| | Scouts Camping Trip 
 Dear Mum,
 
 Our Scoutmaster told us to write to our parents
 in case you saw the flood on TV and got 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 great.. We never would have found Adam in the
 dark if it hadn't been for the lightning.
 
 Scoutmaster Ted 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 Ted
 gets the bus fixed. It wasn't his fault about the
 crash. The brakes worked okay when we left.
 Scoutmaster Ted 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 super bus. He doesn't care if we
 get it dirty, and if it's hot, sometimes he lets
 us ride on the bumpers. It gets pretty hot with 45
 people in a bus made for 24.. He let us take turns
 riding in the trailer until the policeman stopped
 and talked to us..
 
 Scoutmaster Ted is a neat guy. Don't worry, he is
 a good driver. In fact, he is teaching Horace how
 to drive on the mountain roads where there aren't
 any cops. All we ever see up there are huge
 logging trucks.
 
 This morning all of the guys were diving off the
 rocks and swimming out to the rapids. Scoutmaster
 Ted 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 Ted 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 all got to see how a tourniquet
 works.
 
 Steve and I threw up, but Scoutmaster Ted said it
 was probably just food poisoning from the
 left-over 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 post
 our letters and 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.
 
 
 
 | 
 |