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Upcoming events:

September 06: Venturing Meeting
September 20: Venturing Meeting
September 24: National Venturing Event - Fall Fun Rally
October 04: Venturing Meeting
October 18: Venturing Meeting
October 22: Haunted House Outing
November 01: Venturing Meeting
November 15: Venturing Meeting

Archived News from 2006

Boundary Waters Canoeing Next High Adventure

The Venturers have picked the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness as their next High Adventure. So far 7 members have signed up for the trip. They will depart August 6th and set out on their canoeing adventure on the morning of August 7th. On August 13th they will paddle back to their outfitter and head to Duluth, Minnesota fo rthe night. They will arrive home early evening on August 14th. If you would like information on going on this adventure, contact one of the Officers or Advisors.

Canoecopia Trip is Planned

Rutabaga in Madison, WI, is holding Canoecopia on March 10 - 12. We will be attending on Saturday and Sunday, (if it doesn't snow). Visit www.canoecopia.com to get an idea of the different vendors and speakers. Sign up is by March 1 for the BWCA Crew. After March 1, it's first come first serve. Remember you can sign up for Saturday and/or Sunday. Admission is $10 for 1 day, $15 for a weekend pass, $2 for gas and whatever you decide to bring or buy for lunch and dinner.We will leave at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and return home by 8:00 p.m. Sunday we will leave at 8:00 a.m. and be home by 7:00 p.m. Hope you come along.

Spring Popcorn Sales Begin

Popcorn Sales begin this Saturday, April 15, at Wal - Mart in Dixon. The Crew will be selling popcorn from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 15 & 22, and on Sunday, April 23 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Please helps out by volunteering to sell on those days.

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CPR Certification Cancelled

CPR Recertification was rescheduled for Tuesday, June 20. We taught a recertification course June 13. We will be scheduling a full Certification course next month.

Hennepin Canal Canoe Trip is a Success

On Saturday and Sunday, June 17 & 18, Venture Crew 85 canoed the Hennepin Canal from Lock 21 to Lock 22. Canoeing buddies worked on their paddle strokes and endurance. Ryan took charge as crew leader and set a quick pace. We camped at Lock 22, Mineral, IL, and had a 1 pot supper. Sunday they paddled to the Coal Creel aquaduct and paddled back to Lock 22 where they loaded the canoes and headed for home. The Crew was made up of Ryan, Danae, Sylvia, Pat, Neil, Curt, Jen, Emily, Carol, Lynn & Terry.

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3rd Year in a Row - Venture Crew Parks Cars at the Country Concert

On Thursday, June 29, Venture Crew 85 parked cars at the Country Concert for the Dixon Petunia Festival. This is the 3rd year in a row that the Crew has collected the parking fee and directed parking for the event. "We really appreciate the kids coming out to help with this event. It takes a lot of effort on everyones part to make the Petunia Festival a success and it's great that the kids can help out", said Paul Roe, a Petunia Festival Board Member. Marcy, Katie, Sylvia and Jen collected the money, while Neil, Drew, Pat and Terry directed the parking of cars.

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Petunia Festival Parade

Venture Crew 85 once again had a float in the Petunia Festival Parade. Crew members built it on Dave's trailer with a minature mountain to symbolize the the adventures that are possible in Venturing. They added camping gear and flags and carried a tent on the pick up truck. Chris and Terry carried the canoe and Duluth pack. Attendees were Chris M., Drew, Emily, Jen, Karla, Kevin, Marcy, Neil, Pat, Sylvia, & Terry.

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Welcome to Venture Crew 85 Website and Open House Info

Thanks for visiting our website. We are holding our summer Open House on Tuesday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m., at the Church of the Brethren, in Dixon. Please look through the website for information on what we do for fun, community service and how to join. Thanks for stopping by and if you have any questions you can email our Advisor, Terry Fuger at advisor@venturecrew85.org or call him at 288-1103.

Pecatonica River Trip

For their final shakedown before heading to the BWCA the Crew left Friday night for Blanchardville, WI, on the Pecatonica River. They canoesd from 20 miles north of Blanchardsville back to their camp. The river started out fairly shallow for the first 3 - 4 milesand then got deeper as we continued down stream. The temperature was in the low 90's and sapped a lot of energy when paddling in the sun. Obstacles were many as the Crew navigated around the obstructions and low water, while trying not to get stuck. Crew members were Carol, Chris, Jen P., Jen S., Lynn, Matt S., Neil, Pat, & Terry

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Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness High Adventure Trip

On August 6, Venture Crew 85 left for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) in northern Minnesota. This was their second trip to the BWCA, the first trip was in July of 2002. The Crew spent many hours of preparation in buying and packing food, gear and personal items in preparation for the trip. The purpose of all the work was to keep the cost of the trip down and only get permits and canoes from the outfitter.
They made a quick stop and had their picnic lunch in Eau Claire, WI, and arrived in Ely, MN, at about 4:00 p.m. After meeting with outfitters, getting their bunk assignments, maps, fishing licenses and permits, they had dinner and heded out to explore downtown Ely. They headed out the next morning and put in at Fall Lake about 10 miles noth east of Ely. Their were 14 Crew members that paddled out and they were broken down into 2 crews of 7 people and 3 canoes each. The following is Crew 2's story. Hopefully, Crew 1 will someday choose to write about what happened on their trip.

Crew 1
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CREW 2

To start off the adventures of crew 2, we left from Fall Lake. From there we set off through a series of lakes and landed near a cove for lunch. During lunch Ryan, Ben, and Wes got the idea to go jump off a group of rocks into the water. With all this in mind, all of the campsites for the rest of the trip were checked carefully for jumping rocks before any were settled upon. The first night found us in Jackfish Bay. After a beautiful sunrise, crew 2 headed through a creek and a series of more lakes and portages to put us on our favorite lake of the trip: Horse Lake. Upon entering the more than two-mile long lake, Ryan saw a cloud of smoke miles off in the distance. After settling down at a campsite everyone took naps. The nap was not to last too long as a thunderous drone of plane engines would come soaring down just above the trees to scoop up water from the lake. Many pictures were taken as the crew sat in awe of the plane. Directly across the lake from our campsite was the best spot in all of the BWCA. This was a rock that jutted out of the water to about 15-20 feet in the air. We proceeded to jump off this repeatedly. Having so much fun, we stayed a second day to goof off more. After our day of fun, the crew went up through another creek into and viewed some Indian paintings. Then the worst part of the trip came upon us as we encountered our 1-mile portage. Trying to decide a good way to negotiate the portage, Ryan came up with the idea to have 2 people carry a canoe to distribute the load better. After a great night’s sleep the crew set off on their hardest day of paddling. Battling strong winds the crew crossed Basswood Lake and set camp for the night. The next day found us at Prairie Portage. Later in the day we met up with crew 1 and then proceeded onto our own campsite 2 miles away. During the evening Ben came up with the idea to go on a night raid and take the other crews flag. Under the cover of darkness, our crew stealthily moved across the water and without a sound snuck into the other crew’s camp and took their flag. The next morning it rained and we went in to be picked up by the outfitter. Once in town and cleaned up, Dave and Carol treated everybody to some well-deserved Pizza Hut. Crew 2's team was Ben, Carol, Danae, Dave, Mike, Ryan & Wes.

Please enjoy the pictures.

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Boy Scout Popcorn Sales at Wal-Mart on Sat., Nov. 4

Come support Venture Crew 85 on Saturday, Nov. 4 at the Dixon Wal-Mart by buying Boy Scout Popcorn. The popcorn sales helps the crew members pay for outings and High Adventure Trips.

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Christmas Party, Friday, December 15

We will be meeting at Plum Hollow at 5:45 this Friday, Dec. 15. We have reserved the wallyball court for 2 hours (6-8). We will then order pizza and then go back to the Terry's house and play games and have a gift exchange. The rules for the gift exchange are simple--the gift must be appropriate and approximately of $5 value. It can be something you found at home that no one wants anymore or you can buy something. If you can find something I would recomend bringing that. Also, you may bring guests. Due to insurance, everyone who comes play wallyball and goes to Terry's must fill out an application. Also they must pay $5. One more thing, for those of you who are interested in next years high adventure, we will be discussing ideas of where to go and what to do at the party, hopefully coming
close to a decision. So far we have discussed white water rafting and spelunking. So think of what you want to do and be ready to voice your opinion! As always, if you have any questions feel free to email or call me, Marcy or Terry. Thank you for your time and I hope to see all of you this friday! (Good luck to all of you taking finals this week!!) ~Sylvia~

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Last updated on: Sunday, September 5th, 2010

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