Letter From Camp

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? Talk about cool!! The
wet wood didn't burn, but one of the tents did and
also some of our clothes. Matth ew 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
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
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,
Rickey