The Tribe Gathers for Parading

Pre Parade Prep

Tribe prepares to launch off for Parade

A Medicated Man

A Wise Monkey amongst us

A Very Sachey Sachem

A family photo of the Parade Creek

Creek tribe poses with coup awards

Some of the Coup earned by Creek

Eagle Feather awarded to Soaring Eagle

Falling Leaf Moon Campout October 2010

Man, what a great weekend in Creekland. It was sad for me to leave all the fun and festivities. The weather certainly was a contributor to the great times the Creek tribe shared under the semi-full moon at KARS park, but it was the tribe members who made the weekend superb!

Let me thank all the Big Braves for making it a pleasure to be a part of this fine tribe. Friday afternoon, was a cooperative effort to get the camp set up in our new home for the weekend, on the southern fields of KARS behind the Ceramics house. By sharing KARS with the Scouts, we were at close quarters with our brethren tribes of the Canaveral nation, and banded together as one.

After a quick meal prepared by the Medicine Man, the Little Braves enjoyed some fun times around the campfire, and playing night football. The Big Braves enjoyed some great camaraderie fireside under the absolutely perfect weather conditions.

Saturday, was again an exercise in cooperation as a couple of our new dads stepped up to the plate to get breakfast rolling: thanks Mike, Shelby, and Freddie. Also, a special thanks to Dean for bringing in the groceries.

We began the display set up early, and it sure paid off, as the Little Braves of the finest tribe in the Nation outshone all the other tribes for their presentations.

The Big Chief was so impressed with the performance of all of our Little Braves that he made a special appearance to present the Orange ribbon to all of these helpful presenters.

The catapult was a great war game, and some friendly rivalry took place during the War Game phase of the day.

The evening wrapped up with a spectacular fire walk under the well illuminated moon, and light Banana River breezes. The highlight of the Council fire ceremony was the awarding of the 1st Eagle feather by two of our Little Braves. Congratulations to Soaring Eagle, and Running Fox for an exemplary achievement. Standing by for the coup count………….

An Eagle Feather awardee!!

The Creek Pledge of Allegiance

A heartwarmingly patriotic meeting opener.

The October craft

Here is the October craft, which is not only functional, but will be a HUGE hit for the "new craft" judging at the campout.

Creek family portrait

Here are the Little Braves of the Creek tribe at our latest October meeting. The Fox family hosted a great meeting with a sweeeeeeet craft, and the boys earned some turquoise feathers doing their swim qual. A beautiful Florida day.

Big Perco inbound

Having determined our caffiene needs to be coming up short, our Medicine Man has taken matters into his own hands.

September Campout Recap

Aho Creeksters,

What a great weekend we had at KARS. The September campout is always a "fun" campout meaning there are no formal competitions between the tribes of the Canaveral nation. This past weekend, the Creek tribe managed to extract the full meaning from fun.

We had a great turnout, and were joined by some new families as well. This was a result of the Recruitment drive which was way more successful than any years' past. In fact, we have the following new families joining our Creek family: Bob M., Shelby P.. Matt M., Mike G., Jon H., and Machion D.

Also, the "old" Creeksters were out in full force, in attendance was the Lizard, Wolf, Fox, Cougar, Chameleon, Ray, Seahawk, Cheetah, Tiger, Monkey, and Fish families. Additionally, there was a rare Sachem sighting as Capt. Chuckles aka King Snake made a short appearance on Saturday afternoon. The tent city of teepees at the Creek campsite was the most impressive in recent history.

Even though there were no formal Nation activities, our Little Braves managed to create their own activities which epitomizes what this organization is all about. This included impromptu football games, Manhunt, excavation for gold and buried bodies, Sling King water balloon launches, and nocturnal raids on other tribes. There could be some revenge from Osage on that last one!! I think Sting Ray put the weekend in a nutshell for me when he enthusiastically reported to his dad, Mark, "Dad look how dirty my shirt is." This was after he had crawled out of the hole some of the braves had been digging, and subsequently filling with bubbles from dishwashing liquid.

Luckily the heat and mosquitoes (to some extent) were held at bay by the brisk Easterly breezes which was created by Hurricane Igor spinning way offshore in the Atlantic. Also, we had some more fine cuisine courtesy of "Siberian Tiger" aka Vince.

Congratulations to Wild Cougar, Orange Monkey, and Ice Lizard. They spent a portion of Saturday afternoon working on their Black Beads and Bearclaw award which requires them to review camp safety, and the safe usage of a bow saw, shovel, and knife. Additionally, they also had to use those tools to cut some wood, dig a trench within a safe zone, build a small cooking fire, and boil some water. Great job Little Braves!!!

Next month's meeting will be held at the Fox teepee in Cocoa B on Oct. 17, and the campout will be Oct 22-24 (no conflict with the Our Saviours Fair!) Please place these dates on your calendars, since we plan to see you then.

As always, this and other updates can be found on our tribal site: http://creekofcanaveral.blogspot.com/. On the right side of that site is a link for all the pictures of our activities from the recent activities. Check them out!!

Have a great month Creeksters!!

Chief Mighty Lizard
Reply Reply to all Forward

New Creek look--Super Creeky, yow!!

Are you ready for some football?

The Sling King in Action

Water Balloon Warriors

Little Braves working on Black Beads

From da Chief!!!!!

Aho Creeksters,

We had a great meeting yesterday. Thank you to the Cougar family for hosting! Our main activity was to work on the turquoise feather, which is the "swim" feather. Chief did not have a chance to sign off all of the Little Braves' feather books for this activity, but please bring them for signing at your first opportunity. If you still need a feather book, there is a link to the new and improved electronic version at http://creekofcanaveral.blogspot.com/

The tribe was edumacated by a couple of great presentations. Notably, Soaring Eagle earned his green feather with a great description of the symbols on Indian Guide headband and patch, and Ice Lizard earned his green and black beads by providing us some safety insights, as well as a great history of the Creek tribe and the locations that all of our Nation's tribes once existed.

This weekend is our September campout at KARS park. We typically converge on the park around dinner time. The tribe is not planning on providing dinner Friday, so feed the brave prior. We will however, be providing, breakfast Sat. and Sun, lunch and dinner Saturday. Lunch will be with the Nation, and it appears that the Creek campsite will be the focal point of much of the weekends flurry of activity. This is a fun campout, without any competitive events, and it is a great way to ease into another wonderful year of Indian Guides activities. We look forward to kicking back as a tribe, in the great outdoors, and spending time with our sons.

I will be posting any outstanding camp duties on the new Creek qlubb site. You will be seeing an email forthcoming on qlubb for said camp duties. For the new guys who intend to join us this weekend: a HEARTY welcome!!! The tribe has all the cooking gear, so just show up with a tent, sleeping bags, a camp chair, and a cooler for your drinks (for dads and kids). We've got the rest covered!!

We are pretty close to having all the dues paid up. If you still owe, it is $25 for the Nation, $15 for the YMCA, and $100 for the (most of) years' meals on the campout. Sorry to frontload all of the fees. Also, we still have some of the beautifully handcrafted indian vests available for a suggested donation of $10, courtesy of Orange Monkey's mom, Jeanine! Thanks Jeanine!!

Stand by for more emails about the upcoming campout. It will be fun, see you there. This would be a good week to purchase some insect repellent.

Chief Pletch

Nation meeting Recap

The Canaveral Nation Indian Guides

September 1, 2010

Aho Canaveral Nation;

The purpose of this is to recap my notes from our recent meeting. Please forward this on to your tribes if they are interested. I feel we had a great meeting and we are off to a great start. I am looking forward the season coming up.

In Attendance

Nation Chief – Storm Cloud
Medicine Man – Grey Wolf
Wampum Bearer – Gray Wolf
Coup Keeper - Tomahawk
War Hooper – Screams Like Woman
Miami Chief – Golden Falcon
Osage Chief - Sani
Chippewa Chief – Big Cheetah
Navajo Chief – Fire Eyes

Council Reports

Wampum Bearer reported that we have approx $825.00 left in our account. No money is due, except a reimbursement to Medicine man for $50.00. Trailer registrations are available and will be matched up with the trailers at the campout
Tally Keeper has updated most of the website info . Tally Keeper will check into updating the website registration. Tally Keeper needs to train the new Webspinner to get him going on his tasks.
Coup Keeper cleaned out the coup “box” to begin a project to archive some of the old documents so we can show off our history more. He has provided a box of old documents for our use. .
Thunder Maker – no report this meeting. Reminder, need to set up the sound system at the recruitment campout.
War Hooper – no additional report. Will look into more pyro and fire starting techniques, and look into torches for our ceremonies.
State Chief: - The state chief updated the status of the state campout planning for KARS Park. Plans are coming together quickly. Some ideas have included a Friday Fire Walk and ceremony (by us!). A Saturday bar-b-que, talent show, and State Champ Pinewood Derby. Shows by the Air Force and Coast Guard may be able to be arranged. Tribes will be asked to help in raising $ and donations for the raffle. Chiefs need to discuss this with their tribes. A fundraising letter will be sent out for use in soliciting donations.

Old Business

TIPI Pole Covers – Medicine Man acquired the material for the tipi pole covers form the vendor suggested by Chippewa Chief. He will bring it to the campout and we will all work together figure out the best way to use the material to protect the poles.
Recruitment Flyers – We have flyers and Chief has been working to distribute them to the schools. Chief will email the flyers to the council. Everyone is encouraged to get these out at sport events, activities, etc. See attached updated distribution report. Miami chief will contact Divine Mercy. Chief will contact Our Saviours. I don’t remember who said they would contact St. Mary’s.
Calendar: - The January Campout date is due to be decided by the October meeting. There seemed to be a lot of interest in Moss Park. Chiefs need to discuss with their tribes and be ready to finalize this.

New Business

Chief will contact Florida Today to see about some free promotions for our organization and events.
Tally Keeper will contact KARS and give them our schedule.
Chief will contact Designers Choice for firewood distribution.
Osage Chief will contact the Triangle auto place for some free advertising on their message board.
Business card were distributed. I have more if anyone wants them
State chief will put add in the KSC bulletin.


Campout Planning Package

The bar-b-que will begin at noon and will include burgers, hot dogs, etc. We will meet on Thursday September 16th at 6:30 at B.J,s to shop for food, drinks, and supplies.
Wampum Bearer will arrange for meat from Hayes.
We need as many coolers as possible.
The TIPI will be set up and we will have the events near there (by Creek)
All tribes should fully set up their displays to show off the traditions and what we are all about.
Each tribe should plan an activity, either a craft, a war game, or both.
We will cook as needed throughout the day to accommodate sports, etc.
Medicine Man will ask the Great Spirit to provide good weather.


Summary
We can expect good results from our efforts in recruiting and planning if the commitment and dedications continues. Please remember to keep in mind we are in this for our sons first. Our council’s commitment to our children should be our number one guide.

Our next meeting is October 6th, same place, same time

Thanks
“Storm Cloud”
Nation Chief




Flyers Distribution

Lewis Carroll : Dropped off, they are going to students on Friday.

Audubon: Need to drop off. The will provide a letter for us to attach to each one so we don’t have to pay the .05 per copy. She will need them by Friday a.m.

Roosevelt: dropped off, they will call if principal says it is approved. Will have to pay .05 per copy.

Freedom Seven. I emailed the flyer to the secretary for approval. If o.k. I will drop them off and pay the .05 per copy.

Tropical: Wants 20 packs of 12 each, Will drop off whenever, there is no timetable. Flyers are ready and sorted I will drop them off tomorrow.

Stevenson: We missed the September Deadline. Need to turn in by 9/24 to make October.

Capeview: Will drop off sorted as requested. Need to pay the .05 per copy.


St. Marys; I don’t remember who said they would contact St. Mary’s


Our Saviours: I will contact to see what to do


Divine Mercy: Miami Chief will contact to see what to do.

The family of Creek little Braves

Our August meeting was held at On the Edge rock climbing gym in Melbourne. It was a fun gathering, and we welcomed some new tribal members, and reunited with old tribal members after a long, hot, dry summer on the shores of the Canaveral coast. Our 2010-2011 season is underway, sure to be the best in the history of the MIGHTY, MIGHTY, Creek!!! AHO!!

New Creek recruits!!

Welcome aboard!!

He's My Dad!!

Pals Forever

Little brave is coached by a Creek warrior

Little Braves perfect climbing style

Climbing son with his dad

Father and Son at Climb

Chief's Smoke Signal

Aho Creeksters,

The tribal elders have just completed a meeting at the teepee of Watching Fox where he deftly demonstrated his technique for smoking fresh killed game, and transforming it into a mouth watering brisket.

We discussed a few items of interest which are here for your dissemination:

As always, there is a bunch of good info on the Creek tribe blog: http://creekofcanaveral.blogspot.com/
Of specific note is the updated calendar for the 2010-2011 season.
The next meeting is the 15th of August at 1300 in Melbourne at the On the Edge Rockclimbing gym. This is a DO NOT MISS!!
Check blog for the gym's website. There will be a requirement for a liability waiver, and they can be downloaded from the site. More to follow for next week, but PUT THIS DATE ON YOUR CALENDAR!! August 15th at 1300

The link to the Nation website (with recent updates): http://canaveralnation.net/index.htm

Our September Creek activities will begin at the Cougar den, that date will be September 12th on the shores of the Indian River in Rockledge. Another great meeting by the Rachels' family is assured.

The September campout is to be held September 17-19.

Stand by for another email with an attachment including the jobs sign ups for the monthly campouts, as well as the family hosting each monthly meeting. Also, the highly technologically inclined Medicated Man will be providing a calendar which is "Outlook friendly" and will self populate to your computer's calendar systems.

In reference to the jobs/meetings sign ups, please be prepared to volunteer for some of these tribal duties. This tribe is on a roll, and the main reason is due to the Creek "can do" spirit, and having a group of self starters always willing to assist.

On the blog there is also a recap of the last Nation's meeting.

We always need new members, and if you know of a father and son who would like to spend quality time pursuing quality activities with a quality bunch of dudes, invite them to Sunday's meeting.

On the back burner of your mind: Dues for the YMCA and the Indian Guides will be due on or about the first campout in September. YMCA dues are approx. $25 and Canaveral Nation dues are approx. $15. There is a small fee to camp at KARS per night approx. $5, and we will be taking up a collection for food for the year which amount is TBD. We will discuss the appropriate amount for the food fund at the Sunday meeting next.

I will be sending some other emails this week, with some more specifics. Hope everyone has a great 1st day of school tomorrow, and we'll see the whole dang tribe next Sunday.

Pletch out

August Nation Council meeting RECAP deux

The meeting commenced by the shores of Sykes Creek on the island of the Kiwanis at sunset (6:40 PM). Everyone of the Chiefs that were present at the meeting are very excited about the up and coming year. Tom Parker (Nation Chief - Storm Cloud - Osage) is attempting to get the Nation's business organized. Let's wish him luck and success. We were paid a visit from the YMCA District VP (Cezar Gonzalez). This is the first time in my recollection and everyone else that the 'Y' has ever attend a meeting. He once was and Indian Guide from the Houston Texas chapter and very enthusiastic about supporting the Central Brevard 'Y' guides, basically us. Cezar is hoping to attend one (1) of our weekend camp-outs. The council meeting will be following an agenda for each and every meeting. For instance as Wampum Bearer I'll be presenting a monthly report on the Nation's funds. This action will be required by each council member. Let's hope this works and keeps all members informed. Tally Keeper (Randy Highsmith - Cherokee) is currently updating the Website and his attempting with the assistance of Mike Holt (Navajo Chief) with a g-mail account and face book place. These two (2) tasks will integrate with the present website and provide a Nation phone number for potential new members to contact us and join-up. Coupe Keeper (Tom Warriner- Cherokee) said our coupe box is well stocked. War Hooper (Joe Landeros - Osage) and Thunder Maker (Byron - Watching Fox) are to partner up for the pyrotechnics activities basically take stock and organizing our stuff to make each monthly camp-outs a "BLAST". The following new business was discussed:
Purchasing a cover for the lodge poles. Trailer tags to be distributed at the September Mtg. The recruitment camp-out activities prelim's on September 18th (see attached flyer). Set January 14th for the date of the Snow Moon Camp-out and tentatively reserved Wickham park. However, the chiefs are to present different locations at the next meeting.
The meeting closed at 8:15PM.

On the Edge Rock Climbing Meeting August 15th

A view of the rock climbing area, website:

http://www.ontheedgerockclimbing.com/index.php

Mighty braves at May meeting

Aho Super Creek! This will probably be my last official recap of anything - Pletch, you got it! The Creek had a virtual mystical experience in the April campout. We took an award that we have never seen in my entire IG career. We, the partial-show aviator tribe, actually took the Tomohawk for best attendance at a campout. I am still in shock even at this late date. Outstanding participation guys - keep it up next year because everyone benefits when the numbers are high. It was a beautiful weekend (a little windy, but side bene of NO BUGS). Chief arrived at camp late Fri night due to witnessing his bravette perform her first lead role in a play at Titusville High School. She was Marian the Librarian in 'The Music Man', and frankly was better than Shirley Jones herself (no bias of course). Unfortunately, the late arrival resulted in chief and son missing out on some outstanding golden skillet chow put out by none other than Creek's new and upcoming master chef, the Vincester (I still don't know your Indian name, I guess I'll give back my red feather) himself. From what I hear, the ribs were more than worthy of the coveted 'skillet'. Yet sadly, the skillet was ripped out from under us by the mighty Osage, always a fierce competitor in the skillet competition. Vince, thanks for all of the great chow this season. Saturday started off as the normal busy formal campouts always do. Opening ceremony, with Creek scrambling to paint our then current coup the correct Creek colors, while wolfing down breakfast. Aging out braves met with the aging out master of ceremonies at noon, and were given the rundown of the big event for that evening. Long run and war games immediately following (great participation on all counts by Creek). We actually placed second in one of the games (I can't remember which one, the CRS is kicking in). Great job by our little braves in the run and the games. Post war game rolled right into displays and nation chief's sitdown with Rattlesnake to earn his third order of the eagle award. The little braves prepped very well for the display judging, and were ready to rock when the chiefs rolled in. You should all be very proud of how our little braves do in displays - I received a huge compliment from all of the chiefs on how impressed they are with our guys. Major kudos. I think the hand made bamboo fishing poles (which required some frenzy like last minute decorating) were a hit for the new craft. For future reference, the new craft and little brave participation each count for 1/3 of the total judging grade, so 2/3 total. This season, Creek has taken the mini peace pipe (2nd place in display judging) once and the big peace pipe twice (1st place for same) out of the four campouts where judging took place. That is HUGE and a great accomplishment for our young braves! The result of this particular campout effort was another Big Peace Pipe winner for Creek. Now we can get the colors done really right - we have six months til the next formal campout! When Nation Chief Pickle Sniffer visited Creek, he had many orange ribbons to offer for the many good deeds of the Creek little braves in the previous month. Again nice job. He also sat down with Rattlesnake and reviewed in detail what Rattlesnake had accomplished in order to earn his third order of the eagle award. I am very proud of Skylar for 'going all the way' in the program. Sometimes it took some prodding, but it's a very cool accomplishment, and I hope he takes the lesson of 'perserverence in setting goals and attaining them' with him throughout his adult life. Great Job Skylar! You made chief and Dad proud. The tomohawk is also very cool! After displays, more scramble took place to feed the tribe yet another bodacious Creek meal. I apologize for not remembering who was primarily responsible for that delectible serving of tastiness (CRS again), but thanks dudes! While chow was being drummed up, Paul spearheaded yet another magnificent firewalk set-up, at the sacrifice of missing some alone time with his squaw and ma and pa. Thanks dude, your efforts, along with those who helped, really make the firewalk ceremony a cool event. That firewalk (my last), bond fire, and aging out ceremony will remain embedded in my memory. It's been a great run, and I hope Skylar will keep good memories of his time with Dad and his buds at IG for all of these years - I know I will! Many words of wisdom were uttered at the aging out ceremony, great words to remember and live by for both big and little braves! Also witnessing the culmination of eight years of work by Skylar in earning his third eagle, along with the tomohawk, was totally awesome. Sunday brought another great feast and a great closing ceremony in which all of the Creek little braves earned well deserved ribbons for the long run and war games. And again, Creek took home the Peace Pipe and the attendance Tomohawk! Camp breakdown was fast and furious, and for once, the Snake family was not the last to leave (we had to scram to watch Sunny's closing show that afternoon, again another exclamation point in my weekend). I just want to say that you guys, without question, are one of the finest groups I've had the pleasure to be a part of. I hope to keep in touch, stay at least minimally involved, and look forward to future get togethers, whether IG related or not. Keep up the great effort, you have a really good thing going. I would like to also use this opportunity to apologize to the Hutchinson family for not making a better effort to formally (and informally) introduce you guys to the tribe. I hope you look to give Creek another shot, because it is truly a great group of fathers and sons. I hereby delegate to Pletch to fix that screw-up for me. Scott, my most humble apologies. Since this is so late in coming, I may as well comment on the May meeting - as we speak I see Byron has sent out a recap of the meeting. Byron, thanks for covering the chief's meeting, hosting this meeting, and putting out good info from both. Gentlemen, my sincerest thank you for the gifts of appreciation. I truly believe the makeup of this group is the primary and ultimate cause for its success. It was easy 'running the show' this season, because of the initiative continually provided by many members of this tribe. You guys rock! Thanks for your great participation and for your friendship. I will hopefully make the Sat dinner this campout and get to have one last Creek hurrah before riding into the IG sunset. Otherwise I'll see y'all over the summer (probably at a Pletch organized event) and sporatically next year as a Dried Up Creek (Roland, thanks for starting that tradition - it will stick for many many moons). Again I say, Rock On! Chuckles Out and Out p.s. thanks for tolerating my gushiness in this electronic smoke signal

May meeting

A goodbye to Chief chuckles

Chief sez............

Aho Mighty Creek, It is with deep sadness that we had the last meeting of the year and the last meeting with King Snake, aka Chuckles. Many pints of spirit water were consumed in condolences, but much still got done. Following are the duties for the May Campout: Vince knows a cheap source for an inflatable water slide and will check into it and let Nation Chief Jeff know about it. But still think water activity for the campout. The food is BYOB (bring your own buffalo) for Friday night and Saturday lunch, but all available food in the Swiss Army Chow Travois (Broph's word) should be eaten including the 18 bubba burgers which Bill Rachel will bring. Please also get rid of the end-o-year food stuff and make a list for next year. And Bob is spear heading the 2 breakfasts. Vince is in charge of the Nation Dinner Saturday night and he will also bring a dessert to represent the Tribe. All hands are asked "Are you going to camp or at least eat dinner Saturday night?" as the Nation needs a head count (or foot count divided by two). Rick Main offered to pull the travois to and fro the campout and by missing the meeting also offered to bring fire wood. Way to go Rick! (Hint: Ocean Carpet is a 1/4 mile north of my office on the west side of the road and has pallets in the parking lot up for grabs. The owner says, please take them). Or someone else with a pickup truck offer to relieve Rick. The trailer is at Columbia Drive, Cape Canaveral (diagonally across form Ace Hardware in CC). And Sunday morning is the changing of the guard and gift exchange/raffle so bring a (~$10) wrapped gift for the gift exchange for each little brave that will participate. New Positions, straight from the Kama Sutra By unanimous vote we have elected new leaders. And the envelope please:Chief is Pletch (that's the CO)Medicine Man is Byron (XO)Coup Keeper is Dean (Feathers, beads and trinkets)Tally Keeper (Including contact info) is Bob Henry (Keeps track of the stuff the little braves have earned)Wampum Bearer is Bill Rachel (Treasurer). And to offset the cost of next year's campouts Broph is tasked with asking the Elks "can we do it again"?. So please see if we can get a coupla more parking days. Pretty please. how how, Watching FoxByron

Little Braves at the April meeting

Braves displaying feather awards in April

Rattlesnake ages out in the Broken Arrow Ceremony

After the Broken Arrow Ceremony

The Wolves final fire walk

Snakes' father and son final firewalk

Vince and da Boyz

Chief hands out coup

Creek warriors

Creek fishermen

Trip hooks into a fish!!

Rocco takes aim

Boyd takes aim

Annie get your gun

March Pow Wow wrap up

Guys, just so much to recap from a great month of mighty Creek activities. Please enjoy the photos at the flickr link to the lower right. Suffice it to say that camping, airboating, horseback riding, hay riding, flying, skeet shooting, and some great times with good friends made for a packed weekend of FUN. These photos can be double clicked, enlarged, right clicked, and saved to your computer. Don't forget these awesome memories which are being forged with you and your son!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND CHIEF CHUCKLES SEZ.................
Aho Super Creek!

My most humble apologies for not wrapping up the epic hike in a timely fashion.

What an awesome month!

First, thanks to Byron and Paul for spearheading the initial planning for the hike, and thanks to Byron for leading all braves through the soggy wilderness of 'way out west' Cocoa.

Once assembled, the braves were given a pre-hike etiquette/safety briefing from Watching Fox, who did an outstanding job. His plan included a mid-point stop for lunch - most excellent idea!

As seen by the pictures posted on the blog site, this hike brought forth a unique challenge in the hiking world, that of much WATER. The little braves forged ahead through this greatest of challenges with good cheer and perseverance. Our estimated 2.5-3 miler stretched into a solid 4 miler when it was all said and done! Chief was most impressed with Rob Jessup, who kept little Robert on his shoulders virtually the entire hike! Compressed spinal discs to follow.

Orange Monkey, Wolf Fang, Ice Lizard, and Wild Cougar all moved a great deal toward earning their bear claw with purple beads. Chief is still waiting on maps from a couple of those braves, and expects to hand out the claws at the next meeting. All of the other remaining braves more than earned their purple feather, which requires a two mile hike.

Much wildlife was seen through the trek, although the largest of lizards were thankfully avoided. The mighty Creek braves had casual encounters with a bald eagle, armadillos, racoons, black racers, deer, some obscure fish, and a rather large brown recluse spider (that one was avoided but well identified). Many animal tracks were identified by our bear claw earners as well.

Although shoes and pants ended up being somewhat waterlogged, the journey was a blast and a huge success. Nicely done, Creek!


Not to let the epic hike be the highlight of the month, the very next weekend the Creek traveled in record numbers to attend the state campout. In all, the Creek tribe had 36 big braves, little braves, squaws and maidens, representing 12 families, in attendance. Chief believes this number was greater than any other tribe in the entire state!

Not to go into who did what - but suffice it to say that Airboating, Skeet/Trap shooting, Archery, Horseback riding, open cockpit bi-plane rides (FREE to boot), and numerous animal shows and craft making provided a cram packed weekend for all involved. Of course, all of this activity was capped off by a phenomenal rodeo put on by the Westgate River Ranch Saturday evening. Those bull rider dudes are f-ing nuts! Personally, the highlight for chief was the five (yes I said FIVE) year old barrel riding cowgirl. What a great show.

Creek also stood proud in the war game arena with its entrance of the Trebuchet (built and briefed for operational use by none other than Watching Fox, Creek's resident geek engineer/fireman/wood dude). That thing hurled golf balls 50 yards. It rocked, and was a bonefied squaw magnet (ask Gray Wolf of the Bevilacqua family).

Thanks to medicine man for shopping to feed our army of a tribe two bodacious breakfast feasts. I think Grounded Eagle grilled up more bacon (seven pounds, right?) Sunday morning than chief has seen in eight cycles of the seasons. For those who did not indulge in banana pancakes, you missed out.

Creek wrapped up the camp in the most expeditious breakdown in history, to avoid the approaching angry dark skies. Chief is remorseful that he did not get to say goodbye. He and Rattlesnake went to return the pathetic rental bikes to the General Store, and learned that the tribe entered the 'exodus' mode while the bikes were being returned. To reiterate, this program is a HUGE success when the braves are as involved as the current Creek braves are, and it is a pleasure to be affiliated with this group!

Aho!

King of Snakes of the Super Creek Tribe of the Great Canaveral Nation

March Pow Wow

A morning airboat ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Braves of the March Hike

Post lunch assembly for the hike out!!

The hike on the "Toss"

Our March meeting was a hike at a local Wildlife Management Area. It was after a pretty heavy period of rain in Central Florida, so the trail was beyond soggy! The kids loved it!!