Damn That Cookout

Damn that Cookout

January 16, 2012

Back in the day, when were in summer camp, we would have a Dam Cookout. It quickly became the “Damn That Cookout”.
We would row out to Rock Lake’s dam. It was all the way at the end. It was far from the Kunatah docks. That was the site where many of leapt off of to go swimming every afternoon.

I went back two summers ago and realized it wasn’t really that far. But to us teens it was like paddling down the Amazon and hoping to reach a stopping point. Of course, I’ve never paddled down the Amazon. The only Amazon I’ve visited is amazon.com.
Let us get back to my dam. The staff, which included me, would pack up the burgers, dogs and other stuff for our BBQ. Someone would drive our stuff down to the famous dam. The rest of us would hop into our rowboats. I loved rowing on Rock Lake. Canoeing and kayaking was fun, too. I would even carry trunks. Not on the lake. But that’s a discussion for another time…

We would try and race each other to see who could get there first. We would dock and hang out. I being the camp cook would select a few of my favorites…. They helped me light the fire and grill the dogs and burgers. The food came from the ever-delicious Kunatah Dining Hall. So they were kosher. Not sure once us heathens touched them they remained that way. But all we did was toss them on our grills. So who knows?

The rest of the campers would spend the day swimminK (note the “K”, some of the astute camp leaders allege I changed the ings to inKs. I don’t believe it) at the dam. Eventually, they got out of the lake to dine. I got my swim time, too. So don’t worry that I slaved over the grill all day.

After we finished our meal, we may have swam a little more. Then we got ready to row back to the docks.
But before heading on that long voyage home, we would clean up. As good scouts, we’d police the area quite well. We would load our garbage into the Whomobile or the Truckster. It was taken back to the Hill.

Those scouuuuts who failed to earn merit badges were placed on a “special” list. They would be charged with cleaning up the cookware.

At the ’84 Dam cookout one of our leaders missed getting into a boat and broke his foot. Boy did that create an interesting rest of summer. This of course is why the famous dam cookout became the Damn That Cookout. From that point on when we created the camp’s weekly program, we’d write in Damn That Cookout. Thankfully, no one got hurt at future Damn That Cookouts.