Friday June 6th I met 8 men from our church at the BOL in Holmes County, FL. I got there early Friday and mowed the campsite and the dams of the ponds and set up the campsite. The guys started arriving around 3:00pm. After set-up the guys began fishing and such.

We had a supper of stew (all from cans and some locally "aquired" meat).

They caught fish until after dark and we camped in tents and used 'no' electricity or modern conveniences.

Breakfast was yard eggs, I brought from home and deer sausage.

We fired a 'few' weapons and discussed preps and such. 3 already have CWL, and 2 more plan to have them shortly.

Lunch was a fish fry from all freshly caught bass and bream.

Then we went home.

It was a very good trip and now I have 8 men from my group of ushers (I'm head usher) that are preparing and of like mind.

In group:
1 - Former Army Airbourne Ranger
1 - Orthapaedic surgeon
1 - Weapons specialist and reloader
1 - Hunter/fisherman
1 - Jack-of-all-trade / carpenter / farmer (me)
1 - Professional firefighter/EMT
1 - Hunter
1 - 91Bravo (18yo grunt)

I feel much better about our group now. We will be setting up another campout in a few months and will invite other men from the church.

CAMPOUT? Mowed the grass? Set up the.....

COUNTRY CLUB more like it! (Next you'll be serving cocktails to the arriving guests.)

Anyway, sounds like y'all enjoyed y'selves.

Thats 7 more people to help you and your family out if anything does happen as is you to help them.

Good to hear

Yeh, well, I knew that too.

good for you.

It is always good to have like minded people. I have a couple of friends that I go to church with that live near me that are like minded.

Well, I needed to mow the grass on the dams and around the trailer, so I mowed the campsite so that we could see the snakes before we stepped on them. The campsite, I set up was just a 12x12 tent and a big fire. And the cocktails were gatorade mixed up in a jug using well water.

And no we camped on the pond not up near the trailer. But hey we had modern flashlights, was that too easy.

BTW, Fred, the gator came up behind my tent in the middle of the night and 'called' out and scared me out of my sleeping bag.

It was not hard-core roughin it, but it was a good start for organizing.

To tell the truth Stainless, I'm just a bit envious. Down here it's wet, wet and more wet, and we're not likely to do any camping until everything drys out, which will take quite some time. Good point about making it easy to spot any snakes: They're something I can do without, though it's illegal to kill them here. (Like I'd tell everyone if I did kill one, lol.)

Speaking of Country Clubs....

Were we?

Well, maybe not, but our site might look like one next time we go camping:

Today we found portable shade houses, 12' X 12', with insect proof mesh all round, on sale at the next town - $60 off. When we went in to get one, the store had sold out, but they still had the display one set up. We waited for a 1/2 hour for the staff to take it down and pack it up for us, and received a further discount of $18 to make a round sum. From $198 down to $120. Bargain!

Sounds great, congrats!

Gotta get the families out next. It's amazing how the dynamics change sometimes when the families are there.

Families? Why bring the families? Cause this isn't "red dawn" where everyone is 16 years old without any kids or a spouse!

You can still yell "Wolverines" though, that's the good part

You cannot hand one of the women your dishes and tell her to "make herself useful" though, that's definitely a no-no....

"You cannot hand one of the women your dishes and tell her to "make herself useful" though, that's definitely a no-no.... " LOL, you got that right.

Our tradition is: If it's to be a picnic, the ladies organise everything; if it's a barbeque, it's up to the men. Fair enough.

BTW ladies: The meat from a barbeque is never "burnt black" - the colour is "barbeque brown"!

Another important tradition on social occasions is never to stand and watch a fire without a 'tinnie' in your hand. (Oz for a can of beer.)

I do this with the family myself, but this was a men's group thing. BTW, as a Baptist Church function, no beer was present, except root beer.

We plan to make this a regular thing, once in the spring and once in the fall. Good fellowship, good training, good time.