Letter From Camp

Dear Mom,

Our scout master told us to all write to our parents in case you saw
the flood on TV and worried. We are OK. Only 1 of our tents and 2
sleeping bags got washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because
we were all up on the mountain looking for Chad when it happened. Oh
yes, please call Chad's mother and tell her he is OK. He can't write
because of the cast. I got to ride in one of the search and rescue
jeeps. It was neat. We never would have found him in the dark if it
hadn't been for the lightning.

Scoutmaster Webb got mad at Chad for going on a hike alone without
telling anyone. Chad said he did tell him, but it was during the fire so
he probably didn't hear him. Did you know that if you put gas on a fire,
the gas can will blow up? The wet wood still didn't burn, but one of our
tents did. Also some of our clothes. John is going to look weird until
his hair grows back.

We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Webb gets the car fixed. It
wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked OK when we left.
Scoutmaster Webb said that with a car that old you have to expect
something to break down; that's probably why he can't get insurance on
it. We think it's a neat car. He doesn't care if we get it dirty, and if
it's hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the tailgate. It gets pretty hot
with 10 people in a car. He let us take turns riding in the trailer
until the highway patrolman stopped and talked to us.

Scoutmaster Webb is a neat guy. Don't worry, he is a good driver. In
fact, he is teaching Terry how to drive. But he only lets him drive on
the mountain roads where there isn't any traffic. All we ever see up
there are logging trucks.

This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out
in the lake. Scoutmaster Webb wouldn't let me because I can't swim and
Chad was afraid he would sink because of his cast, so he let us take the
canoe across the lake. It was great. You can still see some of the trees
under the water from the flood. Scoutmaster Webb isn't crabby like some
scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad about the life jackets. He has to
spend a lot of time working on the car so we are trying not to cause him
any trouble.

Guess what? We have all passed our first aid merit badges. When Dave
dove in the lake and cut his arm, we got to see how a tourniquet works.
Also Wade and I threw up. Scoutmaster Webb said it probably was just
food poisoning from the leftover chicken, he said they got sick that
way with the food they ate in prison. I'm so glad he got out and became
our scoutmaster. He said he sure figured out how to get things done
better while he was doing his time. I have to go now. We are going into
town to mail our letters and buy bullets.

Don't worry about anything. We are fine.

Love, Cole

P.S. How long has it been since I had a tetanus shot?