8 September ‘06
Today is the first full weekend for us and the campground is full !!! Not only is our campground (Snow Berry) full, so are all the others here at Farragut. The weather is still giving us one beautiful day after another and giving all the campers just what they are looking for. On top of the “everyday camper” we have here, Farragut is hosting the last Farragut Naval Training Station, 60th Reunion this weekend. That means that we have about 5-600 additional people running around here as well. This morning I was up early and sitting under the canopy having my first cup of coffee, when I was summoned to the “Brig”. Now seeing as how this was a Naval Base, it makes sense that there was a brig set up for the naughty. There was going to be a large gathering of sailors and their families at the brig to see the unveiling of a large memorial to them and the training center at Farragut. They asked me to help with traffic control… Now remember, this is the 60th reunion for those that arrived at this camp at the young age of 17 plus…that means that the average age for those that attended (and drove their cars, trucks, and motor homes) were well over 80. All kidding aside, it was a pleasure to be a target out there with all those that went through boot camp here. We have one of the former “recruits” in the site right across from us. Just after he backed into his site with his 35 foot motor home, I looked across and found him walking across the top of it. Now under most circumstances, it wouldn’t have given me such a start. Bill, it turns out, is 85, about 6’ 1”, and prox 200 pounds. Next, he was hanging over the side of it trying to un-lock his canopy which was stuck. He handled all this quite well on his own, and gave me the thought that I sure hope I will be able to do that after the next 20 years. Now back to the memorial, it consisted of a cement platform that is to resemble a ship and in the center of that, is a circular platform that holds the sculpture of a Navy sailor. Everything in getting ready for this reunion unfortunately was running a little behind, so when I was summoned to the brig, the sculpture was sitting on a large wooden pallet and just about ready to be lifted into place on the “ship”. The sculpture was still clay. It just didn’t have time to make it to the foundry for the reunion, so it arrived “green”. The artist was there to make sure that there were no problems during the lift on and off of the platform. The bust had the typical Navy white hat and jumper. The head, neck, and face of the sailor have relief carvings of additional faces of the Farragut Sailor…it is wonderfully done. Later on we were back at Snow Berry, raking out a couple of sites and selling firewood…a full day and it looks like a very full weekend !!!
Today is the first full weekend for us and the campground is full !!! Not only is our campground (Snow Berry) full, so are all the others here at Farragut. The weather is still giving us one beautiful day after another and giving all the campers just what they are looking for. On top of the “everyday camper” we have here, Farragut is hosting the last Farragut Naval Training Station, 60th Reunion this weekend. That means that we have about 5-600 additional people running around here as well. This morning I was up early and sitting under the canopy having my first cup of coffee, when I was summoned to the “Brig”. Now seeing as how this was a Naval Base, it makes sense that there was a brig set up for the naughty. There was going to be a large gathering of sailors and their families at the brig to see the unveiling of a large memorial to them and the training center at Farragut. They asked me to help with traffic control… Now remember, this is the 60th reunion for those that arrived at this camp at the young age of 17 plus…that means that the average age for those that attended (and drove their cars, trucks, and motor homes) were well over 80. All kidding aside, it was a pleasure to be a target out there with all those that went through boot camp here. We have one of the former “recruits” in the site right across from us. Just after he backed into his site with his 35 foot motor home, I looked across and found him walking across the top of it. Now under most circumstances, it wouldn’t have given me such a start. Bill, it turns out, is 85, about 6’ 1”, and prox 200 pounds. Next, he was hanging over the side of it trying to un-lock his canopy which was stuck. He handled all this quite well on his own, and gave me the thought that I sure hope I will be able to do that after the next 20 years. Now back to the memorial, it consisted of a cement platform that is to resemble a ship and in the center of that, is a circular platform that holds the sculpture of a Navy sailor. Everything in getting ready for this reunion unfortunately was running a little behind, so when I was summoned to the brig, the sculpture was sitting on a large wooden pallet and just about ready to be lifted into place on the “ship”. The sculpture was still clay. It just didn’t have time to make it to the foundry for the reunion, so it arrived “green”. The artist was there to make sure that there were no problems during the lift on and off of the platform. The bust had the typical Navy white hat and jumper. The head, neck, and face of the sailor have relief carvings of additional faces of the Farragut Sailor…it is wonderfully done. Later on we were back at Snow Berry, raking out a couple of sites and selling firewood…a full day and it looks like a very full weekend !!!