The Boys Only Blog

Greetings, Alpine nation.

Although I’ve posted a few times on the blog, I feel I haven’t formally introduced myself. My name is Weldon Pless, and I recently began working here at Alpine full-time. I was a camper for 9 summers, worked in the kitchen for 2, and then worked on staff for 4. Needless to say, I’ve spent some quality time here at Alpine, but not as a full-time employee.

Peter Hurt also recently began a full-time job here, and he too is no stranger to camp. Peter grew up just down the road (his parents run Camp Desoto), and he’s spent his fair share of summers camping and counseling at Alpine. We like to tell people we’ve spent a combined 30+ summers on the mountain, just to make it sound a little more impressive.

At first, I think Peter and I both found the off-season work to be very different from camp during the summer. The obvious difference is the lack of people. A quick Google search will show that the population of Mentone is 478, a number that easily doubles when the camps are in session. It was so quiet in those first weeks after camp that I almost felt like I should whisper, like I might disturb Mentone if I spoke too loudly.

As the weeks passed, however, I realized something interesting: Camp never closes, it only disperses. Camp really is about the people, and when we open up the gates on closing day we’re not ending Alpine for the summer– we’re releasing it.

Part of our job with Alpine is to travel from town to town, getting the word out about camp. Through this, Peter and I have the unique opportunity of seeing Alpine all over the southeast. We see it when we visit the Tyner’s in Oxford, or the Gilbert’s in Nashville. We see it when we put on a slide show for a group of boys at Jackson Academy. We see it (begrudgingly) on LSU’s campus as our friend Tim Lindsey gives us his informative tour of Baton Rouge. The Alpine family is everywhere.

Peter and I are excited about the chance to be part of something so much bigger than ourselves, and we’re thankful for the Alpine family that welcomes us in each and every town. If Peter and I have 30+ summers, I think it’s safe to say that with the friends we make at camp, and the Alpine friends we’re meeting every day on the road we’ve got about 10,000+ summers. Thanks for making our job fun. It’s nice to meet you.

Weldon

2009 Campers and dads mark down April 16 – 18, 2010 on your calendars.  Our annual Father Son weekend is set for then.  It’s always a blast for boys to remember the fun times had on Lookout Mountain, show their dads all they love about camp, and look forward to next summer.

Registration info will be mailed out after the new year.  Space is always limited so get that application right back to us.

We say it every year because it’s true – what makes Alpine each summer is the staff.  These incredibly fun, cool, Christian college age guys are the life of Alpine each summer.  They make camp!  They are the reason that you campers want to come back year after year.

We’re fired up because it’s time to start staff recruiting!  November is almost here and that means it’s time to strike out on the highways and byways of the South to some of the coolest places around – college towns.  Weldon, Peter, and I head out next Tuesday to Knoxville and the University of Tennessee.  We’re looking forward to getting dinner with our Tennessee staff and then doing interviews with some new prospects.  Evan Warner is setting those up so talk with him if you know a great prospect.

Wednesday will find us on the move to Nashville for a little time hanging out at Vanderbilt.  We had a great group of Vanderbilt guys last summer including Stephen Maroda, Nelson Graham, Andrew Dudas, Patterson Fenelon, Peyton Davis, and Carver Morgan.  We’ll have a reunion with these guys and are counting on interviewing a number of their friends (Stephen Maroda is setting those up).

The next week will find us at Mississippi State and Ole Miss.  New RUF pastor Brian Sorgenfrei and his wife Liza are friends of ours (and he is a former staff member), so we’re looking forward to seeing them and having dinner with all the Bulldog faithful (hopefully at Little Dooey’s, some of the best BBQ in the state of Mississippi in my opinion).  Talk to Brian or Price Davis, who’s setting our schedule, about interviews at State.

Then on to Ole Miss where Carter and the girls will join us and hopefully the O’s too.  We always have a great time staying at the Inn at Ole Miss and interviewing guys while looking out over the lovely Grove (Talk to Sumner Abraham about setting up an interview there).  3 year staff member Hammond McEver is the new RUF intern there after graduating from Washinton and Lee last May so it’ll be great to catch up with him.  And Les Newsom, longtime RUF minister there is an Alpine alum and good friend.  The highlight of the week will be staying for the weekend in Oxford to see if the Rebels can hold their own against the solid looking Tennessee Volunteers.  We’ll be setting up an Alpine tent in the Grove so please come by and see us if you’re there that weekend (more on the location later).

Tentative plans for the week before Thanksgiving call for trips to Auburn and Georgia.  More on those soon.  We also hope to travel to Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Washington and Lee the week after Thanksgiving.

Veteran staff, we hope to see you out on the road.  Thanks for continuing to spread the word to your friends about Alpine.

For rapids that flow,

Glenn

There’s really not a better season than the Fall for traveling. The air is crisp, the landscape is beautiful, and the Hampton Inn TV always has some good football to watch at the end of the day.

Like September, October is full of travelling for the Alpine crew. Glenn and Peter kicked off the month with a slide show at the Gilmer’s home in Mobile. The Gilmer’s sons John and Lee were both on staff, and their other son Walter will be a Chief II this summer. Needless to say, the Gilmer’s are an Alpine power-family, and the slide show was a great start.

The next stop was Atlanta, which was perfect because the Alpine off-season crew had U2 tickets! The concert was epic, as you would expect, and Bono rocked the house (even though we were about a mile away from the stage).

Glenn went on to do slide shows in Lookout Mountain, New Orleans, Gulf Port and Hattiesburg. Unfortunately I stayed back at camp during these, but he said they were all really fun. I got to jump back on the tour for  a three-day stint in the Pelican State. First we headed to Shreveport, which was awesome. The Barro’s house is beautiful, and it was great to see Mikey and Thompson again. Peter and I feasted at the Superior Grill, a fine steakhouse just down the road, and it made the whole week of driving worthwhile. From Shreveport we went to Monroe for a showing at Covenant Presbyterian Church. Haynes Barr and his parents were our hosts, and Peter and I had a great time catching up with them.

Mississippi was next, and it didn’t disappoint. I always love the drive through the Delta. It’s a lovely change of pace from Lookout Mountain. The Peasters welcomed us to their home in Yazoo City, and the Bobo’s did the same in Clarkesdale. There’s enough Southern charm in those two houses to fill up all of Mississippi. And speaking of Southern charm, we got to meet up with former counselor Mark Noland at Abe’s Barbecue, where I ate more than any one person should.

After the Delta came the Jackson show, which is always one of our biggest. We showed the slides in Jackson Academy, Glenn’s Alma Mater, for some of our favorite past, present and future campers. We ate at Newk’s after, and got to hear the scoop from the newly engaged Malcolm Saxon and his lovely fiance. No, I’m not making this up. Malcolm is engaged.

Our final Mississippi showing was in Oxford. The Tyners offered their living room (and some really good punch) to a handful of boys, and we had a great time sharing and reminiscing about this summer at camp.

It was quite a month of travel, and it got us really excited about seeing all these friends again this summer, and hopefully seeing some of the new friends we made. Tonight we’re off to the Green’s house on Signal Mountain for our last October show. We can’t wait!

September was a month of travel for the off-season crew. Alpine is really a community of people rather than just a place, so getting a chance to travel around and visit friends feels like camp, in a sense. We get to see where many of our favorite campers and counselors live, and see what their lives are like during the other 9 months of the year. We even get to make some new friends on the road, some that might just end up here this summer.

We kicked off our slide show tour of the southeast in Birmingham (always one of our favorite stops). Birmingham is a great place to see a big group of campers as well as former staff members. The Hartline, Haynes and Galloway families were gracious enough to host us at the Emmet O’Neal Library, and whoever brought that big pile of Alpine tree cookies deserves an honor camper award.

Our next stop was Memphis, TN. We came for the slideshow, but stayed for the barbecue. Former counselors Rob Langley and Harvey Kay were kind enough to join us at Central Barbecue for a feast that rivaled the Alpine county fair (maybe). I think Peter ate about 3 racks of ribs.

The Nashville show came next. Luckily we had about 24 hours to digest the barbeque before the Gilbert’s were offering hot pizza in their lovely home. Afterward we went to the classic Nashville taco joint, SATCO,  with a whole crew of former Alpine staffers. People warned me about gaining weight in college, but no one prepared me for the Alpine off-season. Nashville was a blast, especially since we got to see some old friends like the Farrs and the Gilberts.

We finished September with a trip to the Cross’s home in Athens, GA. The Cross’s son, Curry, worked some tech magic and got the slideshow going on their TV, and even gave everyone a quick and funny rundown of the Alpine/Desoto square dance we have every summer. It was hilarious. After the slideshow, Peter and I grabbed a milkshake with some UGA students who worked with us this past summer.

With company and food like this, it’s hard to complain about a full-time job at camp. Check the website soon for more updates!