By Chris Bagdons
Everything is decided by the spear. That was true on the second part of the Mark Warren experience. When we (the second group,) got up to Doug’s cabin, our first task was to start a fire that the first group let die for some strange reason. Terry Vincent, (the fire chief), did this with no problem. After the pyrotechnics team got done with their mission, all of us were sent into the woods to find and make our spears.
Making our spears was different for all of us. For Justin it was as easy as uprooting a tree. After finding and carving our spears, Mark had us walk around and play games that would improve our skills of accuracy and speed.
It was raining lightly the whole time, and then the rain decided that it was time to strut its stuff and it started to pour. Almost all the people on the trip went inside, but the strong and tough ones like Joanne stayed outside. While Joanne was outside trying to be a man, Mark was inside teaching us some sign language. For some it was a refresher course, but to others it was a living nightmare.
Evening made its way to our door step and the rain let up, so Doug kicked the students out of the cabin. Now it was our free time and we decided to sing songs about ourselves. The following list was the final product of our attempt at music.
NAME SONG
Justin Weitnauer: 18 and Life
Terry Vincent: The Right Stuff
Stephie Tucker: I Get Around
Matt Holmbeck: Ice Ice Baby
Jessica Ryan: Strawberry Fields
Elliot Tan: I’m a Lumberjack
Chris Bagdons: Take the Skinheads Bowling
Matt Richard: On Top of Spaghetti
Nate Miller: Everybody Nose
Josh Rockstad: Mommas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow unto be Cowboys
After killing all the eardrums in the five county area, we got out the infamous Book of Questions. If anyone has heard of Elliot and his sheep, or Nate and his mom, well it’s true. Oh, if Nate’s mom is reading this we apologize for your son’s actions. That night the guys rested uneasy, due to Elliot and his snoring.
Morning came early. The traditional French toast was served, and it all went to a good cause. After scarfing all we could, we traveled to a distant land to try our hand at stalking. Nobody died that morning because Mark wouldn’t let us kill each other, bummer.
That evening we had the naming ceremony, by far the coolest experience of my life. To me it was almost religious in a way. It was the way that things were conducted, the chill of the wind and rain, and the warmth of the fire that bonded us all together. I think the names were very fitting, even though I will never know what the names stand for.
That night sick jokes were the hot subject. In the morning we were to call each other by our Native American names. This went fine. Again we ate French toast, but this time, Dawn Norton made the batch instead of the traditional Berg.
The island was our place for the closing ceremony. The trip to the island took some time. It wasn’t far in distance, but some people had to make a lot of trips picking people up paddling a canoe to the island and then dropping them off and starting the process over again. While on the island, talking was forbidden, except in the sweat lodge.
Let me tell you what happened on the island. We had a stack of wood and rocks that Mark had made into a soon to be bonfire. Someone was to light the fire. The heat from the fire would slowly seep into the stones. Nearby was what is called a sweat lodge. The sweat lodge was made of some tarps and some poles. It looked like a little hut. In the middle of the lodge was a hole about a foot deep and a foot wide. When the rocks were all nice and toastie warm, we put them into the little pit in the lodge. We all got in and then Mark started to pour water onto the rocks. Steam rose up, and lots of it. Other stuff happened in the sweat lodge, but it’s not for me to tell. It’s the kind of stuff that makes a trip like this a very touching moment in a person’s life.
Everyone got back to the mainland somewhat safely. Have you ever been in a two man canoe with five people in it? Well, it’s not to be tried at home. Everything found its way to where it belonged and then we made like fetuses and headed out. The trip was wonderful, thanks Mark.