We went into our last day of visitors in good moods. I grabbed a ride with my team leader, and made it to the welcome center very quickly. I also got to avoid the line for the bus. We were some of the first people to arrive thanks to our ride, and had a chance to see Ruby Welcome Center with no one in it.
We expected around 1,000 people on the last day, and there was rain in the forecast. But at the end of the previous day we had done some rearranging, and were able to position the security screening so that our operations all fit inside our big tent. We did not end up with a line outside of the tent after we opened up (there were a couple of dozen people waiting for us to get started when we arrived). We were even treated to a rainbow to crown the morning.
With such few guests coming in, we had lots of time to continue breaking down the things that were no longer needed. Having worked a full day yesterday, and with such few things to do remaining, we were able to take a half day. We hopped on one of the buses with the visitors and headed to Summit Center.
We first went into the trading post. The one at Summit Center is much bigger than the one in Echo, but this far into Jamboree their selection was pretty depleted. We didn’t find anything we wanted.
Next, we headed to the Sustainability Treehouse. We took a look at the different exhibits in there, and climbed to the top. At the top we were asked to write our commitment to sustainability onto a metal tag and hang it with everyone else’s.
We moseyed through Center Mondial, but didn’t spend much time at the country booths, as we had seen them earlier. We made our way to North American Dream, and looked through the booths there. We even participated in an activity in the Natural Resources tent about how manage forested area, and made some paper.
We continued around the area, and started to head back to Echo. On the way we stopped by Brownsea Island, which featured displays about what scouting was like in 1907 when it first started. Then we walked over to Pigott Headquarters, and caught a bus back to Echo. Then we headed to our usual hangout: Chat-and-Chew.
After our sauna yesterday I had half-jokingly mentioned to the Sauna Team that I would buy one of the saunas off them if I had a bigger car to get it home. They responded by saying they would gladly sell them, or even just the heaters. I immediately called The Engineer with these grand news, but he quickly said no.
Tonight I asked a bit more about the details, as building a sauna has been in our plans, this would just accelerate some of the steps. I learned that the pretty heater had already been sold, but the other three basic ones were still available. They were Tylö brand, specifically from the Karhu line. They were being offered at $450 each, and had been purchased new just for Jamboree.
I relayed this information to The Engineer, and also shared it with my family. I had a discussion with The Engineer about how much I wanted the heater, what a good deal it was, and how we had planned to build a sauna anyway. Just about the same time he agreed, I also got a message from my sister saying she and my brother would send me money to cover the cost of the heater as a wedding gift.
I was so excited about it all working out, I ran right over to the sauna to let the sauna master know I was ready to buy. He said he wouldn’t be able to charge a card, so I had to wait until the trading post opened so I could access the ATM and get cash. As soon as I had cash in hand I ran back to the sauna, and we wrote up a bill of sale.
We found a good spot on the outside tables, and set out our swopping items. Throughout the late afternoon I was able to swop almost everything I had brought. I had not purchased additional official neckerchiefs, but had made some of my own. Unfortunately these did not turn out to be popular, as they weren’t for a specific country. I did get several patches, and also was able to trade my scout cap for a Dutch cap, which I then traded for the Finnish cap I wanted.
Our team had also passed out items as gifts to each other earlier in the day. I had handed out most of my neckerchiefs to those I had worked with most during the last two weeks.
When the wind kicked up, and the sky clouded over we headed inside the tent before the mad rush we knew would occur once the rain actually started. And it did. One group of people who came into the tent started singing scout songs. It was pretty cool to see adult volunteers from several different countries singing Boom-Chick-A-Boom.
We socialized while waiting for the rain to clear up. Once it did, it was also late enough to head to bed.
Xennial Wanderer 