Early morning here on the “Back porch”, not my usual time. A lot of things have changed the last few months but the porch is the only place I can ponder in peace. Remember the Boy Scouts before they “woke” up. All those silly notions about God and Country and being prepared? I was one of those silly kids that loved it then and hate the loss of such for so many of our kids these days. One thing that has changed for sure is my memory. I am a bit long in the tooth these days but the rules of “to ponder” allow me some room…so join me in this weeks ponder. 

Taos, New Mexico and a little northeast of that… the Village of  Questa, New Mexico. Now that for a boy of 16 was an adventure few others could have. Actually, it was myself and about 29 others, all Boy Scouts and leaders included, up from Amarillo Texas to camp in the mountains of New Mexico. My time in the Scouts was about to come to a close. I had gained the rank of a First Class scout and had earned the Order of The Arrow, I add this information for those who would have no idea of what I am talking about.

The Order of the Arrow (OA), previously known as Wimachtendienk Wingolauchsik Witahemui (WWW) is the honor society of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA),^[4] composed of Scouts and Scouters who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives as elected by their peers. Started as a Camp Fraternity by E. Urner Goodman, with the assistance of Carroll A. Edson, in 1915, its goal was to reinforce the Scout Oath and the Scout Law. Started without approval of Boy Scouts of America (BSA), it became an “Official Experiment” of the Scouting organization. In 1948, following an extensive review, it officially became a program of Boy Scouts of America. (Wikipedia)

As best I can remember the drive was a little over 200 miles and we left early in the morning and got to Questa in a little under five hours. We did stop and visit the Pueblo’s outside of Toas NM.

I do remember that at that time we actually drove out of Questa on a dirt road and when that ended we packed up our personals and camp gear and trekked up into the mountains.

 

Having spent some time camping in Palo Duro Canyon I did fairly well on the trail up and into the mountains. But we were all tired and it was getting dark and we set up camp as quickly as possible. Being a Senior Scout I had two Patrols assigned to me to keep up with. I think there were two other Senior Scouts with us. We quickly half dug a latrine and I remember staking a rope from the perimeter of the camp to the latrine itself. The instructions were very plain…at night use a flashlight and follow the rope to the latrine. Like all things sometimes the best laid plans of men and mice don’t always work…I will leave it at that and your imagination. One of the patrols I was assigned to had breakfast duty that first morning and we decided to get a jump start on the morning by mixing the pancake batter before we got into the our tents. Somebody had either read or seen a mountain man movie and we put the lid on the mix pot tied it down and then attached a rope to the top of it and hoisted the mix pot, using a tree limb to pull it a few feet up off the ground. Well, again that “best Plan” thing bit us. The pancake batter froze, breakfast was a nightmare and we had the pancakes for lunch. Well there were lots of adventures in the mountains and memories to take home but the Ponder here is is this… Do I kinda wish I was a Boy Scout one more time or am I sad to see a better time fade away? 

Kurt

Kurt