Last week I mentioned that I had never gone away to camp,
but I did, however, have a very memorable two week experience traveling cross
country to what was essentially a sleepaway camp.
When
I was 13 my Girl Scout troop #123 held several fund raisers so we could raise
enough money to travel out to Wyoming to a sleepy little town called Ten Sleep
where there was a Girl Scout camp we wanted to attend (there may or may not
have been a jamboree?).
I
don’t remember most of the fundraisers, but one that does stick in my mind is
making chocolate candy to sell at Easter. I remember painting the molds with
one color chocolate, then melting milk, dark, and white chocolate disks to pour
into the molds. Anyone who knows me knows
chocolate is my favorite sweet, so I definitely enjoyed this activity.
Eventually we raised enough money to fund our trip, so we
packed up the two campers/caravans being driven by husband (parent) volunteers,
Mr. McIntosh and Mr. Cross. Mrs. McIntosh was our leader, being accompanied by Pam
Hunt, our assistant leader. According to the journal I kept, there were 11 of
us girls who were split between the two vehicles, occasionally switching back
and forth I imagine.
In order to make it out there in plenty of time for the
jamboree, there were often long days on the road (when it’s much preferable to
be a passenger and not the driver!), and sometimes part of the night. I
remember spending more than one evening sleeping at a truck stop. I also remember the lack of air conditioning (not
that I had that at home either) making sleeping more than a little difficult.
To pass the time some of us read and then shared our books.
I remember one of the books being passed around was a V. C. Andrews book, and
another was possibly a vampire story (?), though that was long before the
Twilight series came along. According to a June 25, 1983 journal entry, “So far
I’ve read three books. I’m starting a fourth.” (this was only 3 days into the
journey)
I remember being slightly annoyed by the less than gentle
treatment of my books by my fellow scouts. “You’re bending the cover back! You’ll
break the spine!” Yeah, I was a pretty whiny teenager. This is also why I’m not
in the habit of loaning out books today.
It seems like the most fun activity along the way, besides
visiting numerous tourist sites (more about in a minute), was evenings spent at
RV parks where we had access to a pool. Even better if there were boys there!
My first journal entry says, “We met this nice man, Gordon E. and a cute kid,
Danny. Robyn and friends tried to dunk him. If you ask me, I think he enjoyed
it.” We were at that perfect age where boys were starting to become interesting,
at least some of the time. Other times, maybe not so much.
July 8, 1983: “Today at the pool there were 5 boys who were
very immature. They got
everybody wet, and they dunked Natalie, splashed and spit on everyone, threw my
tong (flip-flop), pushed Cathy in, and used vulgar language.” (oh my!)
Apparently we arrived in Wyoming after five days on the road
and two time changes. “We saw the Rocky Mountains with snow on them.” (see photos above). I think that was probably my
first time seeing snow out of season, so I was utterly fascinated by that. As a prank, the husbands spelled out (using rocks) the name and phone # (minus the area code) of their secretary, Carol.
Ten Sleep was an American Indian rest stop, so called because it was 10 days' travel, or “10 sleeps,” from Fort Laramie (southeast).
The Girl Scout National Center West was located just
outside Ten Sleep, Wyoming, among the Big Horn Mountains,[1]
near the entrance to Ten Sleep Canyon.[2]
A portion of the center was one of the largest encampments in the world at
15,400 acres (62 km2) (14,600 acres (59 km2)
also reported) of rugged wilderness near the entrance to Ten
Sleep Canyon near the Bighorn National Forest.[3][4]
640 acres (2.6 km2) of those acres were donated by the United
States government.[5]
The single largest land acquisition in Girl Scouts of the USA history, the center
was purchased in 1968. Girl Scouts and Girl Guides from all over the world engaged
in outdoor activities including horseback
riding, backpacking, fishing, orienteering,
exploring Native American pictographs
and study of geology.
Because of high maintenance costs, the center was closed in
1989; the land was sold in 1991.
In my journal entry from our day of arrival, I wrote that I
got a letter from grandpa and grandma. In it was this:
(this eventually came in handy, but more about that later…)
Tues. June 28, 1983
“I took Coil Basketry and Sand painting. It was hot! I had
fun! I also took sunset inspirations drawing, writing, taking pictures.”
June 29, 1983
"I took Write About It. It was at 9:30 at the Big A. It was
an Interest project where you had to write something. I got it completed and my
sunset poem and picture is going to be published in the staff’s newspaper and
mailed to me. Mandy’s is too.
I also took Singing Bubbles where you sang while we were
making soap.
I also made a ring in Indian beading."
I definitely remember the sunset activity and was excited
when they told me about publishing it (I never heard back about this).
June 30, 1983
Apparently we had a big storm. Being at a higher altitude as I seem to recall, storms seemed somewhat scarier, though that might have had more to do with the fact that we were on top of a cliff of sorts.
"About 12:00p.m. it started raining and the wind was blowing real strong! 2 tents fell down. One of our stakes fell out. We were real scared! We all held hands, slept close together and prayed. Our tent couldn't have blown away:
1. Heavy stuff to hold it down.
2. storm lash (the knot we tied our tent down with)
Mrs. M & Mrs. H slept with us after their stay in the latrine." (LOL!)
On July 1st I wrote that I took paper making. I remember
using toilet paper and various bits of sage and wildflowers or whatever.
Then on July 2nd I had another first – my first
time in a darkroom. “I’m going to the darkroom at 4:00. It was really fun! We
developed our own pictures." (I listed the process below):
1 Developer
2 Finisher
(vinegar)
3 Silver
remover
I think one of my fellow campers might have accidentally
come into the dark room when the red light was on, but I still got a decent print.
It was of a man rigged to a climbing line I believe.
It’s possible I might still have the photograph, sunset
drawing, and paper sample somewhere, but I couldn’t summon the time or energy
to look for them.
The postcard I wrote:
I don’t remember the jamboree, or if there even was one, but
we had a swap party with a bunch of other troops. Before we left for our trip
we were instructed to make something we could hand out to the other girls
(which in exchange they would give me something they made). Of course there
were a few girls who either couldn’t be bothered (or couldn’t get parent
support) and simply gave away free promotional items like pens, keychains, etc.
Of course at 13 years old I didn’t care, and happily accepted anything I was
handed without question or judgement.
Other memories…
We made this: (It’s possible it was made in the oven in one
the campers, that or we did it over a campfire either?)
Thanks to all the adults who made this trip happen and
thanks to my fellow campers for making it such an enjoyable and memorable
experience.
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