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CAMP BAYUKA
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CAMP BAYUKA
THIS WILL BE RELATIVELY A SHORT NARRATIVE. THIS IS MY EXPERIENCE AT MY FIRST CHRISTIAN CAMP ACTUALLY IT WOULD ALSO BE MY LAST. I HAD NEVER BEEN CAMPING BEFORE. I HAD BEEN AWAY FROM HOME A LOT IN MY EARLY YEARS BEFORE I BECAME A INDEPENDENT THINKER. THAT IS A NICE WAY OF SAYING REBEL. SO ITS LATE SUMMER. THE YOUTH GROUP HAD BEEN EXCITED ABOUT THIS FOR SIX MONTHS. ME I WAS HAPPY CUS I WOULD GET OUT OF HOUSE CLEANING ON SATURDAY ACTUALLY TWO OF THEM. SO WE BEGIN WITH WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A WARNING. THE CAMP WE WERE GOING TO WAS FIRST THREE HOURS AWAY. HERES THE BIG THING. THE NAME OF THE CAMP. SO LETS START WITH THAT AND SEE IF YOU WOULD HAVE PERHAPS SEEN WHAT I CAME TO KNOW.
CAMP BAYUKA PART #1
So I’m going to share a short story of a time that was a traumatic experience for me. It all started off with great anticipation of the excitement of the unknown. So I’m 13 barely. Every summer we had a summer church camp we would go to. Although this was my first time. So from the drop one can imagine things would be strange just from the name of the camp. Ok so it was called Camp Bayuka See what I mean with a name like that there’s bound to be lots of mysterious things going on. First you had to be 13-18 for the big kids camp. So there I was my first camping experience. We drive and drive just to get to the town where the camp was.Funny I think the camp was the main attraction. Im pretty sure it’s what kept the town above water financially. The town was so small. Literally like one traffic light. Most of the vehicles in town were farm trucks and tractors. People were friendly but they were country The school had a 12 grades in it. One police car they split between split four officers I think it was a taxi part time in the week. Kinda a slow laid back sleepy little quaint place to visit. Certainly not my cup of tea for a home town. Their fire department was volunteer so was their ambulance rescue squad. We still had to drive half hour down a beat up pot hole dirt road. Unknown to us including our Pastor was their odd ways of doing things. There were 12 very sweet cabins All were like Club med set ups However there was a 13th cabin. It was for first time campers. I guess we had to pay our dues. I was baffled why it was so far away from all the other cabins. Actually it was far away from everything. The dining area took ten minutes to walk to. The center of camp was fifteen minute walk. Even the lake took ten minutes to get there.
OK TO MUCH EXCITEMENT ALREADY. I WILL PICK THIS UP OVER THE WEEKEND. I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE READ. AS FOR ME IT RATED UP THERE WITH DUCK TALES. THANK YOU AHEAD OF TIME FOR THE LITTLE TIME WE WILL SPEND TOGETHER. UNTIL NRXT TIME. GODSPEED BLESSINGS ONE LOVE PD
This post was edited by Daryl Page at October 23, 2023 8:41 AM EDT -
CAMP BAYUKA PART #2
There were three of us Terry Billy and Me plus Pastor V. He was a kid at heart. Also was pretty laid back. He did not come off as a tuff guy at all. More like a Big Kid. He didn’t have that bass in the voice that grabbed your attention. Quite the opposite he was soft spoken. Yet when he’d get excited he’d talk real fast especially when he was not happy with us. Honestly it was hard to take his directions seriously. He was also pretty gullible, we would often get him all wound up. The cabin fit 10 So we were feeling pretty good. I noticed our cabin was well rustic is putting it kindly. Actually it looked more like an old storage shed they repurposed. However to hear the camps version that it was the first cabin built and nothing else was close to its age. They said they felt sedimental and just couldn’t bare to tare it down. I noticed they didn’t Love it enough to patch a few holes or through a coat of paint on it either. I just figured it was our baptism by fire you know our initiation So after a few hours of getting settled and meeting the other campers we found out that there was another reason for this cabin. You know when there is a backstory something’s likely amiss. It was reserved also for the trouble makers as well as first timers. The instigators heck we’d find out they were Christian antagonist or better put outcasts. When we had returned from exploring the camp grounds we decided to have a little quiet time in our bunks. Idk it wasn’t very long when we heard yelling screaming and the sounds of people running. The next sound we hear is Miles crashing into the door. Then a bunch of laughing. As I opened the door Miles laying on his back says I thought the door swung in to open. Given the back story I did the math. No not 4+6=10 but rather we were the First Timers. Then that meant these guys were designated trouble makers. Everything they did was fast and by design chaotic. They were already planning on getting tossed out of camp this year. They took one look at Pastor V and decided he wasn’t gonna get any sleep tonight.The first night after lights out at 9. They began to set their plan in motion. First just by telling a bunch of inside jokes. Then it seemed the crew were actually going to go to sleep. That lasted bout a minute. Around midnight one of the guys asked to go to bathroom. Pastor let him go but two went out even though only one had permission. When the one came back Miles the ringleader was mia. Just as quickly another asked to go to bathroom. When the door opened two went out and one came back. This went on for half hour. Finally Pastor V starts to think there may be something not quite rite. We were pretty sure that Miles the ringleader still was missing but even we had a hard time keeping up. So Pastor pulls a bed count. Everyone had a number. Each sounded out. Except one of the voices sounded to alike. Pastor V decides to turn on the light. Well not so fast. Seems a few of the boys had used athlete tape and taped the switch up so you could not get to the switch. Apparently this was going on durning the whole BATHROOM GATE INCIDENT. So Pastor decides to do a bed count by counting legs. GENIUS. Seems like a reasonable thing to do rite? I guess we have been played by our own Pastor V Seems he’s way sharper than we thought. There were six of them that’s 12 legs. So Pastor V makes his way around in the dark and counts legs. Guess in a few minutes we will know for sure that Miles was Mia. At that point their plan would unravel. However…..
To Be Continued. Blessings One Love PD
This post was edited by Daryl Page at October 14, 2023 9:32 PM EDT -
CAMP BAYUKA PART #3
Seeing Pastor V can’t see he had to creative we thought a voice count would work. However these guys have spent the last four years planning to be remembered That didn’t work so well Now Pastor V is doing bed count Miles bunk bed was in the middle row of three and he was in the bottom. I mean thei is where you just know these gifs are light years ahead of us First Timers. As Pastor began to count feet I hear him counting he gets to the middle bed Miles, truthfully I didn’t think he was there but I was sure someone was mia He gets to Miles bed and there he is both legs are there. To my surprise no one was missing. Idk bout two hours go by and the main bell center of camp is going off. Well now it’s a scramble to find out what is going on. Miles Crew open the door, Pastor V tells everyone to stay inside it was a bit late as the crew had spilled outside. After just few minutes everyone was back inside. At least that’s what we thought, however we may have been duped once already. We all get back in of course everyone is awake in camp. I am guessing seeing we were miles away ( no pun intended) Pastor V was trying to get us to settle down, by now we are caught up in the festivities. Pastor has been working on getting the switch unwrapped. It took awhile but he finally gets to the switch. Ok now Pastor V is going to get a handle on things As he turns on the switch the light went on However the Miles crew thought of that too. They put in their own bulb while that whole bathroom scheme was playing out. The light had been painted to where it only let a small beam of light shine straight down in the middle of the cabin It was so brilliant that we were all cracking up. Well not Pastor V so much It’s only another hour and it will be day light and we will get to the bottom of this When we do get up we found Miles sleeping under the cabin That’s where he hid during the bath room run So how did they pull off the leg count? The guy on the left of Miles bed and the guy on the other side put one of their legs in Miles bed The camp director was walking up the path to our cabin Seems he knew exactly who and where they were that was keeping everyone from sleeping. Did I mention they had broken into the kitchen. Apparently they knew they may be leaving early so they had breakfast just in case The camp director asked us nubie’s to leave while they had a come to Jesus meeting. When we had returned we found that Miles and the boys had moved onto bigger and better things? They actually drove up I’m thinking they may have planned the whole camp chaos thing down to their escape route. We never did see them again I heard the camp was doing a better job screening the above 17 group. So after breakfast we….
Ok that’s all I have for you today. There’s probably one or two more posts and we will have completed this chapter of my life loL Thank You all for letting me humor you for a few minutes until we meet again GODSPEED BLESSINGS ONE LOVE PD
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CAMP BAYUKA PART # 4
After a few days we were becoming naturals. The whole new kids on the block was fast fading. Terry and I were getting into the whole sports thing. We were pretty aquatinted with the camp grounds that everyone else knew of. Remember we had hike just to get to camp, there was so much more to discover. We found pool tables also table tennis. Mostly outside things like Bball volleyball ball and softball Idk what we were thinking while we were trying to impress the girls with our athletic skills Meanwhile Billy was quite a bit ahead of us. Billy was actually hanging with the girls. It seemed most of the girls were hanging round him. I figured I’d better check and see how he was pulling this off. Only thing I could figure was he was a very smooth talker. He was very patient ( sounds like stalker now) He told me he had a few he was looking at. So he wasn’t necessarily looking for the prettiest which was cool. I was not into the whole talk hang out. He did say by Thursday he’d have a girlfriend Billy and Terry are 18-17 respectively Me again I’m thirteen actually only made to the big boys camp by four weeks The cut off was March I was born in April so my August I was street legal
Anyway Terry after the second day is checking out the girls with Billy. It didn’t make since to me None of them lived anywhere near us Guess it’s a camp thing to have a guy or girl around the camp fire So Wednesday I decided to go swimming. The problem was I didn’t have a swimming buddy. That’s when I saw the canoes and a younger kid close to my age was getting ready to take one of them out. I introduce myself and ask if he wanted company in the boat. Steve says yes I ask him do you know how to row? He tells me he’s a pro * note to reader when someone doesn’t have the right dancing shoes on maybe they aren’t what they think* Ok so idk really know how to do this either it wasn’t long and we were out in the middle of the lake going in circles. There’s a technique to rowing a canoe. The guy in the back steers the boat, and you switch sides ect Well we were doing none of that. The life guard is yelling for us to come back. Everyone is now watching the less brothers Hope and his brother Use try and dock. It’s really hard to look cool when you’re in crisis mode. After ten minutes we get to shore. So I tell Steve only one of can get up and step out of the boat at a time. He said he got that. I ask you want to go first, however your in the back and it would be easier for him to steady the boat, while I get out. Then I can hold it for you. Well that was the plan till it wasn’t. I get up and start to step out and ole Steve figured i had nuff time and he begins to stand up.This is where everything went sideways. I try to get in to steady the boat, but Steve flies off the left side of the boat. I lost my balance and went out the right side. Only to step on I thought was a sharp rock? I jump back in and hold the boat for Steve to get up.
Now you’re bout to find out what it means to have a small town. As I look into the boat there’s water but it’s all red. I had sliced my foot on a broken beer bottle. Now we are in panic mode.I look at my foot and gut stuff hanging out Today I couldn’t tell you what it was. I tell Steve to get the life guard. So he yells from 50 yards away for her. Of course she can’t hear him with 150 kids swimming in front of her. Meanwhile I think I’m bleeding out This is where it ends summer camp. Instead of running over now he starts to wave his arms wildly. Ahh the life guard sees him and she waves back. I try to wave her over she smiles and waves back. Eventually one of the kids saw what was going on and called for help. The life guard gets there only to faint. Yes she falls in the water and has to be lifted out. Did I mention I had a three inch cut in my foot. Finally the life guard is awake and blows her whistle. That’s when the other two life guards both guys got there and immediately told Steve to hold my foot while they carry me 1/8 of a mile to the nurses office. So she comes over and pours peroxide on the cut, then says this may hurt. She proceeds to tell me I have a cut on my foot. Then tells me I will have to go to the hospital. I was told I’d need stitches. Not happy bout that However the pain is starting to become a issue. I’m told the ambulance is on the way. It only took an hour n half They said they couldn’t find the dirt road for here. There ambulance was from the 60’s they only had a bench to put me on. At least they had a siren. We got caught up behind a few tractors that couldn’t get off the side immediately. It took half hour to get ten miles But I am here Help is on the way. They wheel me in the lobby and told me to sit and a nurse will get to you real soon. They drive into the sunset and I’m left waiting They did yell out new patient.
As I’m sitting there a few nurses walk by. This is both lobby waiting room and release room. One small room with a desk. Apparently this is where you sign in before they well sign you in. I finally get the lady’s attention and she motions me over. Now I’m on one foot and not supposed to move it. I get up and bounce over to sign in. So I’m standing there did I mention I was the only patient they had. They had one visitor with her dog that walked through. This means I’m next, not so fast in Bayuka land. I’m asked to sit and wait my turn. I’m thinking seriously and bounce back to my seat. Ya you guessed it I just sit down and the nurse tells me to come in and she will check me in. K few hopes One skip and I’m there. She takes the general information, ok this is precious she asks WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE? I just am dumbfounded and point to my bleeding foot. Then she asks to see it, I was told not to take the bandage off n keep it clean. I look at her thinking hey Little help here. To no avail I unwrap it and she says ohh my you need stitches, I’m not sure we have a doctor on hand that can do that. I’m thinking really also kinda thinking that April thing wasn’t all that great looking at it from my chair. Now she’s panicking cus they have to get a doctor plus my parents consent. Meanwhile I’m instructed to go back and sit in my seat till they come and get me. I’m wachen everything now just in case I have to escape. It’s close to 9pm before things begin to happen. A guy comes with the wheelchair and tells me to hope over to sit in the chair. I future it better then him running over my good foot. So I get there and sit in the chair, only to have it totally collapse and now I’m on the ground. They guy says you ok dude. I have to get up myself when I hear him say picked the wrong chair it’s the other chair. He says he will be right back.tick tock tick tock. Finally he shows back up and I’m in my chair headed for places unknown. My left foot is up in leg extension. When he blows into the left side swinging door. Only to smash my foot into it and dump me in the floor. He remarks forgot that side swings out. Hey I’m still alive.
i am put in a waiting room with three outer guys who I find out had surgery. After few minutes I look over at the guy next to me to start small talk. I wanted to get my mind off the pain. When I looked at him before I spoke my pain went away instantly only to be replaced by…….
Thats where I leave you today I’ve only one more installment after this post. Thank you for dropping in to read the stories of n old preacher As always until we meet again GODSPEED ONE LOVE PD
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CAMP BAYUKA THE FINAL CHAPTER
After the mealy that took place with the wheelchair crashing into the locked door. It didn’t swing open as we thought. At the time the guy was just as puzzled about the door as I was. I was told later in the evening it was a new door that sometimes gets jammed. But then again this was very small hospital. Actually it looked more like a clinic. So finally I get to the waiting room on a doctor to show. Ya they only had one on staff. Right now he’s mia. However I have/had a very nice nurse, I’d loose her in two hours to shift change. I’m lying on my stomach looking out the window. Idk I’d been there for half hour when another nurse shows up and unwraps my foot. She looks at it and says it isn’t too bad. Then she decided to check the depth. She took her fingers and open the cut up. I hear her say to the other nurse. Oh my this is worse than I thought. She said she’d have to wait for the doctor to tell me the game plan.
Just that fast they move on. I remembered there were four other beds in here with me. To get my mind off the serious pain they left me in. I decide to make small talk to the guy next to me. So I turn to talk to him as I what I saw I very quickly forgot bout the pain. His right hand was in front of his face looking at his missing thumb. I’m not sure if he’s up for talking. So I’m thinking…. But that turns to panic. As all four guys were missing body parts. I wasn’t in the waiting room but rather the amputee ward.
I finally get nuff nerve to speak to guy next to me and asked what happened. He replied he was adjusting his fan belt on his car. Now I’ve done that but never got more than few scraped up knuckles. Like I gotta know how. He tells me he was adjusting the belt while car was running. Even I know that’s not terribly smart. Then he says the wrench slipped and his thumb got cut off by the belt right down to the palm. There was no way to put it back on. I see two other guys with their fingers were all bandaged individually all eight of their fingers. They lost their finger tips down to the first joint on the ring finger. So know I’m invested and inquiring minds need to know. I ask the guy two beds over what happened. He tell me him and his brother next to him are lawn guys. They had picked up a job as they were finishing the lady wanted her hedges cut. Yet they don’t have hedge clippers. So they come up with this well not such a good idea. To take the walk behind mower start it up and grab it from inside the blade area and lift it up and cut it like the grass. See in theory it sound brilliant Application not so much. They were able to get their fingers on the lip of the deck. That worked perfect till they lifted it up the four feet needed to trim the hedges. At that time one of the brothers cut his fingers with the blade. See that’s where I’d have put a little more effort in the thought process. Anyway the brother obviously drops the mower as the rest of his fingers get clipped off. Of course means the older brother now is left with a running mower in his hands. But only for a mili second when he know understood what his brother had experienced . Being he was the oldest I’d thought he may have had more common since I’d be wrong. So three of these guys are here because they were working with things running. The last guy had one intact foot but the other was gone bout half way up the foot. I can’t figure this one out actually I didn’t get any of the reasons correct. I just ask the guy next time did he know what happened to the poor guy He tells me he has a mini steam roller and he was working on the driveway. When it disengaged. He gets off and jacks it up with his truck jack. That’s set for 2ton max. The roller was 5000 lbs. Guess the jack worked. He apparently got it fixed I guess it was a chain. Well wen he put it down it he thought it was in gear. Somehow it popped out of gear into neutral, So he thought. His foot was in front of the rear roller and he didn’t realize the roller was moving until it ran over his foot. Again I’m 13 and from a two traffic light village. They had one blinking light in their village. I think you need at least three functional lights to become a township. Eventually you get nuff lights you become a town. Ok back to amputee ward. I’m not saying anything bout lights being on but these were grown men I was a kid and for the only time in my life I felt I was a mental giant.
Well those conversations ended pretty quickly and I began thinking they were going to amputate my foot. Maybe all that stuff leaking out of the cut is gone. Idk I’m just real concerned this whole camping thing isn’t for me. Cus right then I wasn’t a HAPPY CAMPER. To make it worse a few hours past without any one coming to fill me in. As time went past each guy walked out. I think they heard bout the wheelchair incident’s. Now it’s close to nine o’clock when the dr shows up. He apologized for the long wait. Seems he had and emergency he had to deal with. Me I am thinking I hope with better results than the four guys that have now gone home. He then takes a look at the foot. He can’t help but to put his pudgy little thumbs in the cut and open it wide up. Finally I got some good news that I’d only require 6-8 stitches. Me RELIEF. He and the nurse get everything together to put my stitches in. I saw the novocain needle.it was huge. That was a bit intimidating I figured when they were going to give me the shot I wouldn’t look. Anyway they were bout ready to start. Then doc had the needle and was bout to kill the pain Ya you guessed it he gets called back to the baby ward. Apparently this was the month for giving child birth. So off he goes and gives the needle to the nurse. She puts it down and leaves.
Who knew giving birth could take few hours. At least that’s the feed back I was getting. Eventually he returns. It’s now 11pm. The doc picks up the sowing needle I guess. As he puts the needle in I yell out I can feel that. He says no it’s your imagination. Like I’m in pain and he’s not helping but he knows I can’t feel anything. He starts the second stitch. I then with a since of urgency say hey doc I can feel that. He again proclaims NO YOU DONT. I’m trying to get him to listen that Huston We Have A Problem. So now I have to prove to him I can feel him stitching me up. As he begins the forth stitch as he wasn’t paying attention my foot is feeling this too. Now like I’m well highly upset. I tell him to stop. He says he’s got just few more stitches So as he puts the needle in my foot I tell him you just put the needle in and pulled the thread through and you just took needle out Well good golly Ms Molly He believers me. Then I hear him ask the nurse if she gave me Novocain. She says no doctor I thought you did. No he says I left that up to you. She remarks sorry doctor I didn’t give him the shot.
So let me get this. She’s sorry cus she forgot. He’s sorry cus she not he forgot to shoot me up. I’m thinking maybe should apologize to me. Like *Hey what bout an I’m sorry for the inconvenience we may have cost you do to our oversight on the preparation for your surgery and the surgery itself as it may have been a little unconventional way of administrating the service we provided for you* Ya that didn’t happen. I hear the doctor say give me the novocaine and finally I had my shot. In five minutes it should kick in and they will finish. Then for few hours I’ll be painless. However the doc gets another call. So thirty seconds after the shot old Bob Butcher and nurse Hatchet quickly finish the surgery. N yes i felt the next three. It would be another hour before they came back to get me. Seems day head boss lady didn’t finish my paperwork or perhaps forgot idk however Head Nurse Night Shift doesn’t know I’m here. It wasn’t till the camp director and PV got there to pick up two others who had few scrapes, that they ask bout me. Eventually they find me and wheel me out this time not into the locked side but swinging side. But crash’s my foot into the door to open it. Then drops me off in the lobby where my only mode of transportation is the bunny hop.
It was almost two am when we got back. My parents came up the next day with a good friend we called Uncle Jackie. He always had a sweetest rides. They drive onto the camp and drove across the center of camp. Uncle Jackie was from Brooklyn they kinda do what they want. Anyway he’s got a 57 Chevy Nomad yellow station wagon. But it was a tricked out. So I came in as a Nubie and left in style as the most well known kid at camp. Dang if I didn’t like making an impact. I kinda felt bad for Miles and his crew. As they’d been waiting for years to leave as the rebels and would be Camp Bayuka Folklore. But little me would erase their footprint from the portals of time. Heck they probably never realized they were upstaged. Well at least his name Miles and his crew will be memorialized here anyway.
Well as bugs bunny would say that’s it folks. Thank you for reliving that three days at Camp Bayuka. I will be praying on what the next topic GOD would have for me. Until then. GODSPEED BLESSINGS ONE LOVE PD