Dear Mom & Dad,

Our Scoutmaster told us to write to our parents in case you saw the
flood on TV and are worried. We are okay. Only one 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 Adam when it
happened.

Oh yes, please call Adam's mother and tell her he is okay. 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 Adam in the
dark if it hadn't been for the lightning.

Scoutmaster Keith got mad at Adam for going on a hike alone without
telling anyone. Adam 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 will blow up?

The wet wood didn't burn, but one of the tents did and also some of
our clothes. Matthew is going to look weird until his hair grows back.
We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Keith gets the bus
fixed. It wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked okay when
we left.

Scoutmaster Keith said that with a bus that old you have to expect
something to break down; that's probably why he can't get insurance.
We think it's a neat bus. He doesn't care if we get it dirty and if
it's hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the fenders. It gets pretty
hot with 45 people in a bus made for 24. He let us take turns
riding in the trailer until the highway patrol man stopped and talked
to us.

Scoutmaster Keith is a neat guy. Don't worry, he is a good driver.
In fact, he is teaching Jessie how to drive on the mountain roads
where there isn't any cops. All we ever see up there are logging
trucks.

This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming
out to the rapids. Scoutmaster Keith wouldn't let me because I
can't swim, and Adam was afraid he would sink because of his cast,
it's concrete because we didn't have any plaster, so he let us take
the canoe out. It was great. You can still see some of the trees
under the water from the flood.

Scoutmaster Keith 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 bus so we are trying not to cause him any trouble.
Guess what? We have all passed our first aid merit badges. When
Andrew dived into the lake and cut his arm, we got to see how a
tourniquet works.

Steven and I threw up, but Scoutmaster Keith said it probably was
just food poisoning from the leftover chicken. He said they got
sick that way with 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. By the way, what is a
pedal-file?

I have to go now. We are going to town to mail our letters & buy
some more beer and ammo. Don't worry about anything. We are fine
and tonight it's my turn to sleep in the Scoutmaster's tent.

Love, Jimmie