Dear Mom and Dad,

We are having a great time here at Camp Cherry Valley. Mr. Bays is making us all write to our parents in case you saw the flood on TV and worried. We are okay. Only one of our tents and two sleeping bags got washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because we were all up on the mountain looking for Chris when it happened. Oh yes, please call Chris' 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 him in the dark if it hadn't been for the lightning. Mr. Bays got mad at Chris for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Christopher 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 our tents did; also some of our clothes. Ryan is going to look weird until his hair grows back. We will be home on Saturday if Mr. Bays gets the truck fixed. It wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked okay when we left. Mr. Bays said that a truck 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 truck. He doesn't care if we get it dirty, and if it's hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the tailgate. It gets pretty hot with ten people in a truck. He let us take turns riding in the trailer until the highway patrolman stopped and talked to us. Mr. Bays is a neat guy. Don't worry, he is a good driver. In fact, he is teaching Michael how to drive. But he only lets him drive on the mountain roads where there isn't any traffic. All we ever see up here are logging trucks.

This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out in the lake. Mr. Bays wouldn't let me because I can't swim and Chris was afraid he would sink because of the 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. Mr. Bays 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 badge. When John dove in the lake and cut his arm we got to see how a tourniquet works. Also Nick and I threw up. Mr. Bays 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.

P.S. How long has it been since I had a tetanus shot?

Your loving son,