Crew 301

Venturing Crew 301

At the end of 1990 or beginning of 1991, Crew 301 which began as Post 42 was created.  By the end of the school year in 1991, the Explorers were doing other activities and taking off to college so the unit died for short awhile.  At the time, the chartered organization was the High Adventure Training (HAT) Team in Old Baldy Council.  Craig Murray, a member of the HAT Team, was interested in starting an Exploring Post.  The HAT Team wanted to continue supporting young adults so they encouraged Craig to take over the Post.  In January 1992, Craig Murray became the new Advisor.

The Post was slow in getting started, but by the beginning of the school year in 1993, Craig had learned about a Venture (a national activity for Venturing-aged youth) in New Zealand.  Craig had been involved in scouting as a youth in New Zealand and began to promote a trip to New Zealand for the January 1995 Venture.  Planning for the trip to New Zealand marked the turning point when the Post became a functioning, active unit.

All the Troop numbers used in the District where Craig lived were in the 700's.  One of Craig's goals was to create a unit for all high school youth in the area, so he changed the number of the Post from Post 42 to Post 7; "7" representing the commonality of the troops in the District.

 

In 1998, when Venturing was created, Post 7 became Crew 7.  Craig continued as the Advisor until the end of 2009 when he turned it over to Joe Vlietstra (joevl@earthlink.net).  Torin, one of Joe's sons had been a member of the Crew for several years.  Joe had recently stepped down as Scoutmaster of Troop 301 and his youngest son was showing interest in Venturing so the timing was good.  The activities that the Post/Crew were involved in during Craig's tenure can be seen in this PDF file: SuperAct.pdf.

When Old Baldy Council folded in 2006, units with a chartered organization in Los Angeles County went to San Gabriel Valley Council (SGVC) and those with a chartered organization in San Bernardino County went to California Inland Empire Council (CIEC).  Crew 7 went to SGVC.  By 2011, all the Venturers in Crew 7 lived in CIEC and the chartered organization for Troop 301, which was the Rotary Club, was interested in sponsoring a Crew.  In order for Crew 7 to retain their tenure, they had to make a formal request to SGVC to make the transfer.  SGVC denied the transfer and never explained why.  The Crew left anyway and became Crew 301 in December, 2011.  Although on paper, the unit is a new Crew, in fact it has been an active unit for over 21 years (dated January 2012).

Today, Crew 301 posts it information on facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/VenturingCrew7.

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Past Adventures

New Zealand

The first adventure was a four week trip to the 1995 6th New Zealand Venture.  We began our trip in Christchurch and spent the last two weeks of December 1994 touring New Zealand.  Our travels ended at Rotorua, the location of the Venture.  We spent a week and a half at the Venture and then traveled to Auckland.  In Christchurch, Dunedin and Auckland, we had the pleasure of staying with Venturer Scouts.  These home stays really made the trip.

Canada

Our second adventure was in July 1997.  This trip took us to the 1997 Canadian Jamboree in Thunder Bay.  From Diamond Bar, we drove north through Zion, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Parks and then across Canada to the Jamboree.  On our way across Canada, we stayed with Venturers in Regina, a great stay, and Venturers in Winipeg.  We had a great time at the Jamboree and then on our way home we also visited Mt. Rushmore.

Argus Cruise

Sailing on the Argus is another one of the highlights of Crew 7.  We had a most awesome time!  For a few picture, please view the Argus activity page.

Australia

Venture 2000 in Australia was a great trip.  The hospitality that we received on our travels before the Venture was outstanding.  Every one of our hosts added to the great experience we had.

The first half of the Venture each of us was in a crew enjoying similar interests.  We chose our interest crews before going.  Our experiences ranged from tandem parachuting to good old fashion riding a bike on the ground!  The second half of the Venture was spent at a Eumerella Scout Camp on the surf coast in Victoria.  During the latter half, we made day trips to the beach, Melbourne, and just generally enjoyed ourselves.

Austria

We had a wonderful trip to Europe in the Summer of 2002.  At the end of the trip we attended Begegnung 2002, an International Scout Hiking Expedition.  During the trip we visited England, France, Monaco, Italy, Germany, and Austria.  For more details, visit our trip information page.

Whitewater Rafting

Each Kodiak Medalof our rafting trips have been done in combination with a Kodiak Venturing leadership course.  In 2005, we rafted on the Colorado River out of Westwater in Utah.  In 2006 & 2009, we had an awesome trips on the Salmon River in Idaho.  In 2007, we rafted the Klamath River in northern California.  In 2008, we did two rivers - the Deschutes in Oregon and the Flathead in Montana.



Email joevl@earthlink.net the Crew Advisor if you want to leave a message or ask a question.



    Last updated 1/28/12 by Craig Murray,