We left the cabin at the New Brunswick Provincial Park after a bit of a lie in and were on the highway home by 9:20 am Atlantic Daylight Time. So, 8:20 am Eastern Daylight Time, our home time zone. We arrived home at 5:51 pm EDT: nine-and-a-half hours later. We made lousy time.
It was a tough drive. It surprised me. I did only get three or four hours of sleep every night for the previous eight or nine days and that is probably why.
I had to stop a few times to rest and in the final stretch, I had to take a nap again. Dormant construction lane reductions in the last few hundred kilometres too. Lots of fun. At least I did not spill hot coffee all over myself again.
Amazingly, we unloaded the truck when we got home and stowed everything the next day. Except the tent. It is very muddy and it could not be packed up tight anyway. The only things left are cleaning and drying the tent and sorting through all the badges the boy traded for. One side deal with a fellow Scouter from our old Group is still pending and I have a deal I am still owed on. No worries.
total kliks put on the truck to and from cj and everything in between
We also had a lie in today too. A nice long one. A lot was learnt from this Jamboree about travelling to and from a major camp and what one really needs to bring and what should be left at home. We still have to digest the whole thing.
I have several observations about this event and how things were run and how they could have been done better, or to put it bluntly: should have been run. It does seem that the organisers did learn along the way. Yet, this is not the first National Jamboree that Scouts Canada has put on. I know it is arduous and a lot of work is required, and put in, to pull something like this off. Saying that, some errors, mistakes, omissions, etc. that occurred, never should have. Hopefully, Scouts Canada actually realises this and does its very best to not relive such poor decisions and misactions, not to mention a few bald faced lies (sorry, but it is true and you know who you are).
I may or may not do a review of this on the Rooster. If I do, it will not be to call down the organisers so much, but to help pass on what others planning on attending such events could potentially expect, for good or bad, and hopefully mitigate as many problems as they possibly can before putting boots on the ground.
The boy and I are still planning on attending the World Scout Jamboree in 2019 in West Virginia. It will not be cheap, but we have two years to plan and fundraise. We also discovered there is a small Jamboree in Southern Ontario, that is held every two years and the next one is in 2018. This is the Great Lakes Jamboree. It is also quite affordable and much closer.
I have also been challenged to organise an Ontario Jamboree. The first and only Ontario Jamboree was held in 1968. Many provinces, territories, and regions put on Jamborees on a regular basis and it is surprising that Ontario is not one of them. I doubt I can convince National or the Councils in Ontario to participate in such an endeavour, but I have already begun to work things out in my head and it will be nicknamed OJ, with the fruit and colour orange figuring prominently. I also have a crest design worked out that would pay homage to what I believe is the original badge from 1968.
Unfortunately, there is very little information about the 68 Jamboree other than a few archived news articles and some obscure references. If I knew more and sooner, then it would have been fantastic to have held it next year as it would have been fifty years after the first one. Oh well, maybe someday. blbbl
if this was the actual crest from the 68 jam, then it is the perfect template for the next design
think orange: the fruit and the colour (courtesy ourontario.ca)
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