Day Joe Boy Cow Happy! I’m here to tell y’all young whippersnappers about one of the best days Camp Timberlake has to offer, Cowboy Joe Day! 

Happening only once a session, this is a day where we do everything backwards! Yessirs you heard me right, todays the day where everything gets turned upside down. 

You see here at Timberlake, Cowbjoy Joe is something of a legend. Ole Cowboy Joe was famed for cookin’ up fantastical pastries he like to call NutDoughs.  They was round and sweet with a hole in the middle and he made a good living sellin’ them to all he met.  Since Joe lived during the time of the great gold rush, he decided he’d head to where all the commotion was and sell NutDoughs to all and one.  But when everybody was headed west to California, he got a bit befuddled and ended up travelin’ east. He always wore a  big black hat and some snakeskin boots too, but he always seemed to have that hat on backwards and them boots on the wrong feet.  You can believe me when I tell you that it was more than once in a blue moon that ole Cowboy Joe could be seen riding off into the sunrise sitting backward in his saddle.  Now I’m not trying to convince you of Joe being a hardheaded fool or nothing – he was a darn good cowboy … could rope a runaway stallion with his six-shooter and drop a man cold from 30 paces with his trusty lasso, but I don’t know if I’d recommend standing behind him.

 Anyway, to honor his legacy here at Timberlake we do everything and I mean everything backwards here today, and this here article will be no different don’t ya know? Well iffen you’d like to hear the story of the day, I’d best be starting where all good stories start, at the end. 

Our rough riders finished the day by enjoying a Timberlake favorite, the County Fair! Our staff had all sorts of games and contests set up here as the sun was going down over our upper fields (y’all may recall we call it Spencer’s Green). We had Appalachian sumo wrestling (two inner tubes and kayaking helmets do the trick), tug of war, football, soccer, basketball, spikeball, corn hole, lawn bowling, apple bobbing and a camper favorite, counselor skeet shoot. While Cowboy Joe was a kind ole soul, he was also said to have gotten a bit persnickety as the years crept on. Visitors who arrived on his porch unannounced were often greeted with two warning shots rather than a friendly “evening good!”. So to simulate this we let our campers hold the old shotgun (paintball gun) and take aim at a couple of counselors “running through the property”. Sometimes the staff get away unscathed but sometimes they are left painted up good and proper. Is there anything these wonderful counselors won’t do to help the young uns have a good time? Did I mention we had snow cones at the county fair? Yessir! Indeed we did and the most popular flavors were blue raspberry, pink lemonade and tiger blood. Why anybody would want blood in their snow cones is beyond me. 

Just before the county fair we had chapel in the evening where Dees Archie reminded up how Jesus forgives our sins, and instead of hollerin’ in the morning time we did our morning yell in the evening. The boys were mighty loud and proud and I can understand why after eating a delicious dinner of BBQ Pork, corn and mac and cheese. 

Before dinner time our intrepid tripping men returned from their time in the wilderness. Today we had H. Sanders, V. Jack, P, Reid, and F. Braxton go climbing and rappelling at Little Lost Cove. 

James, C. Ward, P. Francesco, L. Mick, G. Sam, P. Blake, B. Noah and N. Peyton all went on a mighty fine waterfall trip and they even jumped in the pool clear up to their chests. Reports say the water was as cool as a popsicle in Greenland, but a good time was had by all. 

Finally B. Ford, B. Evan, W. Jack, P. Will, W. Gavin and M. Powell went kayaking on the mighty Tuckasegee River. They had a blast and certainly enjoyed it more than ole Cowboy Joe used to, seeing as how he never could stop trying to paddle upstream. 

In keeping with the theme of the day we went to our activities backwards today. Finishing with 1st period and starting with 4th.

Lunchtime vittles were, as you’d expect, a bit backward. Instead of the normal midday fare, our young cowboys chowed down on some delicious breakfast foods. Chicken and waffles were the star of the show but we also enjoyed a trail worthy grit bar and plenty of fruit yogurt and cereal. 

Now most of you city folk probably know by now that each night here at Camp Timberlake we play a tribal game. Well on Cowboy Joe day we play that game in the morning, of course. Right after morning vittles (more on that later), the caballeros walked themselves backwards up the hill to the Mark to play some Tribal Battleball (or ballbattle as it’s called today). The Bears Black and Eagles Golden duked it out and I suppose we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out which of these two proud tribes can add another set of spurs to their boots from winning the game. 

What did we do for morning vittles? Well I’m glad you asked as the start of Cowboy Joe day is my very favorite part. Instead of waking up to the sound of reveille at 7:00 am, the young buckaroos got to sleep in an extra hour and awake to the sound of their directors and senior staffers charging into the cabins with nut doughs and cow juice in hand. With music and whistles blaring and screams of “Haww Yee!” and “Morning Good!’’ echoing over the mountains it was a start to the day the campers won’t soon forget. And don’t worry, we came back through with some “nutrition actual’ for the boys once they’d wolfed down their Krispy Kreme nut doughs.

Well I guess that about does it fer my daily wrap up. The campfire is burning low here and the staff and campers are a snoozing after a day of wild and crazy fun. We sure do appreciate y’all parentals letting the young ranch hands spend the two weeks with us here at Camp Timberlake. We’re having a mighty fine time and are as proud of these boys as a first prize winner at the county fair. Unfortunately the days will go back to moving forwards tomorrow, but there is always more fun over the next horizon here at Timberlake. 

Off Signing, 

Menendez John

Director Timberlake

Proud Eagle Golden

Cowboy Joe fan club president