A Week in the Woods

A Week in the Woods
by Judy Johnson
Marketing Chair, Cherokee District
Boy Scouts of America

On June 7, 2008, almost 600 Arrowmen descended upon Mark Twain National Forest for a week of cheerful service.  Nine of those Arrowmen were from Canupa Chapter of Mikanakawa Lodge, Order of the Arrow.  By now, you are wondering what in the world I am talking about!  Let me explain...the Order of the Arrow (OA) is the service organization of honor campers---a part of Boy Scouts of America.  Members are called Arrowmen and are voted upon by members of their respective troops, some of whom are not members of the OA.  These Arrowmen get together many times during the year to spend the weekend in cheerful service, working at the various Boy Scout camps.  This year, Boy Scouts of America, through the OA, in conjunction with the National Forest Service, scheduled 5 weeks of such cheerful service across the nation at five national parks.  The program is called Arrow Corps 5. 


Arrow Corps 5 camp in Mark Twain National Forest

Canupa Chapter is the Order of the Arrow chapter from Cherokee District, which encompasses Henderson, Van Zandt, and Kaufman counties.   Four youth and five adults from Canupa participated at the first of these weeks at Mark Twain National Forest, in Missouri, and they will never be the same. They were: Max Irion, Ben Huddleston, Collin Brown, Bill Neighbors, Earl Brown, Sheri Robson, Willie Robson, David Johnson, and me, Judy Johnson.  The week was spent in the forest, where we camped, played, cooked, ate, and chopped down cedar trees in the deep woods of Missouri.  The work was hard, but fun, and the food was excellent!




Max Irion, Collin Brown, Bill Neighbors, and Ben Huddleston from Troop 333, Mabank at ArrowCorps5, along with other AC5 friends, are  getting ready to cut down some cedar trees!