Camp Timberlake awoke once again to the sound of the Bugle, and raced down to the Tuck for one of the most awaited breakfasts at Timberlake, french toast sticks! After breakfast, the morning yell served as a great wake up call to anyone who was still feeling sleepy, and John’s story in Chapel reminded us of the importance of realizing that in Christ we are to seek to live in unity with one another, since we have each been adopted into his family. After chapel, we naturally raced off to clean up the cabins before setting about the important work of finding adventure in our different activities!

Let’s jump right into the action. Today was the last day for campers to earn bars in classes, and so all of our campers were working really hard to fulfill those last requirements for their bronze, silver and gold bars.

In our rocketry class, we had some amazing rockets that we finished building, and also several really cool launches during free time! Several campers earned their bronze in rocketry today for building and successfully launching their bronze rockets without assistance! Those who earned their bronze today were Grant S, Thornton H, Graeme W, Alex P and Sam S! We also had David K and Pace W earned their silver bars in rocketry today by building and launching their silver rocket without assistance!

In pickleball, one of our newest and certainly one of our most popular activities, Ryan H, Edward S and Creighton J were the first ever in Timberlake history to earn their gold bars!

In other areas of camp, Stephen J earned his silver in tennis, Neil R earned his gold in basketball, and Alan W played a song on guitar for the whole camp at dinner to earn his gold in guitar!

There were also several different trips out today, as we had some of our more experienced kayakers go out on the Nantahala in search of adventure. It sounds like Kenny C, Wilson B, Case M, Ryker R and Banks P had an awesome adventure, as they couldn’t stop talking about all of the awesome things they did when they got back right before dinner!

We also had a brave group of whitewater rafters tackle the Pigeon river today. Sam C, Barrett C, Barrett G, Parker J, Edward B, Porter S, Andrew T, Nathan W, Zach W, Andrew K and Kyle G had a great time working their way through the various rapids, and just chilling out when there were quiet spots on the river.

Finally, our overnight mountain biking trip got back today, and I have heard several awesome stories from the different campers and staff members that went out to Rocky Knob for the past couple of days, but I am sure that the staff members along with Richard B, William B, Noah P, Henry O, Harrison C, Hugh W and Wagner D will all be thankful to rest in a bed again tonight after two big days of biking.

Tonight, the campers are participating in what John describes as “the biggest water war this side of the Mississippi,” COMMANDO! Undoubtedly a favorite of campers and counselors alike, the two tribes will be competing to see who can land the most hits with water balloons on our oldest campers, who will most certainly be ready to defend themselves…

Also, I am going to let you in on a little secret, the race for the banner between the Golden Eagle and Black Bear tribes is certainly getting tighter, and tomorrow, things are about to get even more interesting, as we will not be going to our regular activities, but instead we will be playing tribal games all day long in what we call Tribalpalooza!

But I’ve already said too much, that story hasn’t been written yet, and we shall have to see what tomorrow holds.

Until next time,

Jean Marc Ragsdale

Proud Golden Eagle

Counselor in Training Director

Club Cracker Enthusiast