Local Scouts Participate In National Event

Members of Osawatomie Boy Scout troop 3099 Jerrod Bechtel, Brandon Guilfoyle, and Tanner Schwalm hold up a 100 Anniversary of Boy Scouts neckerchief. The boys returned recently from having attended the jamboree at Camp A.P. Hill in Virginia.

Although they spent hours cooped up on a bus to get to the East Coast, where they lived among well over 40,000 other individuals and had to camp outside in the heat of Virginia, three Osawatomie Boy Scouts recently returned from what they realize was the trip of a lifetime.
Brandon Guilfoyle had patches he traded to show of his adventure and each boy, also including Jerrod Bechtel and Tanner Schwalm, had stories to share about their experience at the National Boy Scout Jamboree they attended at Camp A.P. Hill near Fredericksburg, north of Richmond. Instead of the expected 43,000 scouts, the actual number they said was 45,000. “And that number rose to 100,000 people the last night for the arena show called The Shining Light Across America,” said Schwalm.
They explained how going to this jamboree was more than just another national jamboree held every four years; this was the 100th year of Boy Scouts. “The 100th made it extra special, and now we can go back to future jamborees as staff or leaders,” Tanner said about an adventure that began on July 21 and ended on Aug. 5.
On July 21, the boys, members of Osawatomie Boy Scout Troop 106 left the Blue Ridge Bank in Lee’s Summit, Mo., on an Arrow Stage Lines charter bus with Boy Scouts and leaders from Raymore, Liberty, and Lee’s Summit. “There were 39 of us including the adults,” Tanner said.
Tanner’s father, Wayne Schwalm, drove the boys to Independence the evening of July 20, where they stayed in a Comfort Inn. “They had to meet the bus at 6 a.m. I wanted them to have breakfast and be rested. The hotel was more than helpful by opening their breakfast bar early for the boys,” Schwalm said.
Crossing Missouri, the bus developed engine problems. “We had to trade buses in St. Louis. The one we started on just didn’t have any get up and go,” Tanner said. But, once on the new bus they toured the St. Louis Arch and ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory, Brandon said.
The bus ride with so many boys on one bus could be uncomfortable at times. “Cut throat and no leg room,” Tanner said, as Jerrod and Brandon agreed. “But at least the bus stopped every so often for bathroom and stretching breaks,” Brandon said. Tours along the way included the Lincoln home in Springfield, Ill., U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park.
Gettysburg’s wide expanse of fields and statues, indicating where battles raged and men died, affected the boys. “It was cool to stand where people stood fighting and died. It really made you think,” Jerrod said.
Once they arrived in Washington, D.C., the scouts spent the night at the National 4-H Center, where the power had been knocked out by a storm. “And when we went to tour Mount Vernon, thunder and lightening knocked the power out while we were in the house,” Jerrod said.
At the 4-H Center, they said they stayed in dorm rooms, but with the power out, it was very hot. “It was like we were camping out but in bunk beds, but with no air moving, no drafts, so we had to sleep on the floor where it was cooler,” Jerrod said. “But the cold showers were awesome.”  Tanner agreed with Jerrod. “Inside was awful but outside was awesome because the air was moving. Virginia was just like Kansas. Hot and humid,” Tanner said.
Each boy really liked the Smithsonian Museum and said it was hard to list all of what they saw in Washington besides the White House and Lincoln Memorial. “We saw five different Smithsonian buildings. The Air and Space building was really cool,” Brandon said.
For the jamboree, the boys became members of troop 1134, lived in tents set up around a cooking area, much like they were familiar with at Camp Naisch near Bonner Springs, or the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation, near Osceola, Mo. “Our meals came to us already cooked. Nothing frozen, nothing raw and using egg constitute and not real eggs. This way, there was no liability and nobody could get sick,” Jerrod said. But Tanner said, “The lunches were disgusting.”
Whether a meal was good or not, they said plenty of snack places like Dunkin’ Donuts and concession stands with French fries, jerky, and ice cream available.
Brandon rattled off all the fun activities they enjoyed. “Shot gun, fishing, scuba diving, snorkeling, climbing, rappelling, a bike-a-thon using BMX bicycles and a BMX course,” Brandon said.  Jerrod said the BMX course was not what someone would think. “It was more like a round track with a few bumps and not so many jumps and turns,” Jerrod said.
The climbing wall, Jerrod said, is used by the Army as are the obstacle course and the shot gun range. “To get enough climbing walls for this many scouts,” Jerrod said, “they had to bring in rent-a-walls.”
One day, while scouts throughout the jamboree site were busy in merit badge classes or activities, a microburst hit. Brandon said he was eating lunch and Jerrod and Tanner were working on merit badges. “Tents were flattened all over the place. Tents in one camp were completely flattened, but another troop nearby, who happened to be in their camp, put them back up,” Brandon said. Jerrod said he and Tanner were working on their badge work in a huge tent, when the flaps began to blow and the wind and rain came in. “But the tent stayed up,” Jerrod said.
Entertainment during the televised Shining Light of America program on July 31 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Boy Scouts included bands like Switchfoot and a Disney Channel band. Michael Rowe, host of the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs show, shared his own memories of Boy Scouts for what was an international audience.
Michael Rowe talked about his first minutes in Boy Scouts, Brandon said. At his first meeting, they were playing games where he got a bloody nose.  Rowe said you could get hurt and banged up. And muddy. He wasn’t sure if he was going to come back to the next meeting, but he did. Rowe said, “I thought scouting was supposed to be good, clean fun”, Tanner reported.
Instead of the frequent stops from Kansas City to the jamboree, the trip home, they said was, “One straight shot back.” It did seem slower going through the mountains. “We chugged up hill in West Virginia,” Brandon said, and my ears popped but Jerrod’s wouldn’t.”
Jerrod had developed a sinus infection while in camp, but he said he still managed to attend all the functions. “They gave me some Sudafed, but I kind of moved in slow motion and still did on the bus coming home,” Jerrod said.
They were ready to get home. “After 15 days together with so many boys, we really wanted to get home,” Tanner said.
Brandon spent his time at the jamboree collecting and trading patches with boys from around the United States. Each of the Osawatomie scouts came home with a 100-year neckerchief and their memories. About the trip overall, Brandon summed it up when he said, “Just looking out the bus window and seeing all the kinds of sites along the way, this I’ll remember.”
For more pictures and commentary about the 2010 National Boy Scout Jamboree and the trip the three Osawatomie scouts made, visit the Facebook page Tanner started at Troop 1134 HOAC.

Short URL: http://osawatominews.com/?p=104

Posted by admin on Aug 20 2010. Filed under News and Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry