Up at 3:00 am, after two hours sleep.  As always, no matter how much prep work you do ahead of time, there’s still plenty to do the night before.  Grabbed a quick wake-up shower, checked email, and sent the latest version Chainemail (my District e-newsletter) out.  Jenner (my housemate) also got up - he couldn’t sleep due to drinking too much ice tea last night!  I convinced him not to start working on his latest car project at 4:00 am.  Out the door at 3:55, with my briefcase (everything else had been packed the night before).  Light overcast, about 70º; despite the ominous weather forecast, it hadn’t rained overnight, at least not in Arlington.  Passed on the 7-11, though I badly wanted a coke!

Got to St. Agnes around 4:10 - Al already there with the maroon van, but no one else.  We loaded up his 2 duffel bags after I packed the last of the Troop gear (some games) in my duffel.  Hung out for about 10 minutes, chatting, then people started arriving in a steady stream, Mike and Sam first (Sam was missing his bolo tie, so I got the last one out of the Troop closet for him).  Everyone else looked OK on uniforms.  Thomas, Hugh, Carl, and Fred were late, but not excessively.  Joy gave out our breakfast and lunch packets (no food served on Southwest Airline flights).  Had to quiet everyone a few times - we’re too close to the Rectory, and I don’t want to be excommunicated by an irate Priest at 4:25 in the morning!

Final assembly around 4:40 - I checked on boots, money, and food, Ted checked on photo ID’s.  After some discussion, we ended up taking 5 vehicles (Heidi B. and Fred S. were extra drivers to bring the Troop vans back, while Joy G., Diane S., and Sherry F. drove personal vehicles).  Al led the convoy out at 4:46.  Through D.C. and  up I-295 to the BW Parkway, and on to BWI.  Light rain started about halfway between DC and BWI.  Got pretty heavy for about 10 minutes, then faded back to drizzle as we approached the airport.

Quite a traffic jam for departing flights; pretty slow working our way to the SWA entrance.  Gave the Motorolas to Mark and Rick, and we did a quick gear dump by human chain while Ted and Mark went inside to grab a spot in line.  Everyone said their final goodbyes, and Fred S. jumped in the white van, Heidi B. into the maroon van, and all the drivers departed.  Per a radio call from Mark, we began transferring all our gear to a group desk at the SWA ticket counter.  We’re on SWA Flight 499 to Salt Lake City, which continues on afterwards from Salt Lake to Oakland, CA.  Ted, Mark, and Rick handled the check-in; surprisingly, our agent had never handled a group before (but we had no complaints).  One of our food lockers was overweight  (93 pounds; 75 was the no-charge limit), but they didn’t charge us for it, or make us re-pack it (Thanks!); another lesson learned for the future.  Of interest, we had an elderly gentleman in the line behind us ask where we were from; turns out he had been in a Troop 111 in Baltimore some 60 years before; wow!  All the guys sat down after we finished getting the duffels through the packed luggage check-in.

Off to Gate B2 at 6:20, with a reminder from Ted not to buy food at the various food-court attractions on the way - we have breakfast and lunch!  Security went easy, though the hiking sticks got some extra attention.  The seats at B2 were already crowded, so we sat at the deserted Gate B1.  Almost everyone ate breakfast (I passed).  Neil "delighted" one and all with a newly bought hand-buzzer.  Matt tried to bait me with a "magic trick" where I was to close my eyes for 2 minutes while holding a pose with my arms (Du-uh!) - I didn’t bite.  Sam read a wrestling magazine with intense interest, while Charles read a Maxim magazine (Huh?).  After a group toiety, we boarded all together around 6:50 - the last people on board.  Several people asked if we were going to the Jamboree (!!!) - yeah, we’re going to Fredericksburg, VA by way of Salt Lake City, right.  I just told them no, we were trying to get as far away from the Jamboree as we possibly could, which got me some confused smiles.  We ended up sitting mainly in the back of the plane.  Very funny running commentary by flight steward (Why do they sell us cigarettes in gas stations if you’re not allowed to smoke there?, and lots of similar one liners).

Push-off at 7:10, and liftoff at 7:28; on our way at last.  Very bumpy flight for first 20 minutes, til we broke out into the clear.  Carl and Sam played cards in the very back of the plane.  Ted started a diary of his own, and Mark started in on a book; I was too far back to see what everyone else was doing.  At 8:00, the flight attendants took drink orders (and I got my coke at last), and also handed out small packages of animal crackers cookies.  We chatted for awhile with the flight steward - Robert - his grandfather had been a Scoutmaster for 50 years in the Heart of America Council (Kansas City).  And to think I’m worn out after only 13 1/2 years!  The Scouts all got their SWA wings (posting them on their Uniforms immediately), some SWA postcards, and 2 - 3 decks of SWA playing cards.

Finally got a chance to read the Washington Post - many odes to Katherine Graham, the just-deceased publisher.  At 9:45, much to our surprise, we were served a "brunch" snack package:  a NutraGrain Bar, 4 breadsticks, cheese spread, beef sausage, and drinks.  Actually looked like it would have made a pretty good trail lunch for backpacking, and I spent a minute or two writing down the contact information for the manufacturer.  After this, we were finally allowed to wander around a little bit, and I spent some time with Rick discussing the new bear safety rules at Philmont (we agreed to institute some of the latest suggestions for our Crews on this trek).  The Scouts asked about the new, small pin on my uniform (Silver Beaver Award), while immediately resulted in giggling requests from half of them "Can I touch your beaver?"  Ah to be 14 again....

At 11:00, we started seeing some snow capped peaks to either side, plus a big lake (no idea what lake, not Great Salt Lake though).  At 11:27, we started an easy descent into Salt Lake City airport; here we could see the Great Salt Lake to either side of the plane.  Touchdown at 11:41.  Robert got one more laugh out of the crowd by announcing "Whoa, Big Boy, Whoaaaa!" as the pilot reverse-thrusted the engines.  Brilliant sunshine outside, with very stark looking mountains (the Wasatch Range) in the distance.  Exited into the terminal at 11:55 EDST/9:55 MDST.  Lots of benevolent and interested looks from the locals, and I watched a number of people sneak a peek at our CSP’s to find out where we were from (no one worked up the nerve to ask, however).

Once we were all reassembled, we headed down to baggage claim; I started pushing water immediately.  I also passed out the Motorolas again.  Rick, Mark, Al, Ted and I headed over for vans, while Chris, Charles, and Matt led a mass shift of our gear from the baggage claim area to the curb (and stripping the feed bags off the backpacks).  At Budget, quickly ran into problems - they had no second van without seats, as arranged and confirmed multiple times by Rick (he got hot pretty quickly).  What is it with Troop 111 and van rentals???  After much debate, we ended up with a cargo van and one 15 passenger van - which was, of course, exactly what we actually wanted in the first place 6 months ago! (but couldn’t get).  On the plus side, they waived the taxes because we were a Scout group, and the cargo van was much less expensive than another passenger van.  Probably saved $1500 in all, according to Ted.  For that amount of money I suppose it was worth the grief.

Exited to a covered parking garage, and easily located both vans.  We did our usual thorough stem-to-stern inspection - both look great! - basically brand new.  Both had slightly higher mileage versus what was listed on the sheets, but that was easily fixed at the check-out booth.  Back around to the terminal, and we loaded all the gear quickly.  Rick and Hugh took the gear van.  I drove the passenger van.  Motorolas on, and we’re outta here - Rick led the way to VIP Campground, arriving in about 10 minutes.  "VIP" was an RV park with only two small group tent sites – our site is close to the road, looks to be noisy, although there was a screening fence.  7 picnic tables and 1 pile of dog poop (which Rick and Hugh removed).  We moved several picnic tables to create more room at one end.  After sunscreen all around (the sun was fierce!), we set up tents, moved our duffels and backpacks inside, and changed from our uniforms into swimming clothes.  Loaded up and headed off to the Great Salt Lake - or more specifically, a swimming beach in Great Salt Lake State Park, just past the Park’s Marina.  Quite surprisingly, we got a rather nauseating smell as we passed certain sections of the lake; not very enticing, and I had never heard of this problem before - and I also suspected we wouldn’t be swimming in this!  But things improved dramatically as we approached the swimming area.

There were lots of seagulls around the marina and beach, but no other swimmers - I guess swimming in the Great Salt Lake is only for the rube tourists.  Everyone piled out and headed down to the beach - the sand was very hot!  A brown scum at the water’s edge turned out to be millions upon millions of brine flies - but fortunately they were not biting flies.  Except for Carl (who was still semi-sick), we all stripped down to swimtrunks, applied more sunscreen, and waded on in (Chris first) - surprisingly cold water, with a firm sand bottom, and a distinct but not unpleasant odor.  You could see down about 4 - 6 feet.  Charles and Neil ended up going the furthest:  about ¼ mile.  Only Ted ducked his head and swam underwater; everyone else noted how their minor cuts and eyes were stinging from the high salt content of the water, and refused.  As we had always read, it was indeed easy to float, and we got some of the classic pictures with our toes sticking up.  Rick waded in about 100 feet to take some photos – and that was still only about knee-deep.

After 45-60 minutes, we all headed out, and semi-dried off.  Sat on our towels in the vans, and drove over to the marina (where there was a single shower).  Everyone got a quick rinse-off.  There was a big meeting going on in the adjacent open-air pavilion, but the marina folks didn’t seem to mind our presence.  As each guy finished his shower, he headed off to eat lunch and the last of Joy’s pre-prepared meals and the SWA snacks under the shade of some nearby trees.  I wrote some diary while waiting, so was last on the shower, then last on lunch.

Then it was off to Saltair- a huge building on the lakeshore which had apparently been quite the resort in the early 1900’s, before storms and floods wrecked it.  It is now just an empty (but preserved) shell, with a few small gift shops inside.  They had a large model inside showing what it looked like in its heyday - simultaneously impressive and sad.  After wandering around a bit, we got a group photo, and headed back to Salt Lake City.  The nauseating odor returned on the way back; this can't be too much fun when the wind shifts and pushes this over the city!

Once in town, we went up to Temple Square to play accidental tourist.  Small but impressive town center, with the Temple, Tabernacle, visitor center, and several other large buildings.  The heart and soul of the Mormon/LDS faith.  After wandering a bit, we joined onto a guided tour, with Sister Mahalla from Kenya and Sister Nielsen from Portland, Oregon.  About 30 minutes; a little heavy on the religious indoctrination (I suspect the guides view every visitor as a potential convert), but interesting nonetheless.  Then a slow drive out to Raging Waters Waterpark, arriving at 4:40.  Negotiated a group rate for everyone - but Carl, Mark, and Mike decided not to swim anyway, so it ended up being a wash cost-wise.  There was a large wave pool just inside the entrance, but it required the additional rental of a tube - a dirty trick there! - so we all passed, and instead headed over for the various slides.  Raft/tube Sluice Runs, Sled Runs, and Mat Slides .  This was my very first Water Park, and I was scared half to death; seemed like everything had very steep drops which resulted in shockingly fast runs.  Everyone else loved them, but they definitely scared the crap out of me.

We went at it until 6:15, ending with a few guys swimming in the wave pool (without tubes), then got changed into dry clothes, and headed out at 6:30 for the "Chuck-a-Rama" restaurant.  Everyone enjoyed the association of the restaurant name with Charles (aka:  "Chuck!")  It was all you could eat - and it was quite the spread of carved meats, baked and fried, BBQ, veggies, desserts, etc., and immediately became the standard against which all of our other restaurant stops were measured.  It is actually a small chain, but to the Scouts’ disappointment, there were no other Chuck-a-Ramas along the rest of our route!  Chris, Luke and Neil were the Champion Oinkers.

At 7:50, Ted discussed the next day’s activities, and we finally staggered out the door at at 8:10.  Ted and Rick headed off in the cargo van to buy groceries at "Fred Meyer" while the rest of us headed back to VIP.  We did a complete gear sort for the next day - gloves, jacket, and canteen for the activities, plus everyone packed up their duffel bags and backpacking stuff that wasn’t needed for sleeping.  Once this was out of the way, most of the guys headed off for the VIP Hot Tub - we heard later that a Chinese guy and his girlfriend that were also there were afraid of Chris! (apparently it was the beard).  Thomas passed on the hot-tub, and instead spent his free time in the game room.  Bedtime at 10:00 (midnight for us east-coasters) - still warm, with lots of stars.  As noisy as I had feared, but not ridiculous (not that it would have made any difference to my sleeping possibilities (nil as usual)).  A good start!