February Roundtable 2009

What a great time at Roundtable this month. First of all my wife favored me with her company, which due to a family illness has been fairly limited these past months, and helped me with the setup and take down of all the props. We set up the chuck box that we take when we go camping as a family (it looks a lot like a troop chuck box) and our two man tent from Eureka. We laid the fliers on the table and had everything ready by the time Roundtable started. The GORP bars that I pulled off of Sarah's blog were a great success and so were the cotton ball fire starters from the Scoutmaster blog. I hope you guys don't mind me using your ideas, I do give you credit for them. We had more adult leaders there than I have seen in a long time and that was a real encouragement for me as RT Commissioner. My goal was to increase attendance and help the program at the same time. We had a representative from our local scout store to come and show us the gear that he stocks in his inventory. JR from JR's Outdoor Gear was a great addition to the nights activities and the leaders had lots of questions about the equipment. JR made one statement that sticks in my mind, "If you are going to enjoy the outdoors, why not enjoy it". He was referring to the gear that he sells, and he is right. When I first started 'enjoying the outdoors' with scouts in 2003, I looked for my gear in Wal-Mart and other places and soon discovered that some of my gear just was not cutting the mustard. So I went to see JR and he talked with me and gave me what I call a quick education in what kind of gear was available and what he thought I might need.
Well, I purchased some of his gear, and I also purchased some online. Great gear makes for a great outdoor experience. Next month we will get into the backpacking side of the outdoors and in April we will be covering the subject of Rock Climbing. I am excited about these meetings and hope to excite the leaders in our area.

David Hyler
Boy Scout Roundtable Commissioner

If you really want to do something, You will make a way. If you don't, You will make an excuse.

More Trips from More Places

EveryTrail Newsletter Dear EveryTrail Member, We hope you're off to a good start in 2009. EveryTrail certainly had a great start of the year: Traffic in January was up more than 50% from December, which was a record month already. You, the global EveryTrail community, are now creating new trips at a pace never seen before. More than 10,000 public trips and 30,000 photos were uploaded by you all in January. EveryTrail now has over 50,000 public trips from all over the world. We continue to work on improving the site as fast as we can. Some of the major changes we recently made are "under the hood" in order to make sure the site doesn't break under the strain of all your uploads and clicks. Please continue to use the EveryTrail Forums to report problems and provide suggestions. New Mobile Apps Available   After launching our iPhone applications last year we are expanding the range of mobile applications this year. In January we launched new EveryTrail applications for Android and Blackberry. We'll announce a big upgrade to the EveryTrail Windows Mobile application very soon. Please keep an eye on the EveryTrail blog. The focus of our first generation mobile apps is to make recording and uploading trips as easy as possible. Later this year we'll add new features that will help you find and plan trips. EveryTrail content as Google Earth Tours   In December we announced that EveryTrail content is available as a network layer in Google Earth. In January we've been working closely with Google to make EveryTrail content available as "Tours" in the latest version of Google Earth. You can download featured EveryTrail Tours from the EveryTrail blog. Later, we intend to automatically create Tours for each trip. And we are exploring possibilities to enable you to record and create your own tours and upload these alongside your trips. As always, feedback and suggestions are welcome! Please use the forum. Happy trails, The EveryTrail Team

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5 Reasons Why Scouts Love Walmart So Much…

from Troop 483 Blog by buffaloeagle

If you've ever been on a really long camping trip you know exactly
what I'm talking about, it's amazing.

So what is so great about Walmart?

1. Most Walmart stores are open 24/7 now.
2. You can sleep in the parking lot of Walmart.
3. You can get everything you need there (besides climbing gear)
4. Walmart has bathrooms that you can use (great for that little sink
shower that all scouts love so much)
5. Cheap which just might be a thrifty Scout's favorite word!

This is why most Scouters love Walmart. 

To say the least whether you like Walmart or don't it can be a great
resource for any troop on an extended road trip.

Reminder and Special

Just a reminder that Roundtable is Thursday night at St. Lukes Church. Our theme will be camping and there will be camping gear for you to
look at, play with and ask questions about. If you have any favorite camping gear you would like to bring, please do, just send me an email letting me
know what you are going to bring. We also have a special guest coming. J.R.'s Outdoor Gear will be there to show us what they have in the way
of camping and backpacking gear. JR has supported scouts in this area as long as I have been involved with scouts, so please come and show
your support. There will be a special surprise for all who attend the Boy Scout Roundtable, so be sure and sign in.

David Hyler
Roundtable Commissioner

If you really want to do something, You will make a way. If you don't, You will make an excuse.

Shameless promotion for a new tracking book

Hello Ladies and gentlemen,

I am equally proud and humbled, excited and reticent, but happy and happy, to announce the release of my new book Foundations for Awareness, Signcutting and Tracking.  This is a project that has spanned years from inspiration to completion.  I can see a light at the end of the tunnel and it is not an oncoming train.  The book should be coming through around February 23^rd.  That is the date I expect to be able to start filling orders for the book. 

Long and short of it, more information is on my website www.trackingschool.com

 

But here's a little summary:

Are you interested in tracking skills?  If you have spent any time outside, you have come across tracks or sign left by animals and people.  If you have ever wondered how to interpret, and even follow, human tracks or sign, this book is for you.  This book imparts knowledge necessary to answer the questions "What happened here?" and "Who made that track?"  This is an essential book for encouraging and developing your awareness of the outdoors.  It is a great aid for property owners, hunters, naturalists, search and rescue (SAR) teams, SAR managers, military instructors and law enforcement agencies.  This perfect bound, softcover, full size (8 ½ x 11), 268 page book contains 110+ illustrations (some color), a glossary, index and bibliography.  It was written to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management Search and Rescue entry level tracking course standards.  Through explanations, illustrations and many pictures from actual searches for missing persons, this book describes methods and techniques used by tracking personnel to do the following:

ü      Become familiar with the terminology of tracking

ü      Dispel misconceptions about tracking

ü      Select and use tools of the tracking trade

ü      Record and document tracking information

ü      Manage light and shadow to your advantage

ü      Learn about improving your awareness

ü      Find, follow and interpret tracks and sign

ü      Receive information about footwear as it relates to tracking

ü      Learn how to age sign

ü      Understand what to look for as sign of passage on various ground covers

ü      Get an introduction to animal tracking

Search and rescue (SAR) tracking practitioner and instructor Rob Speiden has drawn from decades of experience including the Field Team Signcutter course developed by Greg Fuller to create this invaluable resource.  Rob has been an active member of the SAR community since 1993.  Rob has trained with many tracking experts around the country and participated in over 100 missing person search missions.  As the Virginia Department of Emergency Management Field Team Signcutter (FTS) course coordinator, and through his Natural Awareness Tracking School, he currently instructs SAR volunteers and law enforcement officers in tracking and awareness skills that enhance search efforts for missing persons.  Rob has written a textbook for the FTS course and is interested in sharing it with you.  For more information and how to order the book please visit his website at www.trackingschool.com.

 

All the best,

 

Robert Speiden

trackingschool@yahoo.com

Natural Awareness Tracking School, LLC

657 Coal Hollow Road

Christiansburg, Virginia 24073

toll free (866) 678-7225

(h) (540) 552-2596

(c) (540) 357-0593

http://www.trackingschool.com