Do I Have Enough RV Cookbooks?

A little while ago, I was going through my books that I keep in The Beast.

It seems that I have accumulated a few cookbooks over the years:

At top, from left, the Arizona Cookbook was obtained at the Meteor Crater Visitor Center; Mom's Camper Cooking For RVers may have been obtained at Camping World; the Dutch Oven Cooking book was definitely bought at Camping World (a week ago); the Starcraft Camper Club Cookbook was bought through the club when I had a Starcraft tent trailer; and the Good Sam RV Cookbook was obtained through the Good Sam Club about 25 years ago.

Boy Scouts of America Come To The Rescue

Last evening, I was loading the new motorhome with equipment that has been stored for about 20 years since I last had a motorhome.

One of the items I put into the storage bay of the motorhome was my Dutch oven. I last used it about 8 years ago at a Clampout to make a peach cobbler. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate the pair of pliers (with a hook on the end) that's made especially for use with Dutch ovens.

So, I began to Google around for a replacement. All of the Dutch oven lid lifters that popped up looked nothing like what I had before. To me, they all looked like branding irons used by cattle ranchers. Prices were $12.00 and up.

Here's an example:

Then, I came upon an idea: check with the Boy Scouts of America's online store!

Once I got into the BSA online store, it wasn't long when I found what I was after. It's now on order.

Here it is:

In the BSA online catalog, they are listed as Hot Pot Tongs. They are no bigger than a pair of pliers (which is important as space is at a premium in motorhomes) and they only cost $4.98.  I think I bought the previous one through the BSA when I was a Cubmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster.

The Boy Scouts are a great source for buying camping equipment. And, their prices are reasonable.

To check out the BSA online store, go to http://www.scoutstuff.org/

Sid Blumner Dutch Oven Cook-off (or How An ECV War Almost Started)

Above, the photo that almost started a Clamper war. (Click on photo to view larger.)

Nineteen years ago, a group of us at the Billy Holcomb Spring Clamp-out in Holcomb Valley near Big Bear, California perpetuated a little joke on a clamper friend of ours, Sid Blumner.

I had made a Dutch oven peach cobbler and Glenn Thornhill had the idea to take a photo of the Dutch oven with Gary Julian and me and send it to the then-clamper state newspaper, The Clamper saying we won the first annual "Sid Blumner Dutch Oven Cook-off." There was no Dutch oven cook-off and no such prize.

XNGH Thornhill recalls, "The 1.5 guys saw the photo and article and got pissed off at Sid! Seems they were originally going to call themselves the Vituscan Missionaries, until Billy Holcomb beat them to it. Then when they saw this article they assumed it was true and got pissed off, thinking Holcomb has again stole their thunder with the Dutch oven cook-off since they were planning that as a major Friday night happening at their 1.5 Clampouts."

Yes, I remember the reaction by the De La Guerra Y Pacheco chapter guys. I guess they couldn't take a joke. It is ironic that they belong to a fraternal organization whose specialty are practical jokes! At least they laughed later when they found out they were had.

It is even funnier since the perpetrators were from Platrix Chapter No. 2.