ONE NIGHT STANDS
Night-Time Adventures
Sue-On and I first dated when she was
15. From then on we shared many dreams of seeing the world, making music
. . . and just being together. We overcame many obstacles, but the start
of our life-long journey began when she turned 18 and we were free to marry
in the summer of 1966. Money was short since we were completing our education
and our meagre source of income came from my permit teacher salary and
our early music gigs.
We travelled every summer during
and after our music tours. A succession of vehicles provided our home away
from home: Rambler station wagons, tent trailers, Volkswagen Westfalia
camper, and Ford Econoline Funcraft. It's been fun to look back at the
many strange places where we spent the night in these vehicles. In the
early days it was much easier to find free places to park for the night
-- we ran into very few hassles.
In much more recent times we've
taken to travelling in more sporty cars -- bidding for rooms a day in advance
via Priceline -- or touring abroad. But we have wonderful memories of the
good old days when we travelled on a much smaller budget.
Honeymoon in a Tent: Our honeymoon
foreshadowed the travel adventures we were to take for the next 50 years.
. .and counting. We packed our parent's large tent and camp cots into our
old Rambler station wagon and left for Banff. We visited all the attractions
along the way including the Drumheller Dinosaur museum and Calgary -- we
even stayed in a few hotels along the way. We travelled into the Rockies
as far as Lake Louise and the BC border and found many places to pitch
our tent and unfold the camp cots. September nights in the higher elevations
of Banff however, can be quite chilly. We froze that first night. Next
day we found the perfect solution: air mattresses and double sleeping bags
let us share each other's warmth and brought us much closer together. The
start of a lifelong adventure.
Midway, Exhibition, Fair and Rodeo grounds:
Since our summer tour stage was set up on the exhibition grounds --
often right in the midway or behind the grandstand -- this was a very busy
and noisy place to spend a night.
Grandstand Shooting Range: We were
camped behind a large grandstand on a Canadian prairie fair grounds after
one of our shows. A group of off-duty mounties showed up in civies looking
for a good time. They crawled through the enclosed area under the grandstand
with flashlights looking for rats. Some of them had handguns and with which
they were taking target practice on the rodents. Definitely something that
wouldn't happen these days now that every round has to be accounted for.
One of the guys lived in a house outside of town and they asked us if we
wanted to join them for a party. We all piled into cars and headed out
for the late-night party. We soon left the party as we had to be
up early to prepare our stage/float for the exhibition parade through the
town. We were awakened the next morning by an RCMP cruiser with flashing
lights emitting short siren bursts as it drove in circles around our van.The
mounties inside were singing our "Federal Grain Train" theme song to wake
us up. Later, during the parade we saw our mountie buddies standing at
their posts on street intersections to direct traffic. They peered with
bloodshot eyes over very dark sunglasses to give us knowing looks. Fun
times.
Parks, roadside pull-offs and river
banks: After driving all day we weren't too choosy as to where we parked
for the night. We found some fascinating sites and mingled with many curious
types of wildlife.
Ferry parking lots: Since our van
with a raised up roof was sometimes considered oversize we sometimes were
forced to spend the night in the BC Ferries parking lot.
Ferry onboard vehicle storage decks:
On the Ferry to Newfoundland all the main deck seats/sofas were crowded.
So we made our way down to where our station wagon was stowed. We grabbed
a few winks before the security officer discovered us and ordered us up
to the passenger area.
School Grounds: We were awakened
by the police at a Corner Brook, Newfoundland school. There had been a
series of vandalism and break-ins at that school. Once satisfied that we
were just wandering prairie kids and hadn't planned any vandalism the police
gave us permission to go back to sleep.
Signal Hill parking lot, Newfoundland:
We
were kept awake for much of the night by the noise of a "lapping dog."
We discovered next morning that we were parked near a reservoir and the
lapping was actually caused by waves breaking on the shore.
Vacant New Jersey lot on the Hudson
River: After our day-long adventure in NYC we drove through the Lincoln
Tunnel to the Jersy side where we found a vacant lot along the Hudson River.
We had a fine view of the lit-up Statue of Liberty through our windshield
all night.
Vacant Lot in Flint Michigan:
This
was the only place in the urban area that we could find a place to park.
Definitely would not be our choice today considering the run-down condition
of the Flint and Detroit areas after the collapse of the auto industry
and the rise of drug gangs.
Baptist Church Yard in the US
deep South: It was a hot night so we slept on the open tailgate of
our station wagon -- sans blankets and PJs. We had forgotten that we had
pulled in on a Saturday night. We were awakened by the sound of gospel
songs from the church and curious young black kids passing by us on their
way to Sunday school.
Florida Orange Grove: We pulled
off a country road to park under the shade of orange trees. We later learned
that all these trees would soon be cleared to make way for Walt Disney
World.
Beautiful, Quiet Cemetery Grounds:
Not!
Sue-On had a fear of cemeteries :)
Off-Road Wooded Areas: Our
Ford Econoline was a great travel vehicle and there were many pull-off
areas off wooded country roads. However, the engine cowling jutted into
the interior between the driver and passenger seats. It would take a long
time for the engine to cool down after a long day of travel in hot summer
conditions.
Grand Canyon: Camping wasn't allowed
in the area but we found a secluded small clearing well into the wooded
area. All was well until a biker gang moved in closeby to have a loud midnight
party. The rangers moved in to evict them. On their way out they spotted
our vehicle . . . we went the way of the bikers.
On the bare desert: Outside Las
Vegas we sometimes parked out in the desert for the night. When the heat
of the day hit us we drove into the city for early check-in at a motel.
Back in the '60s there were motels in Vegas and large open areas of desert
behind the motels and casinos. Quite different from today's overhead freeways,
parkades, and dense populations.
Queen Mary: Street Parking Metre: After
a long day at Long Beach and touring the Queen Mary ocean liner and Howard
Hughes' Spruce Goose we decided to park on a nearby street by a parking
metre - curtains drawn. In the morning, I had to rush to throw a shirt
on before reaching out the window to put money in the metre.
Fisherman's Wharf: The night at
the Queen Mary street parking metre worked so well that we tried it again
in San Francisco. . . without incident.
Roadside park near Porterville, CA:
This seemed like a quiet peaceful choice but through the night the
wind direction changed. The worst, all encompassing foul smell woke us.
Apparently we were surrounded by cattle feedlots and the stench was horrendous
-- even for a boy raised on a farm. We hit the road and moved well down
the road toward Bakersfield to find cleaner air.
Wal-Mart Hotel: One summer we had
battery problems with our Econoline. We notice one night that our battery
wasn't charging and the lights were dimming. Time for a new one -- but
everything was closed for the night. Luckly, we found a Mall with a large
parking lot -- some of it on a slope. We parked on the top of the slope
above Wal-Mart and Sears Automotive. After a good sleep we released the
hand brake, put the vehicle in neutral, and rolled down the hill to the
Sears store. We were soon on our way with a brand new battery.
Meteor Crater: This was
an interesting place to set up for the night in Northern Arizona. This
50,000-year-old, mile-wide crater is world’s best preserved meteorite impact
site. We parked near the rim beside an abandoned Navaho hogan.
Montana US/Canada Border Crossing:
On our way back to Canada after the last night of our tour of NW USA Grandstand
shows we reached the border crossing after it had closed for the night.
Our night in the Customs parking lot was a bit of an ordeal. We had brought
a large, white, Great Pyrenees dog back with us.She slept on the floor
of the camper but she was in heat and panted loudly and shook the van all
night. We were glad to see morning and were soon allowed back into Canada
wheeling our way across the Prairies to home.
Mammoth Caves: After a day exploring
Mammoth Caves and the Green River area in Kentucky we pulled into a nearby
small city, probably Cave City, just as a terrific thunderstorm hit. We
found an open space in a parking lot on sort of a rock outcrop and settled
in for the night. We were bombarded by wind, rain, thunder and lightning
and tried to sleep as the van was buffeted by the storm. In the middle
of all this came a rapping on the van window and an eerie Darth Vader sounding
voice. Pulling back the curtain we looked into the face of a policeman.
He wanted to know who we were and why we were there. The officer was very
polite and gave us permission to stay for the night. We learned that he'd
lost his larnyx resulting from a shot in the throat while on duty and had
to speak through a voice box. A very bizare and weird experience.
Hollywood Nights: We had spent the
day exploring the wonders of Hollywood. We were still there long after
dark and rather short of funds when we passed by a rarity in the LA area
on Sunset Boulevard, even in the late '60s: the rubble of a vacant lot.
After a bumpy drive over the sidewalk we made our way to the back of the
lot where we settled in for the night -- surrounded by the lights and sounds
of Tinseltown.
Pacific Coast Beaches: Driving north
from LA along the scenic Pacific Highway we were too late to visit the
Hearst Castle so we spent the night on the beach near San Simeon. Next
morning the fog obscured the "Castle" on the highlands above, but we left
the coastal fog behind as we climbed to the Hearst complex.
Redwoods: Another memorable Califonia
experience were the nights we spent under the towering Redwood trees in
Northern California. The majestic Redwoods are some of the worlds' oldest
and tallest trees and driving along the wooded trails to a secluded place
for the night was an unforgettable experience.
Yellowstone Park Fire: We've visited
Yellowstone Park a number of times. The most memorial one, however, involved
setting up for the night in a wooded area and being awakened in the middle
of the night by brilliant flashing lights and the smell of smoke -- forest
fire. We backed onto a trail and made it to the main road where we sped
north, hopefully out of harms way. We made it.
RV Park - Somewhere In America: We
paid to stay in an RV park once. Facilities weren't too impressive or well
kept. We were surrouned by fellow travellers -- some very interesting,
others rather annoying and loud and in various states of drunkeness. After
that experience we decided to save the money for a few days and check into
the relative luxury of a motel for a night.
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