What do the Boy Scouts of Troop 285 in Plano and the Heritage Farmstead Museum have in common?  Fortunately, we have a tradition of Winter Camps at this great venue while working on merit badges, and this year, also earning the Boy Scouts of America Historic Trails Award.

Day 1:  With 28 scouts and 12 adults participating, we set-up camp and made arrangements for the horses to be delivered on the final day.  We were PREPARED for a good ole’ fashioned Western themed campout.  The boys would alternate between merit badge classes and some great activities over the next 3 days.  Merit Badges for day 1 included American Heritage, Cooking, and Movie Making.  The boys were able to complete the American Heritage, while Cooking continued across the 3 days as they planned, prepared, and cooked the troop meals.  Movie Making required that they assemble in teams and produce a short film/documentary of the campout to be presented at the closing, troop meetings, and/or our upcoming Court of Honor.

But wait a minute, it’s not all work, these boys want some fun.  There were also stations for Lassoing, Tomahawk throwing, Atlatl throwing, our traditional balance Joust, and some boys even played a pickup football game to pass the time.  To close the day after a nice meal and some dutch oven cobbler, they settled down to a movie before TAPS and lights out.

Day 2: 0700 and the cooks are going again.  Today, the tracks include Citizenship in the Community, Wilderness Survival, and Weather Merit Badges.  But to start the day, we all assembled for a tour of the Heritage to learn more about its history, as required for the Historic Trails Award.  Following the tour and morning chow, it’s off to Citizenship in the Community.  For the afternoon Wilderness Survival class, a few boys even braved the freezing temperatures that night to sleep in their own constructed shelter made of left over Christmas trees.  And for the Weather merit badge, we were pleased to have Ashton Altieri from WFAA join us via Skype to cover some portions of the merit badge with the class so we were able to complete that merit badge also.  Thanks again Ashton.

We closed the night with our traditional family dinner where all scout families are invited to spend time with the troop.  Being in Plano has its advantages and following the Western theme allowed many families to bring their own chili recipe for our Troop Chili Cook-off.  The night concluded with a Court of Honor for two new Eagle Scouts followed by the retirement of two American Flags.

Day 3: One more merit badge, then wrap-up the camp.  Electricity was the merit badge of the day, so the boys had some good hands-on fun and everyone walked away with an added appreciation for electricity.  After lunch and camp breakdown, we were almost ready to go. 

But WAIT, where are the horses?!?!?!  While a Historic Trail cattle drive would be difficult, there was some final education for the boys on the topic and then we brought out the horses: Philmont, Shadow, Heartly, Pokey, Rudy, and Lil Silver.  Yes, wooden stick horses and while there was some initial dismay from the boys of not having live horses, the scouts and adults quickly had some fun horse races around the farm before truly saddlin’ up and movin’ out.  Happy Trials from Troop 285!!!