This was the 4th planned trip to Shiloh for our troop, and it never seemed to work out. It was always cancelled, which was good for me, because I was always unable to make this trip, and it worked out that I was available. I am seeing these boys getting big quick and don't want to miss any opportunities to be with them on these adventures...plus I was superexcited to visit Shiloh and to attempt a 14 mile hike that we did on this day.
It was like a 3 hour drive to Shiloh, so like usual, we set up camp near midnight on Friday, and up early on Saturday for our hike. And the day began very nice with some overcast skies, but then the rain starting falling, and I bet it continued on us for at least half of the day...pictures below were the dryer part. At one point that morning, I looked at one of our newer crossover scouts (Cason) and he looked at me and said "This is miserable". Haha...at that point he was right.
Our troop divided in two parts for the hike and each group had a scavenger hunt of knowledge they had to gather from the plaques on this civil war battlefield. Sam was basically leading one crew, and at one point he took the group for what I knew on the map was a down and back the same way, so I just stopped and camped our under a tree trying to stay a bit dry. Well, I saw Sam go down and lead the group to the left, then to the right, then they walked out of site further down the road. I finally went down to tell them to forget the hunt, we had to get moving (did I mention it was a 14 mile hike)...and I caught up with Davis and some others and sent them back to the tree, then found Sam, who said the clue was just right around the corner. Ok, so I waited and waited, then went around the corner and he was again out of sight with 5 others following right behind him. I finally caught up with him and let him know he was no longer even in the battlefield park, but he was till convinced he was close...haha...hard headed kid, he did later get a laugh when he realized how far wrong he had been. And all the other boys didn't let him forget it either, and it became part of their troop memories.
Wow, we had a great time, and finally made it to the Visitor center where we watched an interesting movie about....well, when I woke up I heard from others it was about the battle that was there at Shiloh. Seriously, it was neat to learn about how many people died in this one battle which was a very big key area for both sides in the Civil War. I did not realize that both Grant and Sherman were here at Shiloh. The old wooden building was a church that was the main planning area for the confederate army.
I ran back to the visitor center and got all the boys a popsicle which made me a hero for two reasons...one I got the popsicles, but two I found a shortcut in that I left them, but ended up in front of them waiting on the road.
After only one boy breaking down that he was not going to make it, and one other being dragged by two boys, we made it back to camp. At dinner that night, the boys had hot dogs, which sam hates, but some how he found some tortellini noodles and cooked them. For the adults, we had filet mignon, potatoes with bacon and cheese, and some strawberry and apple cobbler. yeah, the boys were a little jealous.
Davis was up early on Sunday which had him cooking breakfast which he likes to do anyway. He was showing Cason how to cook. And later I overheard him tell Cason that they did not have to have clean up duty because they cooked. Cason said "That's good, because I made a mess". haha. I was really proud of Sam and Brandon because they just jumped in and started directing the boys on tasks to get done in prep for leaving the campsite. And they really were leading those boys well, it was a great thing to watch and made me feel very proud of Sam. And the cooks get in the front of the breakfast line, but I saw Davis at the back, and he told me "It's not a problem, I needed to help Jackson get his tent together". It is a wonderful thing to watch them become the leaders I know they will be.
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