Day Sixteen

Thursday, 7/16 - Last day! Up at 5:45 with the alarm; was actually already awake, although the thunder and lightning, rain, earlier-rising crews and various screaming tent-raids all around homebound tent city had me up half the night. Quickly dressed in my full Scout Uniform, and woke everyone in Crew A; Rick was already working on Crew B when I walked over. Noticed that the wall tents that B were using were the "Jamboree" type with the internal metal pole frames (first I've seen at Philmont); I knew there was something odd about them when I had first seen them the previous day, but couldn't put my finger on it `til now. Headed off to the shower house and got semi-cleaned up for the trip, then headed over to the parking lot and moved my van to the 2-hour parking area. Back to the site, where we tried to fix Matt S. cot - but it looked even worse in the light of day versus by flashlight the previous night, and we gave it up rather than break it altogether. Moved the last of my carry-on stuff to the van, with Rusty carrying my pack. Dropped off our two extra Arrowhead patches at the Welcome Center; disturbingly, the Admin guy was highly impressed and said so - apparently, most crews just keep their extras, which is certainly disappointing. Also let him know about Matt S.'s cot, and he promised to get it replaced or repaired before another crew was assigned to that tent. Off to Breakfast at 7:00, and the crew headed in while I went over to talk to Vinny, Ron and a third leader from the M. Area Council Contingent. They confirmed "no problems" from our guys the previous night, although their "troublemaker" had apparently tried to start something at the snack-bar, and yet again when they returned to their tents, until the leaders "sat on him." The third leader (missed his name) said this kid had been "a constant problem for us the entire trek," and that they were holding his Arrowhead against any future problems, and were probably going to deny it regardless. I again indicated that there was doubtless plenty of blame to share around my Scouts too, and we all agreed that the guys were just strung out and no harm done, and parted with Scout handshakes and smiles. Good guys. They headed in, but I stayed outside to briefly chat with another "Vinny," this guy an old Scouter who was responsible for collecting the breakfast meal tickets from the crews. He wanted to know about our trek, and also whether we had heard about the Air Force thing (and asked me to contact my Congressman about it when I got home, which I promised to do - although I intend to talk to David Skaggs, and just write to Jim Moran.) Nice guy. Went inside just as our guys were finishing up, grabbed a quick glass of lemonade, and had everyone start "signing" the crew flags with a Sharpie pen (to give to the Crew Chiefs at the first Reunion session.) Unfortunately, the Sharpie started bleeding through the flags and onto the tabletop, so we bagged that immediately in favor of another time and place, and headed out to the vans. Did a quick load-up and CB radio check, and headed out the gate, stopping briefly to take some photos of Tim standing beneath his boots on the gateway. The M. Area Council Contingent was just starting to load up into 3 buses in the front lot; no sign of our late antagonist, so I guess Vinny and Ron had him slapped in irons down in the hold. Another crew was just finishing getting into 2 commercial mega-vans in front of the Welcome Center. Goodbye Philmont - see you again in Y2K! Brad cranked in a J. Geil's tape and away we went, out 21 to 64 East, and on to Raton. Had Brad take some photos "on the fly" of a large herd of buffalo on the right hand side (which belong to a local Rancher, not Philmont.) At least 150 of them all together; pretty impressive. Everyone but Brad asleep halfway to Raton, dreaming to that soporific highway whine. Up to 70 mph on I-25 north of Raton, then 65 through Raton Pass. No antelope to be seen today, but I'm concentrating on the road, not the prairie. Switched to KILO after I got sick of J. Geils. Odd, thin layer of clouds above "Twin Peaks" in Colorado (with the rest of the sky a clear blue.) Back to 75 in Colorado. Approaching Pueblo and heading towards Colorado Springs, much thicker clouds were evident above Pike's Peak. Quickly to the airport, dropping Brendan off in time for his flight to Denver with 20 minutes to spare. Guys wrapped the packs and cleaned the vans while Rick and I went inside to drop off the keys and switch credit card receipts around; Rick also arranged his transportation for the next couple of days that he and Chris were spending in Colorado. Upstairs, several other crews from North Carolina and either Massachusetts or Minnesota (???) were also in the airport, all in (mostly) Full Uniforms. Moved all our stuff down to the TWA counter (at the other end of the airport, natch!), and started the check-in procedures; the TWA personnel were very helpful, and got us through easily despite our size and the fact that we were "pushing it" on the number of items we had. Tim sent the maps as checked luggage instead of carry-on; hope it makes it! Off to lunch at the quaintly named "Pike's Peak Cafe" - half restaurant, half deli - decent food, but a bit pricey and the sodas were filled to the rim with ice. Well, Colorado Springs Airport is really thin on restaurants, so not a lot of choice here. The guys from North Carolina ate at the deli; a lot quicker and doubtless a lot less expensive too - well, another lesson for 2000, right? Farewell to Rick and Chris W., and off through Security (I was once again far behind with a thorough hand-search of my film), and down to Gate 8. Our arriving flight was late, so we spent a few minutes looking at a "fully loaded" Castle motorcycle on display by the gate - a cool $23,500, so I don't think I'll be jumping on one anytime soon (but it is a beautiful machine, that's a fact.) Our plane finally arrived, and two crews (or small Council Contingents) got off! - one from Chicago, Illinois, the other from Connecticut. One of them was met by a couple of hotel personnel (!!!) and corralled out to the baggage area. Whoa, that's roughing it, huh? - let me know when they open the Holiday Inn at Copper Park, OK? The North Carolina crew departed to Dallas/Fort Worth from Gate 6-C next to us, and we finally started boarding ourselves, already 20 minutes behind our departure time. Did a quick departure and a continuous run all the way to the runway, lifting off without stopping once along the way; our pilot obviously got a high priority to try and make up some time. We're scattered again, but in small groups in front of the wing this time. Everyone zoned, while I wrote some more diary. Sodas and pretzels only on this flight, so it's a good thing we ate well for lunch. Very fast flight to St. Louis, and believe it or not, we arrived 4 minutes early despite our way late departure from Colorado Springs; and here I thought commercial airliners weren't allowed to use afterburners! Great job. Arrived at D18, leaving from D22, so no mad rush through the airport this time. We had an hour and 45 minutes before the next flight, so I gave everyone their release for an hour and 15; most of them hit the arcade or grabbed some more food here and there (lots more choices in St. Louis.) I watched our carry-on gear stack and chatted with Tim before his (separate from us) flight to Washington National. Rusty came back and we talked about his Senior Year curriculum at Yorktown, and my personal recommendations for the same. We also talked about the trek and how he had enjoyed himself more this time, and appreciated the leadership development and maturing aspects of it more the second time through. Good to hear. Got a laugh from Mike and John, who returned proudly displaying their shoe-shined boots! (I hope they paid the guy extra; probably his toughest job all year!) For some reason, they never announced our flight, but just opened the gate and announced seats, starting around 6:40. Had Matt S. call his Mom to start the teletree, since it looked like we'd be leaving on time. Our guys came back in dribs and drabs, most with yet more food. Started getting concerned with JT - nowhere in sight as the last people were boarding, and I went up to the counter to ask for a quick page. Finally appeared on the moving walkway just as they were about to do the page; apparently, he decided to buy a Snickers Bar at the last possible minute. No harm done, but I was definitely sweating it. Very hot and crowded flight to BWI; we're scattered once again, but this time in the back of the plane (3/3 seating, and very tight.) Brad and I spent a few minutes sorting the awards. They finally turned on the A/C, but it was a losing battle all the way. The "snack" for this flight turned out to be actually a pretty good-sized sandwich meal, although the quote of the night belonged to Brad, who stated of the sandwich: "If you can't even pull it apart, I'm sure not going to eat it!" Some pretty neat cloud formations on both sides of the plane, but no signs of lightning or rain. Eventually we were pretty well socked in with clouds. Descended into BWI at around 9:35, with a rather bumpy drop through the overcast. Beautiful array of lights in Baltimore and surrounding suburbs; easy landing and quick taxi to the gate, no rain. Long, hot wait waiting in the back for everyone else to deplane, but finally our turn. Waved the Scouts ahead of me, and reminded each to remember to thank their parents for the trip. Got my own stuff together, and deplaned to find that Rusty had held most of the crew for me in the tunnel - but I waved them on again; their parents don't want to see me, that's for sure! David S. (Philmont 95) and Tim H. (96) were also waiting on us, which was pretty cool. After a few minutes of reunion greetings (yes, Mom, they're all still in one piece!), we headed towards the baggage claim and found a good spot just before the escalators to hold the awards ceremony. Asked Al to assist; first 25/10 Hike Awards, then 50-Miler Awards, then the Philmont Arrowheads and Bolo Ties. As always, enough camera flashes to cause second degree sunburn! A BWI security or baggage claim officer (?) came by halfway through, and tried to get us to stop and go get our stuff ("or it will be locked up for the night.") Yeah, right. Ridiculous nonsense, but Walter H. and Randy J. went off to appease him. Finished up by giving Al his awards, gave my abbreviated final speech to wrap things up, and we all gave ourselves a round of applause. That was pretty much the end of our organization, and everyone headed off to the baggage carousel, grabbed their stuff, and began to disperse. Helene S. warned everyone of a major traffic accident on 495 near Bethesda, so everyone returning to Arlington decided to head through town on 295 or 50. Howdy and JT, and David and Ryan, all had a long way to drive (in various opposite directions), so they were off fairly quickly, David first giving me the keys to the van (and indicating that it had a really bad vibration on the drive over.) Steamy outside - typical July in Washington/Baltimore - and I gave hurried goodbye's as everyone headed off. Al and I got the Blue Van, loaded our gear and about half the crew gear, and waited for Helene S. et al. Finally on our way, and boy, David wasn't kidding about the vibration - a pretty heavy duty version in the back of the van which had to be either shot U-bolts or a dying differential. Great timing - well, it'll just have to hold for now, and Helene is following me anyway, so if it croaks, we won't be stuck in the middle of nowhere without the proverbial paddle. Back to Arlington via the BW Parkway, 295 S, 395 S, and the GW Parkway. Helene split off to head home, and I dropped Al off at his house, waiting to make sure his key was where it was supposed to be; he's on another flight to Pittsburg at 6 am tomorrow morning, so a very long night ahead for him. Back to 66 W for me, babying the van home, and listening to the Orioles win their 8th straight game, this one at Texas; who knows, maybe they'll turn this dismal season around after all. In at 12:15 am, so tack a "Day 17" onto this trek. Dragged everything inside, and finally sat outside around 12:45 am for another 15 - 20 minutes, looking at the murky night sky and reflecting - another great trek.

- Dr. Bob