Jo died in 2012 from acute Alzheimer’s.
Lost touch with Midge. I found out she had committed suicide sometime in the 2000’s.
I moved to Hornby in 1972. After two stints at the Peace River Dam, University, Buying a house, working in Focus prints (professional photographic prints) , became manager, had a baby (Fraser). Woof!!
My work at Focus can be found at the top of the blog under ‘Potpourrie’
Caught the plane. Had just enough money to get to Montreal where we had planned on hiring a car and driving home. Found a dealer who shipped cars to Vancouver. The deal was the only thing we paid for was the gasoline. (and any repairs that were needed along the way)
The car was a Chevy Supersport (Very powerful which was its only redeeming feature).
We thought we had enough money to get to Vancouver. The car thought something else. The first time we stopped for lunch it wouldn’t start. We managed to get a jump from another patron. Took the car into a repair garage and were told that the generator needed replacing and would cost much dollars. Nope!
We decided to drive all the way to the west coast without turning the engine off. One of us would sleep in the back seat while the other drove. Seemed to work except the gas this monster used. We had to keep the engine running while gassing up. Had to explain the problem every time. [Gas jockeys don’t like running cars next to their pumps.] Ran out of money somewhere near Winnipeg. Jo phoned her ex boyfriend and asked for money. What a good guy-sent the money right away.
I remember driving the prairies at night, Jo asleep in the back. I was beginning to hallucinate. [Sleeping in a moving car was impossible for me} The road was straight and narrow. uncomplicated except I began to imagine trees leaning over me like I was driving through the woods. It wasn’t so and it didn’t slow me down. Could this car ever go! Somewhere along the way another car decided to follow me so closely I realized that he was ‘drafting’ me. Staying so close that my car would pull him along. We used to do this with big transport trucks-very dangerous.
I didn’t mind. It was company! His headlights bothered me so I turned the rear view mirror so he could see what I could see. He turned his lights off! After a hundred miles or so he pulled of into a small town. Honked his horn, goodbye.
The first and only speeding ticket I got entering a small town in BC (Can’t remember the town). I was still speeding and had to tell the cop who stopped me that I couldn’t turn off the car motor. He grimaced, then wrote out the ticket.
Fraser Canyon
Clear sailing all the way to the city. Two and a half days from Montreal to Vancouver! Beat that!
Hit Vancouver Sept. 1965
The inevitable happened in Vancouver. Everybody wanted to celebrate our marriage!
Jo’s sister Anne, Ike Shulman, Heidi (Ron’s first wife), don’t know who the kid was.
Presents?
Chinese lamp-lasted for quite a while then fell apart.
That was it. Time to get normal…
If you want to see this story ‘Europe’ from the beginning or my previous story ‘Japan’ go to potpourri above and click on the subject.
London-during a heat spell. Midge stayed in Europe-continued travelling. We had enough money to buy plane tickets. Soon to go.
Were treated to a motorcycle race. Much fun.
Stayed with Jo’s Aunt and Uncle outside of London. They had a great house built in the 18th century and fixed up continually over the years. Very cosy, thick walls.
Time to get rid of the car. I took it to a used car dealer outside of town. The proprietor looked at it and said “I doan value it at nuffin..” Left it in the ditch outside his gate.
Uncle grew to like me. He gave me a full package of Cuban cigars! Couldn’t get them in North America-Cuba BAD! They were still wrapped in cellophane and they were very handy on the plane and trip to Vancouver.
They took us to the airport and dropped us off.
The adventure wasn’t over…
If you want to see this story ‘Europe’ from the beginning or my previous story ‘Japan’ go to potpourri above and click on the subject.
“David’s gigantic, rousing bronze monument to Jean Bart (1650–1702), a French naval commander and privateer. Bart raises his sword (lost) as he tramples an enemy cannon at his feet. His sailor’s costume whips and curls in the wind, producing an energetic surface and delineating a human form that deviates from the idealized proportions of the classical nude body. David’s monuments were intended to educate and inspire and drew upon nationalism and local pride. The Jean Bart monument was erected in the privateer’s native Dunkirk, its inauguration on September 7, 1845, attended by a crowd of thousands. The statue continues to play a central role in that city’s annual civic rituals.”
Heading back to England then Canada. Think I grew up on this trip (at least came to my senses). We saw no other Canadians on the road. Yet we were treated with respect by the whole European community. I know they found us ‘odd’ but we were accepted. (Actually after close to 60 years later I find the whole adventure ‘odd’.)
