Scout Camp Swim

This post is a piece of fluff, but I thought I’d throw it out here anyway.

One summer when John was in his early teens he went to scout camp up near Clayton, GA. It was a one week camp. It was a great opportunity to make some progress on several merit badges. I don’t know how it was possible to schedule it in; recreation league swimming and club team swimming generally sucked up every second of the summer.

Jean and I drove up to Clayton to pick John up at the end of the week. We barely recognized him. He was covered with bug bites and stunk like a Billy goat. He looked so awful I thought he might be sick, but he was so happy that I knew there couldn’t be a thing wrong with him. He proudly told us he hadn’t had a bath all week. We already knew that from a distance of ten yards.

On the drive home, with the windows down, John told us about his week. In addition to working on merit badges they had a one mile swim for those who wanted to attempt the feat. There was a badge that was awarded to those who could swim the mile. I remember when my brothers were in scouts that anyone who could obtain this badge was greatly admired.

John told us that there was a large pond at the scout camp. The mile swim was accomplished by swimming X laps across the pond. They had a couple of canoes that the adults paddled to keep up with the kids and make sure nobody drowned.

John was swimming six days a week with the swim club by this time, and was swimming several miles each day in practice. The scout leaders wouldn’t count his miles of swimming at practice as his mile swim; he had to do it in the pond at scout camp.

So when the mile swim began, John took off. He quickly swam away from the cluster of other swimmers and repeatedly lapped them across the pond. I have this amusing image in mind of the one canoe paddling idly along with the pack of kids making their way slowly across the pond. Then there is the other canoe paddling frantically trying to keep up with John to one edge of the pond, whereupon John turns on a dime and dashes for the other end of the pond while the adults frantically try to turn around their long canoe. John greatly enjoyed their misery.

Frustrating the adults? What’s not fun about that?