The Big River Show

1. Demonstrate how to find directions during the day and at night without using a compass.
2. Using a compass, complete an orienting course that covers at least 1 mile and requires measuring the height and/or width of designated items (tree, tower, canyon, ditch, etc.)
3. Since joining, have participated in ten separate troop/patrol activities (other than troop/patrol meetings), three of which included camping overnight.
4. On one camp out, serve as your patrol’s cook for breakfast lunch and dinner.
5. Visit and discuss with a selected individual approved by your leader, (elected official, judge, principal, etc.) your constitutional rights and obligations as a U.S. citizen
6. Identify or show evidence of at least 10 kinds of native plants found in your community
7a. Tie Timber hitch and clove hitch, know their use in square, shear, and diagonal lashings by joining two or more poles or staves together
7b. Use lashing to make a useful camp gadget
8a. demonstrate tying the bowline knot and how it’s used in rescues
8b. Demonstrate bandages for injuries on the head, upper arm and collarbone, and for a sprained ankle
8c. show how to transport by yourself, and with one other person, a person:
*from a smoke filled room
* with a broken leg, for at least 25 yards
8d. Tell the five most common signs of a heart attack. Explain the steps in CPR.
9. Demonstrate your ability to swim 100 yards using one resting stroke and two other strokes, and to float as motionless as possible for 1 minute.
10. Show scout spirit.
11. participate in a scoutmaster conference.
12 Board of review completed. ___________________ (date)

So…. We are no longer stuck. Locks and Dam 15 and 16 are open… and we are under way. Yeehaw!

So here’s the deal. We are in Moline, near Rock Island, near Davenport, near Bettendorf (the Quad Cities). We are parked on the Raddisson Dock right now, hoping they don’t kick us off. We talked to the U.S. Coast Guard and they told us that until further notice the whole river between lock 15 and lock 23 is closed…. granted they do update their restrictions at least daily.

But I spoke to one petty officer and she told me that july 11th was the latest she imagined it could be closed and she also said “it’ll get worse before it gets better.” And it just started to rain which doesn’t bode well for the flood going down. We are stuck. Soon we will be unstuck… but we don’t know when that soon will be.

If any of you know how to do a drought dance, let us know or send a video of you doing it to youtube and give us the link.

Recipe time!

Making 2 servings of “The Best of It” requires a little time and some imagination.

First you will need a whole lot of circumstance. We happen to be using geographical restriction and bleak time-line. You can use anything you have around, I have even heard of someone using color of gift received.

You can stew-over or broil-about this ingredient for a good long while so that the-best-of-it comes out with the proper texture of Overcoming-the-odds.

Then you add acceptance (sparingly at first) you don’t want to over-do this one because it could burn and you will end up making a double helping of apathy.

When just enough acceptance has been reached (you can tell because you will start to see little crannies and nooks form in the facade of helplessness) you quickly whip up some fresh ideas until they are light enough to laugh about.

(note: at this point adding a dram of alcohol can work out marvelously in your favor.)

Serve warmly with hot chocolate and humor.

Sometimes we move faster than Beauty because Interest has it’s foot on the gas. We zoom by a town because our needs for novelty have an itinerary to keep. We rush right by the relaxation we are seeking.

I’m not saying slow down and smell the roses. I’ll try not to dispense advice like that. I am saying that Bill and I are stuck at this slow pace and the roses smell great. I don’t always give myself the time to do these things but when I do I generally don’t regret it. This summer we are going to discover the small towns among other things.

We discovered Le Claire today like one might discover that they have “The Princess Bride” on VHS in their movie collection. It’s always been there but we don’t see it because we’re rushing right by it on our way to “Armageddon” or “Independence Day: ID4”.

I’m curious if any of you have been to Le Claire, Iowa… let us know in the comments. Any memories? Where were you going? Ever touch the Mississippi river?

Le Claire, by the way (if I remember correctly), means [from French] “The Claire.” So, there you go.