Below is the daily Journal from the Scouts during Summer Jamboree Camp 2005. it is not quite finished, but here is what we have.
Troop 19 went to the 2005 National Jamboree for one week in the summer. This is the journal of their experiences.
(The entries have been edited for grammar corrections and other related reasons so that the following entries will make some form of sense, not be too personal, and not be as repetitive.)
Day 1. Saturday 7-23-05
Today, we left First Baptist Activity Center at around 9:00 A.M. We all had gotten there at 8:00 A.M. All of the scouts were divided into two vans. The adults also divided themselves into the two vans except for Woody, who drove his truck that pulling our trailer.
At every one of the eight hours of the drive up, something bizarre happened. In the first hour, the driver of the vans took a wrong turn and spent 20 minutes trying to get back on track. On the second hour we went to a rest area where the vending machines gave out dollar coins for change. I could keep going on about the bizarre things, but I would soon run out of paper. We eventually arrived at a MacDonald’s restaurant to eat lunch. After eight hours of driving, we finally arrived at a navy base past the jamboree. This is where we set up camp. After a couple hours of setting up and settling down into our week-long home, Woody decided to have dinner at Ledo’s Pizza. After dinner, we all went back to camp and fell asleep, eager to start the next day.
Journal entry by Franklin Gibson.
Day 2. Sunday 7-24-05
Today, everybody woke up tired and grumpy. We had a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and leftover pizza. The troop couldn’t finish the pizza, so we had to throw it all out, which broke everybody’s heart. The troop then took a shower and got in the van to go to the Washington National’s Baseball Game. We had a fun time on the trip to the game. We went through Washington D.C. and got to see glimpses of the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument. On the other hand, the game itself was BORING. The game was very slow and lasted through 16 innings. The only highlight was when Nick Fedora (Senior Patrol Leader) and Logan Swan (Assistant Senior Patrol Leader) bought snow cones for themselves. When they finished the cones, their lips, teeth, and tongues (but not their chin or clothing) were “painted” in the color of the snow cone flavor. EVERYBODY took a picture of them next to each other, focusing on their new “paint job”. It was quite a sight to see.
After four long hours after the game started, the troop finally left the stadium. We arrived at the campsite to eat dinner. It was a delicious dinner of spaghetti. After dinner, the Troop played a game of Capture the Flag. Unfortunately, there were only three or four good players and the game wasn’t really fun. After CTR, we went to bed.
Journal Entry by Timothy Corl.
Day 3. Monday 7-25-05
Today, Nick and Logan to woke everybody up because it was raining cats and dogs. When everybody woke up, we set up a new canopy so the scouts don’t have to go into the cooking area to stay dry. Luckily, the cooks did their job while we set up our canopy, so we ate right after the new canopy was fully set. Our breakfast consisted of sausages and French toast. After breakfast, the rain finally stopped. We took this short “rain break” to take a shower, brush our teeth, etc. We finally loaded up the vans at 10:00 A.M. The drive to Fort A.P. Hill lasted for two hours. When we arrived, Woody found out that this day was for check in only. However, we still got to ride around a little bit. Eventually, we stopped for lunch. We had sandwiches that we made before we left. After lunch, we pretty much left A. P. Hill. Afterwards, we ate a dinner of soup and then went to bed. Before we went to bed, however, we wrote a letter to the mysterious Mr. Bob who has been sponsoring us for many years. It was because of him that we were able to make it to
Journal Entry by Matthew Yap
Day 4. Tuesday 7-26-05
Today, we woke up surprised that it hasn’t rained through the night because we constantly heard thunder the night before. We cooked and ate a breakfast which consisted of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Shortly after finishing our breakfast and taking showers, we set out for the Laundromat with a pile of dirty clothes in the back of the vans. We had an uneventful trip to the Laundromat, but the time in the Laundromat was a different story. We watch the news (on TV) and found out that four adults got electrocuted at the Jamboree. After the story was a long silence. We were all shocked by this report. After our clothes were completely clean and dry, we drove to Wal-mart. During the ride, we listened to the radio and heard once again about the deaths in the Jamboree. We also heard that the country of Turkey was hit by terrorism. Nothing else about the attack could be confirmed. At Wal-mart, we took a five minute bathroom break while the adults went to buy more supplies. After Wal-mart, we went back to camp, where we played a game of Frisbee. Afterwards we ate dinner. We had the best pork chops that ever existed in the world of men. I loved the pork so much! Later, Commander T. J. Block came to the camp to talk to us about military-related things. After the Commander left, we went to bed.
Journal Entry by Derrick Lund
Day 5. Wednesday 7-27-05
This morning we all woke up to cereal. After Breakfast, we got into the vans to go to the Aero plane Museum. The museum had exhibits about the old, present, and new planes that have been, or will be parts of history. There was also an outdoor section part of the museum where many prototype aero planes were displayed. There was one test helicopter displayed that was the biggest copter I have ever seen in my life. After the museum, we went to the Naval Test Flight School. We took a tour of the hangars in the area. For some reason though, all of the planes were painted orange and white, the colors of the Coast Guard. Oh well, the school was a pretty cool place. Later in the tour, we saw a large shadowbox with an American Flag named Charlie who actually traveled a total of 5.3 million miles. Shortly after leaving the school and returning to camp, we went for a trip to the local pool. We spent more than 3 hours in the pool. Later, coming back from the pool, we saw a massive thundercloud coming right at the camp. Luckily, the only thing we got from the storm is a small shower and the most spectacular light show ever naturally created. After the “show”, we went to bed.
Journal entry by Logan Swan
Day 6. Thursday 7-28-05
Today, we all woke up to a breakfast of cereal. We quickly moved to the vans after breakfast because Woody wanted to go to the National Jamboree as fast as we can so we can have more time there. After a 2 hour drive, we got to the Jamboree. Upon arrival, the troop broke off into separate groups. My group consisted of me, Logan, Mason, Illias, and Mrs. Fedora. My group went to an “Army Adventure” area. At each section of the area, there was a place to get a stamp. If you got all of the stamps, then you got this special patch. We got about half of our stamps before we headed out back to the vans to eat lunch. We had a sandwich and chips. After the lunch we took a bathroom break and went back to finish our stamps. In the Army area we went into a large tent that was hosted by the National Guard. They gave out a lot of merchandise, including a computer game. The Army seems desperate for recruits. By the time we got to the final stamped area, that area was closed so none of us got our patch.
Also, there were many scouts at the jamboree (approx. 43,000 to be exact) that had patches to trade. At the end of our day, the troop traded their patches for ones as far away as Hawaii, Alaska, and California. Logan even got a patch from a North Korean and a Chinese person. When we got back to camp, we had dinner and went to bed, tired from this day.
Journal Entry by Nick Fedora
Day 7. Friday 7-28-05
Today, we had a small breakfast of cereal. Shortly afterwards, we left to go to the Naval Yard in Washington D.C. Later on, we stopped for lunch at a Macdonald’s. At the restaurant, there were a lot of little kids from a day camp. This event caused a cause and effect chain, which made the restaurant very noisy. After lunch, we got to the Naval Yard, where we went into a museum filled with information about the history of the Navy. There were even displays of WW2 guns like the M1 Carbine, M1 Garand, and the Thompson SMG. After the Museum, we went to the Marines 8th and I barracks, which was 3 miles from the White House. We ate dinner with the marines there. We ate some of the best food this week there. After dinner, we went to see the famous 8th and I Parade, where two special Marching Bands (hand selected by the President and the Commandant of the Marines) played for the audience. They REALLY sounded good. After the bands, the 8th and I barracks came out to show drill to the audience. Their movements sounded like one loud “smack” or “pat”. Then, there was a special drill team that executed over 100 commands in unison without saying a word. It was an incredible experience. Afterwards, we went to camp and went to bed.
Journal Entry by Mason Canady
Day 8, The Last Day. Saturday 7-29-05
On this last day, we woke up to a breakfast of cereal. After breakfast, we started the breakdown and pack-up of our tents and gear. After one or two hours, we loaded up the vans for our last look of our camp behind us, and an 8 hour drive ahead of us.(more could have been explained in this day, but the original entry did not talk about anything about the drive home. Also, the editor left on Friday.)
Journal Entry by Brendar Carr