Sam Houston Area Council B.S.A. Troop 505
Chartered to St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church
Houston, Texas

Saturday was a very fun-filled day with trips to the Huntsville Prison Museum and a tour of the big Sam Houston statue. Everyone had fun at the museum. We saw a model of a prison cell, Bonnie and Clyde's "thank you letter", and the famous "Old Sparky". Everyone was also amazed at the size of the Sam Houston statue. Did you know that it is the second tallest statue in Texas? Afterwards, everyone ate their lunch. Trevor L., Mr. Lauten, and Mr. Jallans went on a four mile hike to the dam and back. While that was happening, the rest of the troop was starting fire with knives, magnifying glass, and batteries. After dinner, Mr. Wolz read us the story, "To Build A Fire", just before we all went into our shelters for the night.

A typical day was Chapel at 7, flag ceremony and breakfast at 7:30, rest period before the three morning merit badge sessions, lunch at 12:30, two afternoon merit badge sessions, a free period, closing flags and dinner at 6:00 p.m., followed by the camp's evening program.

Monday:Trevor L. went to the health lodge to get eye drops for his eye because of a scratched cornea. Mr. Jallans and Jared J. did their swim test before breakfast. We had a conservation project for our free time that involved cutting back brush on the trails from the trading post to the archery range. There was a fire drill in the afternoon. In the evening, Jared J., Trevor L., Chris S., and Herby L. competed in the 3 on 3 basketball tournament, the Hobo patrol and Spartan patrol played Ultimate Frisbee, Gunther S. played 4-square, and there was a kickball game. Mr. Lauten, Mr. Jallans, and Mr. Campodonico teamed up with the other leaders in camp to soundly defeat the staff in volleyball. The pool and slide was open until 9 p.m

Tuesday: The troop attended Chapel with Brother Tom at 7 a.m. We had popsicles after lunch. We had an ice cream party after dinner. The adult leaders had a fajita dinner at the Founder's Lodge. Mr. Williford, Mr. Lauten, and Mr. Jallans competed in the archery and shotgun competitions. We played basketball and football in the evening. Trevor L. competed in the knot-off as a one man team. Later that night, Trevor L. competed in the SPL challenge against the staff. Herby L. viewed the stars in astronomy Merit badge class.

Wednesday:ASPL Jared J. and SPL Trevor L. and the Spartan Patrol performed the morning flag ceremony and the Hobo patrol retired the flags in the evening. The troop had a water balloon fight after lunch. The hobo patrol took a 5 mile hike with their FCT class. After receiving our new t-shirts, we drove to the Carthage Twin Cinema to watch either "Terminator: Salvation" or "Up". We bought ice cream at Sonic after the movie. When we returned to camp, we were told to go directly to the dining hall. All of the campers had to leave their campsites due to the severe storm that was heading in our direction. The movie "National Treasure" was being projected during the storm. We were able to return to our campsites at 1 a.m. We didn't get much sleep that night.

Thursday:The pool was closed because the filter needed maintenance. Thursday was a do little day because of the rain and tornado warnings during the day. Mr. Lauten won the PGA golf tournament. We competed in the cobbler cook-off with our blueberry spice Mexican surprise cobbler. Mr. Lauten gave William the spice, cumin, instead of cinnamon to add to the cobbler. It didn't win, but it still tasted delicious. Trace M. beat Gunther S. in the finals of the rock-paper-scissors contest. Trevor L. did a karate routine in the Mr. Pirtle contest, but was runner up to the scout with the very original drum solo. Mr. Lauten won the Oreo lick-off contest. We received a score of 101 at the campsite inspection.

Friday:The staff set up a safe swim area at the lakefront that enabled everyone to finish the swimming merit badge and lifesaving merit badge requirements. The morning was devoted to finishing merit badges. The Hobos Patrol and the Phoenix/Stealth/ Spartan Patrol formed two teams that competed in the Golden War Shield Races. We had to run from station to station carrying the rope we needed to burn at he last event. We shot arrows, identified leaves and turtles, drew and colored artwork, ate a PB&J sandwich, rowed canoes, and built a fire. At the closing campfire we had a chance to sit next to a Hannah Montana look-alike. The staff finished their Chigger-Star Trek skit, "I am just a camper" and "I am just a staffer" skits, Mr. Williford and Mr. L. received the Scoutmaster Merit Badge award, Troop 505 accepted the Honor Troop award, and we went to the OA call out ceremony. We held a kangaroo court back at camp. Mr. Swanson and Mr. Lauten supervised the troop shower, which was the first shower for many of the Troop 505 scouts.

Saturday:We all packed up our gear, ate breakfast at the dining hall, got our campsite inspected and we were on the road at 9:15 am. We were back at SVDP by 12:30 p.m.

Memories:A.J.'s, "Good morning GWP!" yell, huge horse flies, hornets, daddy long legs, spiders, chiggers, daily flag ceremonies with our sister troop at our campsite, clapping when a chair turned over in the dining hall, "What's behind door #1, 2, 3, or 4?", waiting for your category to come up to get seconds in the dining hall, Classic rock music at meals, touching elbows before meals, adult swim at 4th period, AC in the scoutmasters' lounge (lucky for them), table waiters, cleaning the latrine, fried chicken, 96 degree heat on Friday, adult leaders requirement conferences on their porches, "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, all day Sunday!", "Where's David?", Twig and Woden in aquatics, Miles, program director Reagan, Jose the cook, Brother Tom, and trading post's Sally.

Roster:Adults: Mr. Lauten, Mr. Williford, Mr. Campodonico, Mr. Jallans, Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Swanson. Scouts: Trevor L., Jared J., Chris S., David R., William M., Reed W., Alex K., Herby L., Nicholas B., P.J. C., Noah C., Trace M., Gunther S., Patrick S., and Matthew T.

The next morning we were up at 6 a.m., had a flag ceremony outside the dining hall, had an opening prayer, said Grace and ate a huge breakfast. The day's A.A.D. activities consisted of four class sessions led by the seminarians and four outdoor activities in which we played mushball, football, volleyball, and four square. We also had a general session and recited the rosary with Fr. Bill. The Pope Pius scouts had an all day discussion with Fr. Bill. The evening Mass was delayed by two hours because someone locked Fr. Bill's keys in his trunk with all his vestments.

On Friday evening, the scouts loaded their personal gear and the troop gear into the bed of Mr. Lauten's truck. We left the scout house at 7:00 P.M. and made our way for the 5 hour trip to Glen Rose Texas' Dinosaur Valley State Park. Everyone made it safely to the park at midnight. After circling the available camping areas numerous times, we finally found two camp sites together and set up camp. Lights out for the troop was at 2:00 A.M.

Saturday morning's weather was cool and clear, much the same for the entire weekend. We had to move our camp sites because we were not aware that we had camped in the reserved Girl Scout campsites. We were able to use one campsite for the entire troop and share the one table rather than use two sites that were pretty far apart. The adults set up an older heavy canvas, floorless tent. The Phoenix patrol had pop tarts and the Dutch oven patrol cooked up some good pancakes and sausage and brewed coffee as always. After breakfast, we had a flag ceremony that led into one of the four "retro" parts of campout. First, Mr. Wolz passed out copies of requirements from a 1960's BSA Scout Handbook. We compared those requirements for tenderfoot, second class, and first class with the current requirements in David R.'s modern day handbook. Many requirements were different: you could not earn merit badges until Star rank, no tenderfoot or second class scoutmaster conference requirement, and stalking and tracking as well signaling were required for first class. The second event was splitting a match with an axe. Gabe S. actually did this, and he split most of the logs for the campfire. At about 11:00 A.M., the scouts and the adults packed up their lunches and headed out for the dinosaur hike. The hike was very enjoyable for everyone. We all saw dinosaur tracks along the river bed. We made our way to the gift shop and the two dinosaur models, which was the stopping point of the hiking trail.

After lunch, we did part three of the retro campout which was called stalking the prey. Gabriel was the prey the scouts had to find. We attached a bottle of baby powder to his pants leg and gave him a 15 minute head start into the woods, leaving a small trail of the powder when he stepped. We were able to follow his trail until the powder steps disappeared. At one point we tracked him to the road and thought he might have gotten a ride with someone! We picked up his trail and found him when Mr. Holm asked, "Why is there a footprint in this ant pile?" and followed the direction of his shoe print to his hiding place in the woods. The fourth retro activity was a patrol lashings competition. The scouts made a trebuchet and bombarded the adult tent with tennis balls. The adults lashed a table for the stove. The competition was a tie: the scouts' project was the most fun while the adults' table was the most useful. Mr. Wolz showed us how to backsplice the end of ropes to keep them from fraying. We camped next to a girl's volleyball team and their volleyball often found its way into our camp site during their practices. The Dutch oven patrol made enough OWL stew and apple cobbler to feed not only their own members, but the rest of the troop as well.

After breakfast and cleanup at the campsite, we drove two hours to Corpus Christi and checked in at the Lexington dock. We were given three rules and their consequences: No running, no hands in pockets, and shirt tails always in. The punishments for breaking these rules were pushups or Sunday morning dance. We stowed our gear in the crew's quarters and had lunch aboard the carrier. We went a block away to the Texas Aquarium ($6 per scout), ate ice cream along the beach, and toured the carrier flight deck before meeting for general assembly. We saw the IMAX movie, Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag, which everyone liked. After dinner we were allowed to roam the entire ship. We used the buddy system to go on all of the self guided tours. The evening colors ceremony was by far the most patriotic, inspiring, and entertaining one I've ever experienced. We performed a small service project by helping set up the coffee service for the following morning. The 10 p.m. ghost stories that were told on tour 4 were about true ghosts that have actually been seen onboard. Taps was at 11 p.m. and reveille was at 6:45 a.m.

Reveille was blown at 6:30 A.M. The adult Dutch Oven patrol prepared the meals for the weekend so that the scouts could concentrate their efforts on the camporee events. Needless to say, we ate well all weekend. After the 9 o'clock flag ceremony, we finished our lashing project: a gateway for our troop banner. Acting SPL Trevor L. made a duty roster and the Spartans put yellow caution tape on all the guy lines. The Spartan patrol members Reed W., William M., Christopher S. and Eric B. competed in the beginner division. Juan and Gator A., Gabriel S., David R., Trevor L., and Andy H. formed the Phoenix patrol that competed in the intermediate division. There were ten events: Knot Tying, Orienteering, First Aid, Flag Etiquette, Leadership, Tent Pitching, Lashings, Fire Building, Height & Distance, and a nature scavenger hunt. After the long and tiring events were over, everyone had free time until the 5:30 P.M. Retirement of the Colors. During that time we made apple cobbler and chocolate cherry cobbler for the dessert contest, played football, got ready for campsite inspection, and played the card games B.S. and E.R.S.

The campfire had many funny skits. The "Is that you Hans?" skit was done well but the funniest was the "28 days" skit. The Folts brothers led the flag retirement ceremony. We retired the huge flag from atop the Arena Towers building in Sharpstown. We then walked in silence to the Order of the Arrow campfire for the tapping out ceremony and Brotherhood callout. Andy H. jumped about 3 feet in the air when the ceremony team picked him out and shouted, "Him!" David R., standing next to Andy, jumped even higher. It was hard to stand at attention at the call-out for so long because we had a lot of chili with beans for dinner earlier. Mr. Lauten, Trevor L. and Juan A. took part in the Brotherhood ceremony. Afterward we went back to camp and ate our cobblers around our own troop campfire. We used the big, heavy metal disk from the scout house for our fires.

At the evening campfire the M.C. Trevor L. presented the following awards:

• Woodcutter award for knocking off the most limbs: Graham W.L.
• Shotgun Award for hitting 2 birds: Mr. DeWitt
• Happiest to be there Award: Audley H.
• Biggest Slice: Mr. Heath
• Sportsmanship Award: John T.
• Fastest holes played: Mr. Lauten and Trevor L.
• Most Improved: Jonathan J.
• Longest Putt: Mr. Holm
• Longest Drive: Chris G.
• Lowest scores: Mr. Jallans and Jared J.
• Highest score and Happy Gilmore award: Aaron M.
• Luckiest shot : Andy H.
• Scout Spirit and Best dressed: Matthew R.
• Backpacking Award: Taylor C.
• Least number of clubs used: Alex D. and Taylor C.

On Saturday,with so many tours planned, the troop was up by 7:00 a.m. and the patrols all cooked a good breakfast. We were at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum at 9:00 a.m. There, we saw memorials of all of the Texas leaders, a dutch oven cooking demonstration, and a spinning wheel demonstration. Later, we went to the Huntsville Prison Museum, where we saw an electric chair called "Old Sparky" and the prison hall of fame. We had a sack lunch at noon at the park across the street. At 1:00 p.m. sharp, the assistant warden of the Huntsville Wynne Prison Unit, along with no less than ten guards at all times, gave us a tour of the prison. We went to the mattress factory, the license plate factory, barbed wire facility, prisoner-built chapel and we got to see a cell block and go in an actual cell. We learned about riot control measures, career opportunities, and were given prison license plates and stickers that were made at the prison. Special thanks go to Mr. Halbach and Mr. Jallans for organizing the tours.

• Sharpshooter Award (rifle): Peter McAughan
• Dead Eye Award (shotgun): Sam Burkett

While St. Vincent has sponsored a Boy Scout troop since the mid 1940's (by 1949 the men of the parish had built the original Boy Scout House using donated materials), interest in leadership waned in the early 1980's and the troop charter lapsed. In 1986 interest in Scouting increased and the troop was rechartered. Since then it has grown from 7 Scouts to its present membership of over 40 Scouts.

We are very proud of the fact that of the first 7 Scouts registered in 1986, five have attained the highest rank in Scouting, that of Eagle Scout. Since its first charter in the 1940's, the troop has produced nearly 80 Eagle Scouts.