FREEPORT – John and Ethel Wilkerson had never met any of the 12 people who camped out in their Freeport back yard on the night of June 16, and they might not ever see them again.

But those who came to the Wilkerson home did so with credentials. Ethel Wilkerson’s sister, Helen Houlle, and Houlle’s husband, Mark Williams, are affiliated with the St. Louis-based Venture Crew, and arranged for them to stay with the Wilkersons as they continued their tour of 14 nights camping out in 16 states. The Venture Crew, a co-ed group of teenagers and young adults, is affiliated with the Greater St. Louis Area Explorers, a Boy Scouts organization.

“I knew my brother-in-law wouldn’t steer us wrong,” John Wilkerson said, as they campers set up their tents and grilled supper on the couple’s deck. “If they’re Scouts, you can pretty much feel comfortable. Both of my brothers were Scouts.”

Houlle and Williams were unable to make the trip, as Williams has been ill. But Dan and Ben Neville, who run the Venture Crew, followed up on the arrangements. The Nevilles packed the young people in their Chevrolet Silverado and their Chrysler Town & Country van, and started out on the whirlwind tour that began on June 8 in Dayton, Ohio.

The Maine tour included stops for whitewater rafting in The Forks, camping out at Acadia National Park, the Freeport stop – including a visit to L.L. Bean – and then Portland on June 17. The Venture Crew then headed back westward, making stops at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., Philadelphia, Maryland, Gettysburg and back to St. Louis on June 21.

So with all those stops, before and after Maine, why was it called trip called the Maine Event?

“My mother and I were pitching ideas for T-shirts,” said Joe Klein of St. Genevieve, Mo., who at 21 is the oldest group member. “We were going to Maine and I just thought of the Maine Event. My mother painted the lighthouse on the T-shirts for us.”

Favorite stops included Lexington and Concord, Mass., and a visit to the graves of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo Emerson at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery; Walden Pond; whitewater rafting; Maine lighthouses; and Fort Ticonderoga.

Members of the Venture Crew are not necessarily scouts.

“I describe it as co-ed Boy Scouts without all the merit badges,” said Tucker Schoeberlein, 19.

Schoeberlein said that, back in St. Louis, the Venture Crew engages in civic activities such as food drives.

“We can do some things for us, and then we can do some things for others,” he said.

The Wilkersons, who retired to Maine four years ago, just sat back and enjoyed the company.

“When you think about that adventure, piling all of these people into two cars, they’re seeing a lot,” John Wilkerson said. “And that’s when scouting is all about.”

John and Ethel Wilkerson of Freeport, left, welcomed a scouting group from St. Louis that was completing a tour of 14 nights camping out in 16 states last week. The group of 10 teenagers and two adults were winding up “The Maine Event” in the Wilkersons’ back yard, on LaRue Drive.