Bill: [playing "Reveille"]
Adult Dean: At 6:00 a.m., Dad decided to wake us up with a Scout bugle call that he told us was a tradition stolen from the Matabele warriors of Zimbabwe.

Adult Dean: Walking sticks? Seriously? That salesman clearly worked on commission.
Coach Long: Hey, you sure you know where you're going?
Bill: We're almost there.
Coach Long: Let me see. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We been off this map at least a mile.
Bill: Impossible. My lensatic compass tells me the lake is just up ahead.
Coach Long: Well, my 1/16th Cherokee blood tells me it's back that way.
Bill: Are you still spewing that BS about being part Indian? I didn't believe you in third grade when you made it rain, and I don't believe you now. Let's go, son.

Adult Dean: There were so many things I wanted to say to my dad in that moment. That it was hard to realize he wasn't the perfect man I thought he was. That I was ashamed of the way I embarrassed him back at the lake. That I was grateful he was willing to leave his comfort zone and do something he hated so I could do something I loved. All these thoughts swirled around in my head, until finally, I said...
Dean: Dad... I haven't BM'd in two days. Is that a bad thing?
Bill: I think you'll live. Just don't tell your mother or you'll be gulping down castor oil. That stuff is almost as nasty as my stroganoff.

Coach Long: Well, men, it looks like it's not letting up.
Dean: Now we can't earn any more badges.
Bill: You know, there's one more badge I remember seeing in the book that we can still get before your parents expect you home. [thunder crashes]
[later, Bill, Coach Long and the boys are at a jazz club:]
Bill: You hear that? The bass player lays down a melody, and the cat on the piano responds. It's called "antiphony." Straight from traditional African music.

Deacon Loren: Sorry, men. Troop 24 is no more.
Bill: How come?
Deacon Loren: We had to shut it down when the older boys got drafted to Vietnam to fight. Guess I did too good a job teaching those boys how to run through the woods and shoot. [chuckles]
Dean: Well, my friend Cory and a few others would like to be Scouts. Maybe we could start it up again?
Deacon Loren: No, not with me. I'm too old to be sleeping out there on that hard ground, and eating all of those weenies and beans out of a can gave me the gout.
Bill: Well, son, we tried.
Dean: Dad, you could do it!
Bill: Wait, what?
Dean: Yeah, you could be the Scoutmast... Scout leader. You already know a lot about it, like how the Scouts stole all their ideas from Africa.
Deacon Loren: Is that so, Bill? I didn't know that, and I was a Scout for years.
Bill: True, I'm acquainted with the history, but you know how busy I am with the college and the band.
Dean: Don't worry. You'll figure it out. You're good at everything.
Deacon Loren: Welcome to the Scouts, Bill. [chuckles]

Lillian: Where are you gonna find the time to run a Scout troop?
Bill: Well, I thought maybe you could help me out with the paperwork... and making snacks... and maybe lead a few meetings if I have band practice.
Lillian: Where am I gonna find the time for you to run a Scout troop?
Bill: Looks like somebody's not getting her Kissing badge.
Dean: Dad's gonna be a great leader. He's smart. He can figure out anything.
Lillian: Oh, you're right about that. Your dad is the smartest man I ever met.
Bill: And what I don't know is all explained right here in the book.

Coach Long: All right, men, grab your notebooks, 'cause I want you to explore the area and identify native plants so you can earn your Nature badges.
Cory: Oh, man.
Bill: Or I saw on the map there's a crystal-clear lake with a swimming dock not too far from here. Who wants to get their Hiking badge and their Swimming badge?
All: Yeah!
Adult Dean: Okay, now we're talking.

Adult Dean: This was also the night I realized that my slice of the middle-class American dream might not look like other people's... but I had a cool cat for a father, a man who would do just about anything to make me happy... and that was enough.