12:00 am - still up with a powerful thunderstorm.  Amazing lightning display outside; very unusual for the Washington, DC area.  After months of prep, we're ready to roll.  Spent another hour re-sorting my briefcase, waiting out the storm, and finally headed up to bed around 1:15, as it faded to the east.  Just as I laid down, however, the phone rang - Northwest Airlines calling and cancelling our initial flight (out of National) because of the storm, and re-booking us on a later TWA flight.  Just missed picking up the phone before they hung up.  Got dressed and headed back downstairs just as the phone rang again, Northwest back on the line - turned out that the storm had delayed our flight out of National, so we couldn't make our connection in Memphis.  Therefore, they were "protecting" us by switching (now) to Continental, going to Denver through Houston - but not arriving `til 1:30 in the afternoon.  Unfortunately, they didn't realize we were a group, so the Continental re-route was good for only 1 ticket (that is, for only 9 of us, not all 26.)  Obviously, that wasn't going to work, and I spent the next 2 1/2 hours struggling with various agents trying to arrange something workable.  At the low point of the night, one option had us all arriving in Denver at 7:30 pm!  I don't think so!  Finally, at 3:30 am, I asked "Rachel" from the reticketing division if Memphis couldn't just hold the flight for a few minutes, since we (currently!) had a 35 minute gap between our arrival and the departure.  She replied that since Memphis was such a small airport, they might be willing to make an accommodation - especially since it was for 26 members of a Scout group.  In fact, Memphis came back and said no need to hold the plane - 35 minutes was more than adequate! (at least for everyone but the FAA.)  So our original ticketing was good to go after all - but no, that wasn't true either.  Seems only 18 of our original 26 seats were still available now; the other 8 had been automatically sold to other "standby" customers since our forced "cancellation" at 1:15.  You've got to be kidding me, right?  Well, Rachel went ahead and put the "Johnny Come Latelies" back on standby, and restored our original tickets (which was only fair, after all!)  So we were back where we started, after 3 hours of white-knuckled phone work - but so much for sleep or a wakeup shower!  Brian and John P. showed up in the driveway at 4:15, literally as I hung up the phone.  Threw the briefcase back together, and ran back upstairs to grab a shave, brush my teeth, and get into my Class A's, and was back outside in 5 minutes, record time I suppose.  Cleo (the dog next door) loudly announced my departure to the neighborhood.  Off to St. Agnes, with a last stop for another $500 in cash; I hope $1500 cash will suffice for 3 Crews....  Arrived at 4:35, first there, but Steven S. was only a minute behind us, followed by Randy T. with his big trailer (already packed the night before with all our stuff.)  Then the rest of the horde, in a steady stream of headlights coming up the road.  If anyone was awake at the Rectory, they must have figured that the revolution had started.  I maintained the attendance roster (certain things I gotta be positive on!), and also did a quick check on hiking boots for everyone who hadn't packed them the previous night - amazingly, everyone who needed to had remembered to bring (or wear) their boots, the first good omen for the day.  After squinting at the first few Scouts, I passed on doing a formal Uniform inspection - impossible to properly check in the dark, plus my eyes still weren't very good from my laser surgery 10 days previous.  Everyone looks dimly OK, so hopefully not a problem!  Andy and David M. were the Tail-End Charlies, arriving at 4:53; late, but we have lots of spare built in for this morning.  Formal assembly and roll call, then we divvied everyone up among the vehicles heading to the airport.  Decided against convoying down - it's only a 15 - 20 minute drive, after all - so we agreed to re-assemble in front of the Northwest terminal entrance.  Hank joined me in the P. vehicle, and we're off, 5:00 am on the dime.  Took us 15 minutes to get to National, and after starting the unloading process on the sidewalk with the Scouts, I headed inside to see how the counter wanted to handle us, with a brief stop to see if the curbside baggage guys were willing to take our luggage (they weren't.)  50 people in line - ouch! - but on second look, there was a "group" ticketing line - great! - but there was no agent there.  However, the agent at the next counter indicated she would handle us as soon as she was done with her current customer - good deal.  Upon additional questioning, she also said to go ahead and stack all our luggage at the counter.  Clay (my "runner") headed back out to relay the news, and packs started appearing 5 minutes later.  Within 10 minutes we had created quite the impressive pack line.  "A few minutes" turned into 25, but our agent (Su-Young Iversen) finally freed herself and started in with us.  Looking at our tickets, she immediately noted the 35 minute layover time - but also (already) knew that Memphis was a small airport and our gates were not that far apart, so OK.  Just to be safe, however, she sent an internal email to the gate in Memphis letting them know that we were indeed on the way.  The packs and other checked luggage went very quickly - several Scouts carried stuff over for the agent to put routing tickets on, and Rick loaded each onto the conveyor belt.  Last one gone at 6:00, and we counted our boarding passes and departed with a heartfelt Thanks! to Ms. Iversen.  I will write a letter to Northwest concerning her efforts this morning - very efficient and pleasant service.  Since we were still at least an hour away from boarding, I had everyone bring their carry-on gear down to the gate (so we could guard it en masse), then gave everyone their release `til 6:45 to go snag breakfast or hang out in the terminal.  Several parents and Tim A. accompanied us through Security.  Took us awhile to get through the gates today - normally they just semi-wave a group of fully uniformed Scouts through, with minimal searching - but not today.  I was last through, and had to about half strip to pass - even my service stars and bolo tie were more than enough to set off the metal detector.  Finally passed the "Guess-He's-Not-Carlos-the-International- Terrorist-Masquerading-as-a-Scoutmaster" test, and headed down the hall to Gate 5 - only to meet a bunch of the guys streaming back; apparently, there was only a Jerry's Subs and an overly pricey coffee shop in the side terminal - which didn't cut it for teenagers in search of the ultimate sugar-and-caffeine overdose.  As requested, everyone had stacked all their gear by the windows, and about a half-dozen of us kept it surrounded while watching several hundred medium-sized boxes getting loaded from an Dunbar armored truck into the cargo hold of our jet.  Although "must be money" was a popular guess, in the end we figured it had to be secure documents of some sort, since the security was pretty light for what would have had to have been a billion dollars in currency.  Took forever.  Well, now we know the REAL reason why this flight was delayed!  Rick went ahead and arranged a group boarding, and with "goodbye's" and "good luck's" from Tim A. and the last few parents, we got on at 7:05.  Flight 938 to Memphis.  Our seats were scattered around the wing area, so the 3:30 am re-ticketing cost us our view (but I ain't complainin'!)  I spent about 20 minutes chatting with an older woman from Boulder, CO, who lived in Fairfax `til 8 years ago.  She was very interested in Boy Scouting and where we were going, and what we were doing.  Very pleasant.  Taxied away from the gate at 7:35, and lifted off at 7:40 - no time to waste today, since (according to the flight attendant) virtually everyone on this flight had connections in Memphis.  Most of the guys fell asleep, but of course that's impossible for me!  I wrote up a couple of pages of diary, covering the overnight ticketing mess through our liftoff.  Breakfast was a bagel, a banana, and a carton of cereal, but I passed in favor of a glass of water.  Our descent into Memphis started at 9 am, and we touched down at 9:20 (8:20 local time.)  De-planed 15 minutes later at B-10; the flight attendants paid us a nice compliment:  "Very polite and well-mannered young men."  I laughed and said yeah, that's what a 4 am wakeup call will do for you!  Down to Gate B-41 on the Q-T, with a speedy group toiety on the way.  They were already half-boarded by the time we arrived, but at least we didn't hold up the flight.  We did a quick check to make sure we had 26, and went ahead and boarded immediately.  Flight 879 to Denver, a much larger plane, with 3/3 seating and more comfortable seats.  Liftoff at 9:25; the guys split between sleep, reading, playing cards, and listening to music.  John P. had bought a copy of Rolling Stone, which had a feature article on the BSA versus homosexuals issue, which got passed around half the Crew during the flight.  They served us another breakfast on this flight - muffin and another bagel, plus a drink.  I suspect we'll be plenty hungry by the time we make it to Englewood for lunch.  After about an hour, they finally turned the seatbelt light off, and I got up to grab some photos and chat with each row of Scouts.  I also changed my watch to Mountain Daylight Savings Time - aka Philmont Time!  Everyone's questions starting to focus on what we're doing in Colorado over the next 3 days.  Clay, Hank and I talked about caving for about half an hour - Hank definitely did not look enthused!  Started our descent into Denver around 10:20 MDST, touching down at 10:22.  Moderate cloudiness outside (in fact, the whole trip was fairly cloudy.)  De-planed at 10:40, and took the underground Metro from Concourse B to the main terminal (where the baggage claim and car rentals were located.)  Got a pretty good shock at the car rental counters - Dollar (where we had our 2 passenger van reservations) had at least a 50 person line in front of it.  We had known there was a fast-pitch girl's softball tournament in Denver this week; apparently, every team decided on Dollar for their rentals.  Only 3 agents at the counter, and each person (like us) had multiple reservations, so it was slow going.  After surveying the scene, we divided up - Rick and Hank headed off to a (thankfully) much smaller line at Enterprise (for our cargo vans), while David B. and Clay headed off to the baggage carousel to work with the Scouts at stripping the plastic off of the backpacks and moving all our gear to curbside.  While waiting, saw at least 2 other Scout groups wandering around the airport; judging from the beards on the Adults, they were just returning from Philmont, so they must have been some of the first Crews of the summer.  [Didn't get a chance to talk with either group, however.]  35 minutes after I joined the line, David B. returned (everything already done and at the curb), and we finally snailed our way up to the front 10 minutes later.  Instant irritation descended when they said they could only find 1 of our 2 vans in the computer, but a call over to the depot confirmed that yes, there were 2 vans still waiting for us.  Rick hadn't returned yet, so David B. signed for the second van, and we headed off for the shuttle bus to the depot (which is about 15 minutes from the airport.)  Very easy procedure - show the paperwork, drive away.  Both were 15-passenger Dodge 3500's, auto-everything, one dark red, the other green. We did a thorough damage check, but both were in great shape.  Back to the airport, and found our by-now extremely bored Scouts and gear on Level 4.  Girl's softball teams everywhere, some in their uniforms.  Our guys, of course, had taken advantage of the long wait (and my absence) to change into street clothes, since of course they couldn't wear their Class A Scout Uniforms and impress all these girls who they would never see again in a zillion years.  Sigh.  Count to 10, Robert.  Rick and Hank were back, and had already finished packing the cargo van - which turned out to not be a cargo van at all, but rather a totally inadequate mini-van minus its back seats.  Less than half our stuff fit in, and Rick was absolutely furious.  Time becoming an issue now, so we loaded everything else in the back of the passenger vans, and headed off to Bennett's BBQ, while Rick and Hank headed back to Enterprise in the cargo van to rent another (no way we can manage this with just one.)  Bennett's turned out to be very close to where the Trail Dust Steak House was (Note - Trail Dust burned down last year, and is still being rebuilt.)  Very heavy traffic, and some rain, so we were about 15 minutes late - but not a problem.  They had us sit outside under an overhang, and (after some discussion) decided to serve us " family style" - platters of food from which you served yourself.  Quite a feast - Beef, Pulled Pork, Ribs, Chicken, Sausage, Beans, Cole Slaw, and bottomless drinks (except for bottled rootbeer.)  Excellent stuff, and everyone went to it with a will - but I did have to intervene when the scene degenerated into a barbarian-style feeding frenzy with the arrival of the second set of platters.  Rick and Hank arrived about 15 minutes after we started, with a second van.  Turned out Rick got it for free, so righteous fury worked in our favor (this time); well, it's not like we hadn't made our requirements quite clear!  Rained heavily while we ate, and about half the guys went out to the vans to grab some warmer clothes; I actually can't remember ever being this cold in Colorado in the afternoon, so this is indeed unusual.  Stuffed by 2:40, with the final bill being somewhat of a shock (the bottled root-beers killed us), and we were off at 2:50 for Colorado Springs, about 20 minutes behind schedule.  A misty drive down to Colorado Springs and the Garden of the Gods, with some stretches of dry pavement offering hope that our horseback ride would be rain-free.  But alas! - the rain started again and in earnest just as we arrived at the Academy Stables (4:20).  To our surprise, however, the ride was still a go, even though there had been a few lightning strikes in the area, and we changed into our "rough" clothes and boots, and assembled on a porch for a quick orientation.  A family (of 6 (?)) also joined us.  After getting the standard spiel, everyone donned blue poncho-jackets, and the wranglers started mounting us up immediately, in 3 groups.  The family was Group #1, and they were quickly off.  Then our turn.  The horses ranged from medium-sized to quite large.  Most were "Western" (neck-rein) trained, but 3 had alternate "English" training.  I ended up in the second group, with "JJ," quite a large horse - I hope this isn't an indirect criticism of my weight!  Of note, these horses were trained to walk in line about 10 - 15 feet apart, very different than the "nose-to-derriere" style at Philmont.  Out the back-side of the stable, and up a regular road into the Garden of the Gods.  Raining pretty good at this point.  Daniel Ho.'s horse decided he wasn't interested in touring the Garden today, and turned around and headed back to the stable; the wranglers replaced it with another horse.  Surprisingly, the rest of the horses seemed indifferent to the rain and also to vehicles driving on the road right next to them.  Once we reached the Garden, we took the "Scotsman's Trail Loop," a sandy trail on the southwestern quadrant of the park.  This led to some great overlooks of the 2 southernmost spires.  Unfortunately, the rain and wind really picked up at this point, and we started feeling like extras in "The Long Riders."  I had to laugh - come to the desert southwest, and half-drown on a horse the day you arrive!  The only other downer was the fact that those of us in the middle of the line couldn't hear the running commentary from the wranglers (1 of whom was leading, and the other acting as Tail-End Charlie.)  Still and all, a great ride; too bad the weather didn't cooperate, because this would have been spectacular in the usual brilliant sunshine you get here.  JJ was a pretty good horse, too, except that he wanted to eat everything on the entire mountainside.  After cresting one last ridge on the west side of the main spire, we turned around and headed back, passing a large "balancing rock" on the return trail.  Naturally, the rain decreased to a drizzle by the time we got back to the stable (6:40).  In all, we got an hour and a half long ride, nearly 40 minutes longer than we had been promised - good deal.  As a result, however, we were going to be late for the Cave of the Winds, so Rick called to let them know; we decided to stay in our wet clothes to save time.  At 54 degrees, the caves were going to be warmer than it was outside anyway!  Did the quick drive up to the Cave, getting inside about 7:05 or so.  The guys donated all their loose change to the parabolic wishing well in the entrance while I finished the arrangements for the tour.  A couple of us also spent a couple of minutes pouring the water out of our boots and wringing out our socks to "damp" status.  We then assembled for the "Lantern Tour," where 2 guides (Mabel and Claire, dressed in 1890's type garb) took us through a less-commercialized (more natural) part of the cave, using polished buckets with oil lamps (or candles) as the personal light sources.  The idea is to imitate the earliest tours of the cave, held over a hundred years ago.  A good tour - with the primary interest being the repartee between Mabel and Claire and 20 testosterone-laden Scouts (which both young ladies handled in good humor, so it was obviously not the first time.)  We ended by starting a "Troop 111" rock memorial alongside similar memorials to Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, then headed out.  Good time.  Headed down to Giuseppe's for dinner, arriving just after 9:00 pm.  We were too late for the "full" menu, but not a big deal; everyone ordered either pizza or calzones.  Clay also grossed us out eating some kind of creamy cheese soup.  The pizzas in particular were great; overflowing with toppings.  Finished up just after 10:00.  Leaving the restaurant for Peterson Air Force Base, I quickly decided to let Clay take over the driving; my eyes were having real problems with the bright lights along the "strip" (bad "haloing.")  Seemed to take an awfully long time to get to the Base from I-25 via the Martin Luther King Bypass - either that or I was finally starting to feel it from my all-nighter (it was already past midnight Arlington time.)  Finally up to the gate, where our passes were issued in short order.  Our liaison (Sgt. "Chip" Coughlin) arrived soon thereafter, and led us down to the Day Care Center that was to be our home-away-from-home for the next 3 nights.  Unfortunately, he didn't have the keys (!!!), and he and Hank left to go get them from Base Security.  Took forever for them to return, and the news was not good when they did get back - Base Security did not have any keys for the Center, because a previous Scout group had failed to return them before they left.  [Thanks, guys, whoever and wherever you are!]  A Base Fire Department representative showed up a few minutes later, but the keys in the emergency access box turned out to not fit any of the doors in the building (I bet someone gets militarily roasted for that oversight!)  Then a maintenance guy came by - but he didn't have keys either.  By this point, most of the guys headed back to the vans, or laid up against their gear, and passed out.  We're lucky it's only cold, and not still raining.  Finally, Sgt. Coughlin called one of the Day Care Center Directors, who took pity on us and agreed to come on over.  That took about 15 minutes, and we were finally open.  I immediately stopped everyone from bull-rushing inside, and forced them to remove their still muddy boots and wet socks.  Very hot inside (but that was deeply appreciated at this point!), and we quickly spread out on the carpeted floor.  After I did a quick summary of what was needed in the morning (for Pike's Peak and rock climbing), a few guys took showers, but most just crashed immediately.  Hank and I jury-rigged a black trash-bag over the emergency overhead light, which couldn't be turned off.  Still misty outside, 46 degrees with a steady breeze making it seem even colder.  Didn't take me long to fall asleep, even with the noise of the last few guys getting set up after their showers.  One heck of a long day, with lots of stress and a few snafu's, but we ended up pulling everything off.  An auspicious start....