everyone. There was this one scout named Larry that tried very hard to catch a trout but all he could catch was suckers. The scout leaders felt sorry for him so they fried him up a couple of suckers which Larry said was the best tasting fish he ever had. My uncle Harold had brought his family with him which included his son scouts Ricky and Scott, his daughter Kristi, and his wife Bueldine. Scott had been kind of sick at his stomach and let a wet fart. All his underwear were dirty so his mother had to put a pair of Kristi’s panties on him. Well Kristi had seen all of this so she promptly went over to the area where all the scouts were and told everyone Scott was wearing her panties. When Scott came back out, the teasing started and he was fighting mad. They had to keep Kristi under protective custody for a couple of days until it all blew over. We all took baths in the icy river. A bunch of us would get a bar of soap and a towel, head down to the river, strip buck naked, and shiver while we bathed. One time I thought I caught a glimpse of Kristi peeking at us through the bushes, but I’m not sure.

 The entrance to the Philmont  Scout Camp near Cimarron, New Mexico

 

 

My cousins, Scott, Kristi, and Ricky in their early years. Lovely and handsome children for sure.

 

 

 

We enjoyed a lot of other activities while we were at Philmont Boy Scout camp which was a wonderful experience for a young man. I would encourage all boys to enjoy the friendships fellowships, and the experiences gained in the Boy Scout organization

Thanks for reading Troop 77,

Hawg Jaw Bill