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Miss Mable 2008 Flag Retirement Ceremony 2006 Veteran's Day Flag Retirement Ceremony

The following picture and story was from 2002 when Troop 940 bought "Miss Mable" our Troop bus.

Miss Mable has had a long and distinguished career with Troop 940. But the Troop's transportation needs are changing, so we are looking to sell our bus. But it has served us well. This is a great story about the first big trip with Miss Mable with Troop 940.

TROOP 940'S NEW BUS, "MABLE"

You won't believe the weekend we had.... Part of Troop 940 (23 boys and 3 adults) went camping up near Mt. Mitchell. It was the maiden voyage for "Miss Mabel," our new school bus. We had a few glitches over the weekend that will, hopefully, be printed in an upcoming issue of Boy's Life and Scouting Magazine. There I was..... We started our trip at about 6 p.m. on Friday p.m. Just before all those storms and tornadoes hit this area. We made it through downtown and a hail storm without too much trouble. We stopped in Advance for dinner at a Wendy's restaurant. As we pulled into the parking lot at Wendy's, Mabel's engine caught fire. Jim Barber, our scoutmaster, discovered some leaking antifreeze hitting the hot manifold. He tightened some clamps and all was well. We were off to Mt. Mitchell. At about 10 p.m. we got close to the mountain. Now Miss Mabel is not keen on hills. Some of them we took at about 5 mph. Then we got lost. We were supposed to take a right at a fork, but we didn't see the sign we were looking for. So, Jim turns left. We ended up on a road with switchbacks and turns that would most drivers nervous in a van. We were in a 54 passenger bus! Finally we hit a blacktop road. We knew that wasn't right so, after some discussion, we decided to head back down the road we just drove. (Jim found out later that we had hit the Blue Ridge Parkway.) This time when we came to the fork, we saw the sign that we had been looking for in the first place. And there was a man in his little golf cart at the front of the campground waiting for us. It was now 12 a.m. on Saturday. We got to our campsite and had the boys unload only the absolutely necessary items--tents, sleeping bags,etc--so they could get to bed. I guess we got the campsite set up at about 1:30 a.m. Had to leave ALL food and scented items (Soaps, toothpaste, etc) in the bus because of bears. The campsite across the road was hit while we were still setting up our stuff! Saturday was beautiful. We discovered that we were on the banks of a little river. We had a very clean latrine and a large picnic shelter with a fire ring for our use. The boys were in heaven. They made a rope bridge to climb on and played with that off and on all day. Some guys took a short hike, others played football or in the river. One little boy was on his first camping trip. Adam Crews ran up to Ed at one point, paused long enough to say "This is GREAT!" and ran off again. That makes it all worth it! Then came Sunday. We got up around 7 a.m. and told the boys that we were to be on the road at 9 a.m. because we didn't know how long it would take us to get home. Little did WE know. Miss Mabel was loaded and ready to go when Jim turned the key at 9 a.m. on the dot. The engine wouldn't turn over; the battery was D-E-A-D, dead. But, we got a jump from our campground host and we were off. It was about 9:30 a.m. At about 10:00 a.m. we started having trouble with what Jim thought was the fuel line. "Didn't sound like it was taking in enough gas." So we stopped on the side of the road next to a little grocery store. (It was a shame it was closed. From what I could see, it would have been a neat place to explore.) A man named Blair drove up with his son, B.J., to ask us if we needed help. The three guys, Jim, Blair, and Ed Freels, our troop committee chairman, worked on the engine for awhile and then deemed it fixed. So we were off again. It was now about 11 a.m. We made it to the top of the next hill, barely. Ed watched for traffic while Jim maneuvered the bus over to the left side of the road into yet another parking area. This time Miss Mabel sounded like she was going to die for good. Chugging, backfiring, etc. Sounded awful! After awhile, a woman and two little boys walk up. "There's an artisan show this weekend and these two are selling lemonade and cookies up at their mother's house. Would you like to come up?" I jumped at the chance. (Being the only woman on the trip, I didn't have anywhere to go for a bathroom. We were in the midst of several homes, but everyone was gone for church.) Later the scouts would go up and clean the little boys out of cookies and lemonade. Those kids probably made more money in 30 min. than they had all weekend! We had all kinds of folks stop by to help us out. At one point there were about five pickups parked around our bus. Everyone wanted to make sure we were okay. Ed and Blair, our first angel as he came to be called, went to the nearest town for a new inline fuel filter. (It's now after 12:30 p.m.) Jim has called his wife, Tracy, with the news that we were going to be late (We were due back at Main Street UMC at 2 p.m.) and to call the parents. He told her to stay near the phone in the event we needed to be rescued. Once the filter was put on the bus started up okay, but still sounded funny. One of our other angels said that he had a friend of a friend who was a bus mechanic. Thought he could get him to come out and help. Eventually, Perry, a minister and Scoutmaster, came by in his yellow Yancy County Schools van to help us out. "Oh, yeah. These International busses always have a problem with moisture in the coils. Let's check that out." Sure enough, he blew off the water and everything was beginning to look a lot better. It's now about 2 p.m. The boys have been playing in a nearby field--thank heavens for soccer balls and footballs!--and had learned about the buzz of an electric fence. That was a hoot; Imagine, grass could conduct electricity, too! We loaded them all up again and were off...to the bottom of the hill. When we got to a stop sign, Miss Mabel died yet again. This time, the battery was draining almost faster than we could charge it. What was wrong?!?!?! Remember our angels, Blair, who had little to no money to his name, and Perry? They had volunteered to follow us as far as the next town, Burnsville, to make sure all was well. Blair went home to get a large truck battery that he had just in case we needed it. He refused payment for it. Perry pulled us to a place near Hwy 226 so we could work on the bus yet again. Jim installed the new battery to use as a backup for the other one. But now they were talking about the alternator. It's about 2:30 p.m. I dug out some luncheon meats and chips, cookies, water, and more for the boys. We couldn't get to all the bread and stuff so they just ate what we could reach. They had been munching on junk food all morning. Now at least they had their tummies full. We started again on Hwy 226 toward the interstate and Marion. Got to another hill and Miss Mabel got stubborn. Jim had to pull off yet again to see what the trouble was. I talked him into letting the boys off for some "hip pocket training" on the side of the road which happened to be a dead end road, with no traffic to speak of. (One of the new scouts was disappointed when he realized that I wasn't going to teach him how to "pick pockets"!) The patrol leaders had their boys on the sides of the road working on first aid training, races, and more. They had been so good all day playing cards, not complaining, and just going with the flow. I'm sure that the new scouts will forever think that a camping trip consists of breakdowns like this. At this point, Jim jerry-rigged something so that the old Volkswagen engine he installed in the back for the AC could charge the battery for the engine in the front. While we were waiting on another part, a Scouting District Executive and two Scoutmasters and numerous others had stopped to see what they could do. One volunteered his church up the road if we needed a place to stay. It's now about 3:30 p.m. We finally get going again. Seems like Miss Mabel is going full throttle without a care in the world. As we pull into the Exxon at I40 to top off the tank, she is idling just fine. Then, the Volkswagen engine, our lifesaver, stops. Right there at the pump. The main engine will go, but the alternator won't juice up the battery enough for the guys to feel comfortable with driving farther down the road. So we pull in beside a KFC and try to decide what to do. Jim calls Tracy and asks her to mobilize the parents. Come get us! We will have to leave Miss Mabel and the supplies we can't carry home and come back on Monday. Ed goes off to call a truck repair service. A little while later, Jim hands me all the cash ($141) that he has and tells me to go to KFC to get the boys some supper. By the time I find out what the boys want (I only give them a couple of choices), it was pushing 5 p.m. I put in my order and it totals to $141.75! The store manager gave us a 10% discount! The KFC assembly line was fantastic and we had the boys eating in less than 30 minutes. Meanwhile we wait for the truck repair guy; he's gone to the wrong Marion exit and is headed our way. The truck repairman shows up at about 5:30 p.m.and promptly determines that the alternator needs to be replaced. So off he goes again to his shop. At about 6 p.m. the parent convoy shows up. Boy, were we are thrilled to see them! We offload the boys and any absolutely necessary items and divvy them up among the cars. Tracy will stay with Jim and their son, Tommy, until the bus is repaired. Craig Montgomery, our driver, and Ed decide to do the same. So after a while (the remaining boys are playing soccer in yet another field) the guy returns with our part. After installing it, he turns to us with a bill for $370.75. I just looked at him. But amazingly among all us adults we come up with $371. By 8 p.m. we were finally on the interstate with a fully functional bus and two vans. We arrived at the church at about 10:30 p.m., a full 13 1/2 hours after we started! All weekend apparently it rained, hailed and blew everywhere but where we were. Only God could have prevented that. I cringe when I think what a horrible time it would have been if it had been raining all day Sunday. And thank heavens for our angels that He sent us. We would not have stayed sane if they hadn't been there. By Wendy Freels

2008 Flag Retirement Ceremony

Flag Retirement Ceremony at Holy Cross Catholic Church - June 14, 2008

Troop 940 was honored to assist the Knights of Columbus with a Flag Retirement Ceremony at Holy Cross Catholic Church on June 14, 2008

Veteran's Day Flag Retirement Ceremony

TROOP 940 Performs a Flag Retirement Ceremony

Veteran's Day 2006

With many Veterans and Community Leaders participating, Troop 940 performed a Flag Retirement Ceremony in the court yard of the Kernersville Municipal Building on Veteran's Day 2006. Mayor Swisher read a Veteran's Day Proclamation, and the Reverend Don Lloyd of Main Street United Methodist Church gave the Invocation and the Benediction. The Glory Steet Quartet performed our National Anthem, God Bless America and the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The East Forsyth High School Jr. ROTC presented the colors. The East Forsyth High School Band Played the Service Medley and America the Beautiful.

The Scouts of Troop 940 and representatives from several other Troops from the Winston-Salem area retired over 100 worn and tattered flags with dignity and respect for the flag that represents our country. Everyone in the audience was moved by the dignity of the ceremony and the respect for the veterans who have given so much for our country.