I appoligize for the long email and you may want to print as it covers our trips for the rest of the spring and summer. April 1-3 - Virginia Creeper Trip This is an excellent trip that our troop has taken before on the Va. Creeper bike trail http://www.vacreepertrail.com/. The trail is an old railroad bed that goes slowly down hill through the mountains of Virginia and you don't need to be in shape to have fun on the bike ride. We rent bikes for this trip because not any bike can handle mountain trials and this assures us that everyone will have a qualified bike to make the trip. Dads, if you are planning to participate, please let me know if you can go and the total number of seatbelts you have in your car - we can't take everybody if we don't have enough dads to transport our scouts. Cost for this trip will be $30 to cover bike rental and gas. April 29 - May 1 - Old North State Council Camporee - ABSS SCHOOL MAKE-UP DAY This is a wonderful opportunity for each of our scouts to attend and will probably be the only council camporee that they will be able to participate in during their scouting life. www.onscamporee.com Promotional flyer: http://www.onscamporee.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id= 74&Itemid=84 (click on flyer pdf.) Unfortunately, April 30th is an ABSS school make-up day and the council is unable to move this event (if this were a Troop 17 event, we would change the date of the trip). We want all of our scouts to be able to participate and receive an excused absence from their school. Our Mayor Ronnie Wall (also Associate Superintendent) went to bat for us and we have a plan. If you will submit the name of each Scout/Student and the school they attend, then Mayor Wall will speak to each School Principal personally and deliver the list. Those students will be given excused absences with a written note from their respective parent or guardian for Saturday classes. ***Please email me back your son's name and school and I'll submit to Mayor Ronnie Wall.*** - BY MARCH 22. Cost will be $25 to cover Camporee fees. May 27 - 29 - Linville Gorge Backpacking Trip All scouts will need to go backpacking to receive their First Class requirement (map and compass hike) and we will be backing in Linville Gorge. We will divide into two groups with the younger and first-time backpackers taking a moderate route while our older scouts will be taking a longer more aggressive route. We will all meet up on Saturday. Again, I will need dads on this trip. If you have never backpacked, we have backpacks, tents, etc so you will not need to purchase any equipment. Cost $10 for gas is gas is still at $4.00/gallon. July 3 - 9 - Summer Camp Cherokee More information will be coming out about summer camp shortly but I wanted to let everyone know the date and the cost. Cost for camp is $230, but if you send me $100 by Tuesday, March 29th, your scout will receive a $15 dollar discount making camp $215. Should you have any questions on any of the upcoming events, please let me know. Hal Bates Scoutmaster - Troop 17 http://www.ScoutTroop17.org <http://www.scouttroop17.org/> 2204 Teal Court Burlington, NC 27215 HM: 336.585.1962 WK: 336.586.1325 MB: 336.269.2215