Finishing Strong

Glenn Breazeale | Jul. 28, 2018

Today we wrapped up our final regular activities of the term. Three met this morning after breakfast and one final concluding activity after rest hour and store. A few needed a little extra time to settle on champions for various tournaments. Frisbees flew around the golf course during rest hour in a “playoff” of the Alpine Masters. Several smooth rolling duos duked it out to claim this year’s Petanque victory in Minor Sports. Overall the mood around camp is one of contentment. Relationships are mostly over the hump of petty arguments and boys are enjoying these last few moments of summer.

Roderick left the very last activity slot open prior to showers this afternoon for a 2nd Term camp tradition. The Bubba Cox Alpine Mile Fun Run started in the early 2000’s by beloved program director and Jackson, MS coach/teacher Ray Higgins. Ray spent his college summers and quite a few afterwards at Alpine with some of his lifelong friends including John Gilbert of Nashville, Ken Dwyer of Greensboro, NC and Bubba Cox. Bubba passed away some years ago after a courageous fight with cancer. Everyone who knew Bubba was inspired by his combination of strength and humility. God used him in the lives of so many. And continues to as we honor his memory with this run. Any camper or counselor who runs agrees to donate $1 from his store account. Alpine matches every dollar. Funds raised are donated to St. Jude Hospital in Bubba’s memory. Roderick will also give out place awards for 1st,2nd, and 3rd finishers in each age group.

Tonight our Glee Club will perform for the ladies at Camp Desoto. The boys who’ve chosen to join have practiced hard and had fun all term. They sing each night after dinner and their melodies, cheers, and laughs reverberate all throughout camp. They also earn a tribe point for participating. Our Chief 1 group has worked tirelessly on a step show that is sure to bring cheers. And our Chief 2’s traditionally close out the night with a pop song rewritten expressly for the Desoto ladies. The set list tonight includes camp favorites like “Country Roads”, “Prince of Peace”, “I Want You Back”, and “Desoto Girl”. Counselor Bedon Lancaster and his team of musicians (guitars, banjos, violin, drums) have ably led Glee Club this term.

Tomorrow brings one last Sunday to enjoy pancakes, church, cabin time, cold watermelon, and so much more that we’ve come to love about Sundays.

Monday will be a mix of special activities and packing, along with some necessary meetings to talk about travel plans, pass out lost and found, etc. Final banquet in the evening will honor activity award winners, honor campers in each age group, and the announcement of the coveted trophy for the term, Mohawk v. Cherokee.

Thanks for reading. This will be my last post of the term as we have much to do before Tuesday!

As a reminder our gates will open at 7:30 CDT on Tuesday morning. Most folks will have picked up by 10AM CDT. We ask for no visitors tomorrow or Monday so we can enjoy our last days together as a camp community. We look forward to seeing you Tuesday morning!

Glenn Breazeale
Glenn Breazeale

Like his own father, Glenn grew up as a camper at Alpine for six summers, coming from Jackson, MS each summer. He has served on staff at Alpine since 1997, working full time as Assistant Director from 2003 to 2005 and Director since 2006. Prior to that he gained experience serving in various capacities including cabin counselor, Head Counselor, Head of Project Adventure (Ropes course), Horseback instructor, and Program Director. Glenn’s love of camping and his desire to preserve the traditions of Alpine drew him back to camp to offer young boys the same opportunities he experienced. He met and fell in love with Carter during a Square Dance with Camp DeSoto.