“The Blue Oak R.V. Park, it was amazing. It’s on the Guadalupe River. It’s what most Texans hope to do at some time in their life — most Texans I know. My parents came down. I’ve been pushing them to come down for a little while, just to get a little vacation. I rented them a cabin next door to us. They were coming down just to celebrate July 4 weekend. Do some fishing, do some barbecuing, and — this is all unrecognizable. This is all it. She woke up to the screaming.” “The water was moving so fast, so violently —” “And the water is still coming up.” “You couldn’t throw a line across to help get them in. So I called 911 at 4:29, and this is 4:47. Same time, you have R.V.s floating across.” “That’s our R.V.” “Literally, right here, was our R.V. There’s a little walkway out there where my dad and I were fishing July 3. Just to catch a couple fish, one turtle. And our parents was 197 feet at about 15 feet elevation that way. And I thought I had time to run up. And yeah. Even though they were higher off the river, it didn’t help. They were just washed away. Twenty-three years in the army, any soldier, any troop, they experience it. It’s one of the most helpless times in my life where you can’t help. You just can’t.” “Two boys.” “My parents, Robert and Joni Brake — middle class, all the way through. My dad was an Air Force. My mom put herself through nursing school. They were about the community. They were about the country, church. Big in the church — patriotism.” “Dad taught us how to salute from the time we were 3 or 4 years old. He told us from early on, you protect others who can’t protect themselves. That’s what the military did for us, and that’s how we led our lives. I started down this next little town over walking the river every day, looking under just piles and mountains, and just hoping for an article of clothing or just anything, really. Every day it just felt like it wasn’t enough. There’s not enough daylight, to be honest with you. Knowing my father was found first, it’s given me comfort all day knowing my mother’s not far because he didn’t —” “He didn’t let her go.” “He didn’t take his last breath without her. So wherever he was, she’s not far.”
