After sleeping fitfully from 11:30 til 3:30, I laid awake til 4:30, with my mind mulling over the busy day to come.  Got up at 4:40 for a quick bathroom, and got dressed and packed.  John and I turned on the lights at 5:00, and everyone immediately got up and began packing.  Our guys were laughing at Drew, who had apparently drooled about half a liter of saliva on his sleeping bag and Z-rest.  Must have been the fudge.  Amazingly, we were all done and out the door by 5:20 - John said we were the fastest group he had ever seen.  Since Bill and the bus weren’t expected til 6:00, everyone kind of zoned out leaning against their stuff, as dawn grew into daylight.  Per John’s request, five of our guys went back inside to clean up the hall a little more thoroughly - it didn’t really need it, but a nice public relations move for future NCAC Contingents.  Bill actually showed up at 5:40, and we loaded up the gear quickly (I was down inside the bay, with Thomas).  Once we were done, we got on board and drove back over to the College (we could have walked it faster).  Had to wait about 10 minutes til opening.  Suddenly remembered my picks and sheet music, still in my pack, so got Bill to unlock the bay again, and I managed to get to it quickly (fortunately, my pack was easily accessible).  So now I get to torture 3 dozen Scouts and Leaders on the way to Philmont.  Breakfast was 6:00 to 6:25, and included eggs, biscuits and gravy, potatoes, pancakes, and fruit, decent.  Back on the bus and gone at 6:30.  I borrowed Robert’s guitar and played for an hour, going through almost all of my repertoire; “most” of the bus seemed to enjoy it.  We started spotting some wildlife - first Bill announced two antelope, then William spotted a deer.  Intersected with I-25 again and headed south, cresting Raton Pass at about 8:25.  We stopped at the borderpoint (New Mexico) weigh station, as required - no bathrooms there, so headed into Raton proper and stopped at the Visitor/Information station (8:40).  After a group toiety, left at 8:55.  South of Raton, we exited I-25 and onto Rt. 64 West.  Amazingly, we saw a herd of about 50 elk right alongside the highway; must be domesticated I guess, since this way outside their normal summertime range.  We also spotted a few hawks on the telephone poles alongside the highway - but many fewer than 2000, when it seemed like they were on every third or fourth pole.  Still bright, sunny, and hot - and the grasslands alongside the highway were brown and dead until we got closer to Philmont.  There was a little green here and there as we approached the mesas and foothills just to the east of Cimarron.  I gave a running commentary of the major peaks as we approached the Ranch, adding some local detail as we entered Cimarron and took the left down Rt. 21.  Pointed out the Philmont Arrowhead formation, the Tooth of Time (marking 7 days to Sante Fe for the pioneer wagon trains of the 1800's).  And finally we pulled into Basecamp, just before 10:00 am, good time - and I’m happy to see no other tour buses at the Welcome Center - just a bunch of 10 am buses for trailbound Crews.  So we should be reasonably quick through the paperwork and logistics circus, Thank You Lord.  John exited the bus, and amazingly enough, 30 seconds later Brad Jones hopped on board to say Hello.  Turned out we had made it just in time, as he was taking his Crew out on one of the 10 am buses, which were departing in less than five minutes.  He looked great, and was very pleased to have intercepted us.  I joined him as he headed back to his Crew, and we got a quick photo, courtesy of one of his Crew’s Scouts.  Just then their bus driver called for them to start loading up, so he departed with promises to look us up on the trail.  By this point, John had finished the basic Contingent check-in, and Luke, Matt, and I (and the other Crew Advisors and Crew Chiefs) headed inside to register the Crews and get our Tent-City and Ranger assignments, and our “paperwork orientation”.  Meanwhile, everyone else emptied the bus and began shifting all our gear to the Welcome Center pavilion (and out of the already intense sun).  Once we were done inside, I got back on the bus to do a final check (good to go), and also to say goodbye and “Thanks” to Bill.  Moved the last of my personal stuff over to the Welcome Center, and watched the last of the 10 am buses depart (the Welcome Center pavilion got a lot less crowded in a real hurry).  Chatted with the guys for a few minutes, pointing out a few Basecamp features and the Tooth of Time, then we met our Ranger - Rene Wicha from San Antonio, Texas.  Big guy with a beard, goofy straw hat, and ready smile.  I made the basic introductions and stepped back, leaving it to Luke and Matt.  Within three minutes, we were off to our tents (A61 to A67?), in one heave.  [Photos: 1, 2]  The tents now have concrete pad floors, so (presumably) no more problems with various critters (mini-bears, skunks, or snakes) taking up residence underneath, like with the “pallet” style platforms.  Grabbed our canteens and (ha-ha) raingear, and it was off to the paperwork chase.  First to the main office for Hugh and I, while Rene signed us up at logistics and began basic Ranger instructions on the patio, starting with map reading and symbols.  Inside, our check-in was pretty trivial - not much more than “Hello”, certification card(s) review, and “Have a Great Trek”; I guess John had already handled all the rest of the standard check-in materials.  Outside, the Crew was still in the midst of map reading, waiting on Logistics.  But we got called just after Hugh and I arrived, so I sent Luke, Matt, and Hugh inside, while I headed over for our mail.  No soap there - the Post Office had closed early to sort bulk USPS and Fedex parcels.  With all the airline security measures, almost all Crews were sending lots of stuff via surface mail this year, and the Post Office was clearly feeling the pain.  So Plan B - I headed over to the Ranger Office to drop off a pad of writing paper, mailing envelopes and some money for Brad (per his request), then headed to Security to get our two lockers (or rather, the keys to our two lockers) and to establish where/how to store our excess baggage (turned out it was right in the Security Hut itself).  Back at Logistics, Rene was introducing the Crew to the “Turtle Dance” - punishment for small sins of omission or commission.  Hugh came out and wanted confirmation that a horseback ride at Clark’s Fork on Day 10 or 11 (not at Ponil on Day 2 or 3) was OK, asking me to go inside to do a final review while he went to hit a bathroom.  Inside, I saw we had yet more fresh changes on our expected itinerary (now 32-NFM-2), and were staying at Tooth Ridge Camp on Day 11, so a morning horseback ride on Day 11 would be fine.  Our new Trek 32 (New Fire Modification #2) was as follows:

9 am bus; Drop-off at Ponil; Ponil to Dean Cutoff
Dean Cutoff to Pueblano to Pueblano Ruins
Pueblano Ruins to Miranda
Miranda to Baldy to Miranda
Miranda to Baldy Skyline (Conservation Project)
Baldy Skyline to Head of Dean to Upper Bench     (ouch!)
Upper Bench to Harlan
Harlan to Ute Gulch to Sawmill
Sawmill to Clark’s Fork
Clark’s Fork to Tooth Ridge
Tooth Ridge to Basecamp

All in all, it looked like a pretty neat trek - better in some ways than the original, which was already one of Philmont’s best treks:

6-Mile Gate to McBride Canyon
McBride Canyon to Cottonwood
Cottonwood to Ponil
Ponil to Pueblano Ruins
Pueblano Ruins to Miranda
Miranda to Baldy to Miranda
Miranda to Head of Dean to Santa Claus
Santa Claus to Upper Bench
Upper Bench to Harlan
Harlan to Clark’s Fork
Clark’s Fork to Basecamp

I ended up signing the copy, because the logistics guy (missed his name; initials:  A.M.S.) was understandably anxious to get going on his next Crew, and Hugh hadn’t come back inside.  Outside, Rene said we were too late for the Crew photo, and so he wanted to bring the Crew over for lunch.  Luke, Matt, Hugh, and I stayed at Logistics to very carefully check the Water Board (transferring all the pertinent info to our master map).  I also saw my Black Mountain “warning” map on the wall of each pod, per my and Brad’s joint efforts of a couple of weeks earlier.  Of note, Wilson Mesa was still closed (bummer!); that will make our “Ranger Moment” less than ideal, since there are no vistas at Dean Cutoff or Pueblano Ruins.  Oh well....  Once we were satisfied that we had all the water info down, we joined the Crew in the lunch line (having missed the assembly and the “I want to go back to Philmont” Ranger skit).  Lunch was some sort of Sloppy Joes, which I got without the bread and ate like chili.  Plus all the salad you wanted, of course.  Spent most of lunch chatting with Rene - an interesting guy, with a very varied background, including lots of foreign travel.  He had been accepted very late as a Ranger, same as Chris Wolff, and (like Chris) had been just about to accept another job.  But he decided to come to the Ranch after talking to Mark Anderson at a recruitment fair, whereas Chris had already committed to working at Casual Adventure.  After lunch, it was back to the grind, starting with our medical checks.  Scouts were first this year, but not in alphabetical order, oddly enough.  Rene covered First Aid and some aspects of Bear Safety while we waited.  My blood pressure was pretty good this year:  105 over 65, considerably better than in 2000, when it was 128 over 88.  Guess hiking and/or backpacking 500+ miles over the past six months paid off!  We’ll know how well soon enough....  Off to the Commissary for food and “mandatory” equipment.  On the way there, we stopped to fill up on water, and Charlie and Neil ended up doing the Turtle Dance for dropping their water bottles.  Hugh split off to get our stoves and to fill our fuel bottles.  At the Commissary, we checked out our frisbee, rubber policeman, and Polar Pure bottles (the mandatory stuff); I was less than thrilled to hear from Rene that we now had to carry the Polar Pure bottles (7 of them), not just check them out, even though we had our own.  I wouldn’t mind so much if they were made of plastic instead of glass - on a relative basis, they weigh a ton - and were certainly the heaviest thing we were going to have to carry for their size.  Growl!  They also gave us just a ridiculous amount of food, considerably more than in past years.  We didn’t have time to strip it out yet, however, and so just stored it all in our lockers for now.  With that done, we headed back to the tents for our equipment shakedown.  I gave Rene a copy of our personal and Crew equipment lists, but he wanted to see everything anyway.  As usual, we had some minor differences in opinion on what to bring - but being that we already come pretty well stripped out, there really wasn’t much for Rene to hit us up about.  After some discussion, he convinced us to not bring our pack towels, since showers were unlikely anywhere in the back country, and we could air-dry and use bandannas if we were lucky enough to get one.  We could also leave our clothes lines behind, because they were no longer allowed to be tied to trees (in fact, clothes weren’t allowed to hung on anything alive anymore, but rather only on rocks and dead trees).  Several Scouts also dumped their sneakers, insisting they really didn’t need them (I let them know I thought this was a mistake, but that it was also their choice).  We didn’t lose much, but then again we didn’t have much to lose in the first place.  With that final chore completed, Rene set to meet us for the opening campfire at 8:30, and departed for the rest of the afternoon.  After semi-repacking our gear, we headed back to the lockers for our food resorting/meal stripping.  This turned into quite an effort, as the meals were much larger than usual, loaded with sugary drink mixes, and had some rather odd choices (e.g., hot chocolate in dinners, and no drink mix at all in other dinners).  The cooked breakfasts took a hard hit as usual, but we augmented them and also some of the lunches with the food we brought from home.  Plus we consolidated a lot of the packaging, too, since some of the bags were half empty).  Luke, Matt, and Hugh left about halfway through to hit the Crew Chiefs’ and Advisors’ meetings, respectively.  Things got a little frantic time-wise, but we got it done just before dinner, and stuffed it all back into the lockers - another new policy for all food at Basecamp.  We ended up stripping out a ton of food, but we still had quite a pile left, too - and as subsequent days on the trail would show, we still kept way too much of the drink mixes.  Well, live and learn, again....  Got ourselves over for dinner assembly just as the Rangers were finishing up their “I want to go back to Philmont” skit.  Dinner was spaghetti and meat sauce, with salad again.  After dinner, we held a brief Crew meeting, where I gave everyone their temporary release - but also asking them to finalize their packs versus carry-on gear, since we wouldn’t have much time tomorrow morning.  I hit the Trading Post to pick up one more 2002 Adventure patch (for Charlie), and also to check for any new PhilSongs CD’s (there were none).  Then back to the tents, for some more sorting and reorganizing (the guys were playing cards).  Just before 7:00, Michael and I headed to religious services.  Standard fare, at least the Roman Catholic version.  Said my final Rosary for Connor for the duration, and asked the Man Upstairs to grant me a temporary abeyance while on the trail (I’m sure He understood!)  Headed back to the tents, and reminded everyone to put some warm clothes on, and grab their flash lights.  Also grabbed Rene’s Crew T-Shirt, and we headed over to the Welcome Center pavilion for the opening campfire.  Already crowded by 8:20, but Rene wasn’t present yet.  I returned a bottle of prescription medication (that one of the Scouts had found) to the Welcome Center, after the emcee said he couldn’t announce it at the opening - based on the addressing information on the label, it looked to be from one of the Advisors from the large New Jersey Contingents.  Talked to Dan Ross about some of the modifications to their trek.  Rene finally hooked up with us, and we presented him with his Crew T-Shirt, for which he seemed pleased.  As the Crew roll-call started, we spent a minute practicing our cheer:  “Now is the time to run in fear, the Army of Northern Virginia is here”.  Well, different anyway.  Assembly started at 8:35, and we headed across Rt 21 to the Opening Campfire, with flares on the road to keep us all from getting run over.  Surprisingly enough, there were still plenty of seats up close, even though we were pretty far back in the line, so we quickly grabbed them.  The campfire program started at 8:52, with a “western theme” slide show set to the music of “How the West War Won”.  Interesting (and also new for me).  Then a female emcee started in on the standard “New Mexico Story” (standard vignettes format):

1st - Anasazi Indian Woman
2nd - Conquistador - done in Spanish this year (translated by the emcee); a neat touch
3rd - Mountain Man
4th - Prostitute/hotel solicitor
5th - Lawman
6th - Emcee narrated a short story about Norton Clapp (who purchased the Baldy territory for Philmont)
7th - Waite Phillips

After Waite’s remarks, they called down the Crew leaders to receive their American flags, then the emcee gave us a Henry David Thoreau quote and some closing remarks.  We finished with the Philmont hymn, ending at 9:25.  We hooked up with Rene again (he had sat with some friends during the program), and asked about tomorrow morning.  Meet at 6:15 for breakfast, in Class A’s, get our photo at 7:00 (hope for some morning clouds, or that ain’t gonna work), then change into trail clothes, transfer the last of our carry-on stuff to the lockers and our packs to the Welcome Center by 8:30.  I also asked about warehouse storage in case the Security Hut didn’t have room for our three containers, and he said he would check on it for us.  With that, we walked back to the tents (everyone passed on another visit to the snack bar), and got most of the security envelope taken care of (Will, William, and Drew passed on storing anything in the envelope.)  Also, per Hugh’s request, I put in the return air tickets, just in case I bought it somewhere out on the trail.  Most of the envelopes they gave us had very poor glue, and we ended up using some of our electrical tape to seal them.  Once that was taken care of, we held another final Crew meeting to discuss the morning reveille and what we had to do (e.g., pick up and redistribute all the Crew food, etc.), and recommended that everyone grab a shower and get to bed early.  I headed off myself for a quick shower (might as well start off clean, anyway).  Had to wait about 10 minutes for the changing stalls to free up - I wasn’t the only guy who wanted that final luxury, since it seemed likely that our next opportunity would likely be 11 days hence, yucch.  Finished at 10:00, and headed back to my tent.  After some final organizing, I headed back over to the Welcome Center to write some last “pre-trail” diary - it had been a busy day, and I needed to get it all down while it was still reasonably fresh.  Bed for me at 11:15.  Beautiful stars overhead, but some haze to the west, and a half moon rising.  Managed to fall asleep fairly quickly, but was awakened at 12:30 am by some of the New Jersey Crews yelling about a skunk in one of their tents (just across our “aisle”) of the compound.  After throwing stuff at it was ineffective (very fortunately it didn’t cut loose in retaliation), they successfully lured it out with “Teddy Grahams” (cookies), then chased it off.  All the yelling died down after a few minutes, and Pepe la Pew stayed away for the rest of the evening (doubtless well satisfied with a belly full of graham crackers).  Well, now they know why they’re not supposed to have food in their tents - and better, I suppose, that they learn it here versus out on the trail with something not quite so easily diverted....  Other than that, I slept reasonably well.