Trailhead Outfitters Event

A few months ago Jason Teal called me and we met at the camp for an official tour.  He has started a ministry called Trailhead Outfitters, which has both a website and Facebook page.   The mission of Trailhead Outfitters is to 'turn the hearts of the fathers to their sons, and the hearts of the sons to their fathers', and to train, equip, and 'outfit' dads with the tools they need to become strong, engaged, intentional fathers. 

Jason said that they had partnered with Whitesburg Baptist for an event called "Dad and Lads Super Saturday" and thought the Camp would be a great place to hold the it.  Well of course I agreed.  All the arrangements were made and in the weeks leading up to the event I met some great folks from Whitesburg that I had not previously known.  Guy Morton, who is the Children's Minister, came up a couple of times and he seems to be such a fine man.

Another gentleman by the name of Jerry Gwen came up and helped me add some stuff to the top pond that was supposed to help kill the algae.  Once we got finished with that Jerry stayed for a little while and did some fly fishing from his canoe.  

He was very involved in the big day with teaching the kids how to fly fish and cast a rod and reel.  Very interesting man and has quite a few hobbies. 

Other events going on were kids cooking their own meals...hobos I think and some dutch oven cooking (peach cobbler) demonstrations.  

I talked with Roger Graves (who handled the dutch ovens) for about 30 minutes and learned all kind of things.  He had quite an operation going on and you could tell this was not his first rodeo !  

He had six ovens going at once, had solid fold up tables they were sitting on and had even made his own devices to lift the lids off perfectly.  I must say the cobbler was good too.

Another man I met, and I cannot remember his name, was in charge of the air rifle event.  This was not some run of the mill event!  Come to find out that he had been heavily involved with professional competition shooting for years and had only recently retired.  

I am sure that he told me that his son had won several trophies and still holds some national records.  He had a tent set up, hay bales and a shooting area and all the safety equipment.  Talking about some nice guns...he had them!  

They also held a skeet shoot demonstration -- I hate that I missed it and the testimony time as well.  I hope Trailhead Outfitters decides to use the camp for future events.

Girl Scout Family Fun Day

Saturday we were very happy to host the Family Fun Day for Girl Scout Service Unit 30.  The weather was terrific ... clear, sunny skies -- warm -- but with a nice breeze.  The group got started up here around 2:30 that afternoon and had close to 40 families participate!  We had to head out, so we made sure they knew all the ground rules and had everything they needed, and promised to see them before they headed out.

When we got back to the camp, there were all sorts of fishing tales being told!  One fish was so big it didn't just break the line ... it broke the pole!  

One woman pulled a crappie out of the water and when she unhooked and tossed it back, a large mouth bass swooped by just as it hit the water, and swallowed it whole!  They were all laughing about that one.

The coordinator brought bait and bobbins for all and mostly they used worms and crickets.  

I think they realized too late in the day that our fish mostly prefer minnows ... and definitely not artificial bait. 

The girls didn't seem too terribly upset over it!

One patient young man, however, did catch a fish.  

He'd been patiently throwing in his line all day, and it was near 7 pm when his persistence finally paid off!

In addition to the fishing, the girls went through several presentations ... 

Each girl that participated earned both a recycling badge and a "green" patch. 

The coordinator, Jeanine Woods, was incredibly easy to work with and also very generous.  She'd been yard-sale hopping the day before and had found a terrific badminton set, which she donated to the camp!

How fun it will be to have use of this up here for all our groups!

We love having Girl Scout groups up here.  They always do a marvelous job of leaving the camp "as good or better than they found it!" 

And we're happy to be a part of Girl Scouts celebrating 100 years!!!

Sweet Sixteen

June could not have offered up a more lovely afternoon for an outdoor party than what it offered up last Saturday for the Kimbrough family.  Wayne Kimbrough (father) and Eddie Kimbrough (son) are both good friends of Todd's, and when Eddie requested use of the Camp for his daughter's sweet sixteen birthday party, we were happy to be able to oblige them.

The decorating committee got busy and soon had the pavilion all  prettied up with balloons, banners, and tablecloths.  I noted some intriguing candle holders and Eddie shared with me that he had made them himself out of cedar, and his daughter had the clever idea of using citronella votive candles in them to ward off the mosquitoes.

While the cooks were busy cooking and prepping for the food end of the festivities, a large crowd headed over to the upper field for games.  

I misunderstood their timing for the games and so I didn't get any pictures.  This is really too bad because from the stories that were told, flour was flying as were arms and legs and it must have been a very comical sight!

After the games, folks settled back down at the pavilion . . .   

And the master griller (Eddie) got busy preparing brats, burgers, and dogs . . .

The music played and folks ate and chatted and had an overall good evening.  Todd was working so he had to miss this one.  Hopefully the next time the Kimbrough family makes its way up here, he'll be able to fellowship with them just a bit!

LBC Youth Service Project Weekend

They called it a "Service Project Weekend" and that is exactly what went on.  The Lighthouse Baptist Church youth group arrived Friday evening, which is when I took all the pictures.  After that everyone was too busy for picture taking.  Chris, the adult youth leader, and Alex took some time to 'cheese it up' for the camera!

We have many good friends at Lighthouse and it was good to see some that came up with the youth.  Kristian's dad, Roger, came up early and really helped us out with some plumbing projects and did an excellent job.  Friday night was spent in setting up tents, cooking dinner and hanging out by the fireplace mostly.  I joined them for the dinner part. 

Before heading back to the RV I met with two of the youths--Peter and Kristian--who seemed to be the youth leaders.  They had taken the Camp MACOBA projects' list (4 pages) and had already organized the list and assigned everyone their particular tasks.  The plan was for everyone to begin work right after breakfast on Saturday morning. The temps were expected to reach the mid 90's so the earlier they got to work, the better.  

Come Saturday morning I headed over to the pavilion around 8:00 and everyone was all ready to go.  I answered a few questions and then hooked up the trailer for the brush clearing crew.  I saw Tonita and Jessica taking everything out of the storage room and preparing to do some serious cleaning.  People went off in different directions, all with a purpose.  

Wow, how time flies--I have known some of these youth since they were born!  Around 11:00 everyone was finished and shortly thereafter were eating some lunch.  I was not only impressed with the hard work but the respectfulness shown by this group.  

Lighthouse Baptist Church should be very proud of the youth in their youth group.  We are certainly thankful for all their hard work in getting the camp in tip-top-shape, and look forward to their return in the future!

Pastor's Fish Fry

We just wrapped up the annual MBA Pastor's Fish Fry up at the Camp -- and what a perfect day it was for such an event.  The skies were cloudy but clearing, so the temperatures were cool with a light breeze.  The breeze helped keep the insects at bay and it also let us know when it was time to head over and eat -- because it sure smelled terrific!

When we arrived, there was already a good sized crowd under the pavilion.   There were also a good handful of folks down at the ponds, trying their luck with the fishing.  Oh there were lots of fish stories shared when they got back ... "ministerially speaking" was a phrase tossed about quite a bit, referring to the size of the fish caught!

 The cooks were all on the perimeter.  There was a lot of "taste testing" going on, too. 

The oven was a big help this year -- they were able to keep food warm while they cooked in batches.  

Mrs. Marvoline was in charge of the hush puppies ... and they were the best hush puppies ever.  Better than any restaurant's recipe, for sure!

Our wonderful cooks for this year's fish fry:

The menu consisted of fried fish, crawfish, shrimp, french fries, hush puppies and fried squash:  a veritable feast, for sure.

After the blessing was said, it didn't take long for folks to get in line ... there sure was a pile of food.  Plenty for seconds ... and quite possibly a few went back for thirds.

Brother John, on the other hand, stopped at seconds, so he had room for a small bowl of ice cream.

Pretty sure he topped off that bowl of homemade vanilla ice cream with a thick slice of pound cake.  And he ate every bit of it, too!

A nice group shot to wrap up the event.  With all hands pitching in, clean up went pretty fast.  It was a great afternoon and there were quite a few folks who'd not been up here before.  We hope this was their first visit of many!

Family Campers

Saturday afternoon we had a couple of families come out to the camp for a night of primitive camping.  We don't often have individual groups come out for camping, but it's definitely something we'd love to see more of.

This particular group had four adults and seven children ... most of whom were toddlers!  They arrived, much like our Friday group, just after a quick rain had passed through, and weren't sure if they wanted to pitch their tents on wet ground.  After fixing dinner at the pavilion, they decided to go on up to the campground and got set up for the night.

It sounded as if the kids really enjoyed themselves and they told us they even got a little fishing in, down at the dock.

FRBC Middle School Campers

While Flint River has made use of the camp before -- most notably with their Young At Heart fellowships -- they've never had a group up here overnight until this past weekend.  Bill Edmonds brought out a group of middle schoolers for a night of games and adventure.  And from one of the stories he told the next day, they certainly did have some adventure!

The evening started out in the middle of weather alerts, but here at the camp it stayed dry -- the system moved just to the northeast of us, which was a great thing.  The group decided to pitch their tents around the pavilion, just in case (and because they did have a couple of girls staying with them, too).

Bill said the raccoons were quite rowdy through the night, and he couldn't believe how many he heard or how loud they were.  He was glad he'd remembered to put their food up in the storage room before they headed to their tents for the night.

Saturday morning brought clear skies and the group continued to play their games.  They headed out just after lunch; worn out but happy campers.  We're hoping they'll be back soon.

A Familiar Fellowship

Not long after the Willowbrook group left, we had another group come in for an evening of food and fellowship.  The incoming group was Bill and Sara Rotenberry's Sunday School class from New Market Baptist.  They make it up here at least twice a year and this was their annual spring visit.

They gave the gals a break and decided to cook burgers and hot dogs over the grill.  Their 'master griller' did a terrific job and, as always, the food was marvelous.  We're always so thankful that this group includes us in their fellowship and mealtime!

After everyone had finished up eating, Mrs. Sara handed out a sheet and a pen to each person.  We spent twenty minutes reading a single paragraph and trying to find the names of sixteen books of the Bible.  Do you know that not a one of us were able to find all sixteen?  Most of us came close, but we had to have a little help finding the last two.  There was a lot of laughter and ... discussion ... as this exercise took place.

I did hear one of the class members say that she though perhaps they should make this a quarterly outing, instead of just bi-annually.  Someone else then suggested that they make it a monthly event!  We're all for that!

They had a lovely, cool evening and we certainly hope they will at least be back in the next three months, instead of having to wait for the fall.  I think they'd enjoy an afternoon of fishing on the dock!

Willowbrook's Father-Son Campout

The daytime temperatures were warm but it did cool down some at night.  Chris Wilson, Sam Kelly and around 45 others came up for the Willowbrook Father-Son campout.  The boys seemed to have a good time; they usually do.  The dads were all busy with various camping-related things. 

The first evening seemed to be a free for all with the scheduled activities coming mid morning on Saturday.  There were three different groups that went around to the events that were set-up.  About an hour before things were supposed to begin it got very dark at the camp and thunder could be heard so moves were made to set-up some of the things near the pavilion.  The weather looked a whole lot meaner than it actually was--or the storm decided to just barely miss the camp.  It did keep the temperatures pretty nice. 

The air rifles and slingshots remained near the pavilion  while the archery, hatchet throw and blow darts were just off the top field in the woods.

Earlier Sam had taken the tractor and cleared out some areas in the woods out of the sun which worked out very nicely...so much so that this area may be a fixture for future events.  He did manage to find some yellow jackets so that area had to be by-passed and roped off.  Willowbrook always brings a good group up and we are always glad to have them.