Dear Mom & Dad:

We are having a great time here at Lake Typhoid.
Scoutmaster Webb is making us 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 & rescue jeeps. It was
neat. We never would have found him in the dark if it
hadn't been for the lightning.

Scoutmster 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 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 its 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. 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?