Hobo Camp

We survived Hobo Camp - at the Spring Camporee - Our first Boy Scout Campout - and I have to give it to the Boy Scouts - they certainly know how to camp...

This was Scout's Hobo costume - we packed it to take for the Hobo contest on Saturday...

We got to the site about 6 PM and set up our tents - we didn't take ours as the Boy Scouts have a trailer already loaded with all the tents and cooking utensils etc - remember - they know how to camp...

It was really cold - about 28 degrees - and windy - about 40 mph - so setting up tents was really not a lot of fun - the Scout Hobos were supposed to have Tin Can Stoves made for cooking their breakfast on Saturday - so we got started on that right after we got the tents set up - we melted some leftover altar candles for the parafin...

...and coiled cardboard into the little cans - and poured parafin over them - this makes the fuel source...

Then we took a large coffee can and made vents around the top with a church key can opener and a slot on the bottom to slide the fuel source in...

...after our work was done - we sat around the campfire in the wind and roasted some marshmallows - I took some vegan ones that I got in GF at the health food store - YUM - smores...

Here we are about to cook on our Tin Can Stoves - reveille was at 7 AM...

Washing up was a chilly-hand-chapping event after every meal...

After breakfast - it was time to get started on our Hobo shelters - they had to be made entirely of cardboard - our Scouts made a Hobo Hotel - by joining several large boxes together...

They built a lobby as well and put a room number on each room - they had to sleep in them Saturday night...

We took a break from hotel building to make tin foil packet lunches - they were so yummy - a chunked up veggie burger some peppers carrots onions and potatoes - really good...

After we cleaned up again - we made 'Biscuits on a Stick' - We just mixed some self rising flour with some margarine and milk (soy milk) - patted and rolled the dough into a snake and wound it around the end of a stick...

Then we held the stick over the fire until the biscuit was nice and brown and done on the inside - some of these boys had never had a good Southern biscuit in their lives - and we all thought they were delicious - they said they were going to 'teach' their Moms how to make biscuits - I hope they do...

Then we set out on a hike around the lake - so much fun - these boys are super...

...of course they gravitate to any dangerous point...

After our hike was Campfire - we did a skit called 'How a Hobo tells time' - it's actually the same skit that we did at the Blue and Gold a couple of years ago - of course I blogged about it...

After dark - the Scouts settled into their 'Hotel' for another chilly windy night (we had staked the cardboard to the ground so it wouldn't blow away - and the Scouts all said that the cardboard boxes were much warmer than their tents had been the night before...

It was a great weekend and I'd definitely do it all again....