December 1969Watching the Geminids
Author: Ken Homer Issue: 2024-05-01
December 1969–Watching the Geminids
by Ken Homer
I joined the Boy Scouts in 1969 at age 12. Growing up in a Navy town we had several scoutmasters who were in the Navy. One of them was Ed, whose last name I’ve long since forgotten. Probably because, unlike the other scoutmasters, who wanted to be addressed as Mr. Matthews and Mr. Sewell, Ed said, “Just call me Ed.” And so, we all did just that. Ed was an expert in survival techniques and a tad on the crazy side.
Ed clearly loved being a Scoutmaster. He had compassion us and our awkward age. Ed was a seasoned outdoorsman who had grown up in the Rocky Mountains. He deeply loved the Maine woods and he regularly took us on camping trips. He was tall and roughly hewn with long limbs and huge hands and he may have been the most confident man I had ever met up to that point in my life. Ed had a kind likable manner and an easy way about him. As a 12-year-old boy I idolized him and wanted to be like him. I recall he drove a ‘65 Chevy Suburban panel truck that would fit half the troop and nearly all our camping gear in its capacious interior.
Long before I read *The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, *Ed had taught me that the number one rule of survival is: Don’t Panic! Ed had instructed us to always carry a deck of cards with us and if we got lost to sit down and play a game of solitaire (provided we were safe of course) and that the chances were good that before we finished the game someone would come up behind us and tell us to play the red jack on the black queen. Ed repeatedly emphasized the need to stay calm–freaking out was the worst thing we could do–while staying calm would help us to think and survive. It’s a life lesson that has served me well over the years.
Ed showed us how to use silk parachute cord to create a gill net to catch fish. Ed taught us how to build a lean-to and how to build a fire and light it with one match.
One day Ed decided to put our survival skills to the test by going winter camping in Raymond Maine in mid-December! I was excited at the prospect of winter camping, but I wasn’t properly outfitted for it. My sleeping bag was a three-season affair and winter wasn’t one of them. It had been purchased at Mammoth Mart, which was the dept store that my dad managed.
There was deep snow on the ground. The temperatures at night plummeted to near zero and we were all in lean-tos. I froze my ass off that night, and I had to abandon my lean-to. I dragged my sleeping bag next to the fire putting my Space Blanket reflecting side up so that my body heat wouldn’t melt the snow and soak the bag which would make me even colder than I already was.
Fortunately, we’d laid in a plentiful supply of firewood, and I kept that fire roaring throughout the night. I stayed close to it restless, shivering, and trying to stay warm. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep too much. What made it all worthwhile though and the reason I look back on this as a fond memory and not a foul one is because the Geminids were putting on a spectacular display that night, the best I’ve ever seen.
In 1969 Raymond Maine’s population was about 1,300 people. We were camped far away from the town so there was virtually no light pollution. The Moon had left the stage hours before. As I laid there staring up at the vault of the heavens, I counted over 300 meteors streaking across the ink-black dome. I felt each blazing trace connected me to the Cosmos. Lying next to that fire on a clear and cold December night, deep in the Maine woods, watching one of nature’s greatest spectacles, brought me so alive that I have filed the event under “Lifetime Treasures” because it was something wonderful and precious and enlivening. Thanks Ed – I’ll always be grateful to you!
Ken Homer • April 2024
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