Camp 08’ (B.S.A Approved)

Hey guys, I appreciate you stopping by the read my adventures while I'm down in Oklahoma for the summer. As a recap, I have accepted a job at Camp Tom Hale working for the Boy Scouts of America and the Indian Nations Council. I will be at Camp for the summer teaching Cinematography/ Photography. I'll also be doing whatever else they need my help with. Which may or may not include teaching another merit badge class.
The drive down to Camp was interesting and pretty uneventful. We were up and on the road by 8am in the morning. (Joy…) We drove to Springfield where we stopped at Panera Bread (St. Louis Bread Co., "Bread" Bread, etc…) for brunch and got to hang out with one of my oldest friends Missy Bruce (F.K.A Goodwin) and she got to meet my partner-in-crime Michael.

Shout-out- Missy, I love you! Thanks for meeting us! Wahhhh!

Then we started on the longer part of our drive. From then on Michael drove (He's amazing. 6 hrs. driving. It was fun.) and I amused myself by putting Pirates of the Caribbean into the DVD player and we started to watch the trilogy. For the record, I watched and he listened. Just in case you were worried…
I think the best part of the drive itself was actually getting into Arkansas and then Oklahoma. Arkansas was fun because the scenery started to get good and we had fun driving through a long tunnel that caused Michael's poor GPS "Sheila" to lose our location.
Getting into Oklahoma we were greeted by the sight of the Choctaw Casino; officially telling us we had entered the state. No, we didn't stop in the Casino, but we did wave as we went past. I'm pretty sure that only Staffers would say that gambling was "BSA approved". As for the Indian Nations Council, it probably wouldn't go over too well.
Since most of you probably don't know anything about Camp, I'll do my best to fill you in. Camp is located right smack dab in the middle of the Kiamichi mountain range in northeastern Oklahoma. The closest town, Talihina, is about a 15 min. drive from Camp. The next closest town, Poteau, is roughly 30 min. from Talihina. Poteau is approx. the size of Rolla, MO and has a Super Wal-mart and other niceties; Talihina is a storybook small town. The kind of town that shuts down on Friday nights to go support the high school football team, the Talihina Tigers, and where everyone knows exactly who you are and who your parents are.
I was struck by the fact that Poteau was so similar to Rolla and then amazed by the fact that Talihina and towns like that still existed in America. Unfortunately, Michael was very disappointed because one of his favorite stores in Talihina, Treats and Treasures, was shut down for re-modeling. Apparently, they make the best ice cream, shakes, floats, etc. in their old-fashioned ice cream shop. So I didn't get to see how good they were and he didn't get his shake.
The scenery from Poteau to Talihina was amazing. Very picturesque. It reminded me why I loved growing up in Oklahoma. The scenery from Talihina to camp was breath taking; awesome views that should have been preserved because of how amazing they were. At one point all I could see was the stretch of road in front of us and then it cut off and beyond us in all directions in the mountain range. Talk about feeling tiny. The mountains surrounded us and everything was green and in bloom and the heat made the pavement shimmer, off above the fields next to us were huge hawks circling. I feel like Oklahoma is one of the last places in our country where you can go and find a place that's untouched and you knew what it felt like to be surrounded by untamed wilderness.
We pulled into Camp and were greeted by the Program Director, Joseph Lopez aka "J-Lo", who told us which cabins to bunk in until we got assigned our real ones at the beginning of Staff Week. I'm the only girl until Saturday at the soonest so I get a cabin to myself ATM. It's nice and the guys are great. We're working on getting Camp looking great. Mowing the grass, cleaning campsites, getting all the electronics up and working, etc. It's hard work, but interesting so far. I'm trying not to trip and bite the dust since most of the paths are loose rock and dirt. (I'll do it eventually, but hopefully I don't injure myself)
Well, I better get back to work. Unfortunately, the reception at Camp is miserable at best so I won't get to call people as often as I'd like. Being in the middle of nowhere will do that to you. Hopefully, I'll be able to post another update soon. I'm sure as soon as the entire Staff arrives there will be plenty of things to tell you about. So, until next time, this message is BSA approved. Love!


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