Dear Mom,

Our scoutmaster told us all write to our parents in case you saw the flood on TV and worried. We are OK. Just two of our tents and four sleeping bags got washed away. None of us got drowned because we were all up on the mountain looking for Jeff when it happened. Please call Jeff'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.

Scoutmaster Webb got mad at Hector for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Hector 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 blows up? Not much of mine got burned up. Just some old clothes. Larry is going to look weird until his hair grows back.

We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Webb gets the station wagon fixed. It wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked OK when we left. Scoutmaster Webb said that a car that old you have to expect something to break down. We think it's a neat car. It gets pretty hot with 10 people in the car so he lets some of us ride on the tailgate.

Scoutmaster Webb is a neat guy. Don't worry he is a good driver. In fact he is teaching his brother Doug how to drive. But he only lets him drive us on the mountain roads where there isn't any traffic. All we ever see up there is 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 Jeff was afraid he would sink because of his cast so he let us take the canoe across the lake. It was great. You can 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 all passed our first aid merit badges. When Rob dove in the lake and cut his arm we got to practice making a tourniquet. Also Bruce and I threw up. Scoutmaster Webb said it probably was just food poisoning from the leftover chicken. He said they got sick that way from prison food so he knows. I'm sure glad he got out and become our scoutmaster. He said he figured out how to get things done better while he was in there.

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, Dave