Trains, Maine and Automobiles

Twice I took two trips away from home ... the first one was with Bernard Lundy to his wife's home in Montreal to visit her parents and sisters. I still have the photos from that trip. We drove the American way through Maine ... the White Mountains up through New Hampshire and Vermont through the eastern townships in Quebec and then on up to Montreal. It must have been a long weekend .. maybe thanksgiving. Bernard was always a joy to be around .. always a laugh ... I remember having a Ben's Smoke Meat sandwich the size of a football .. my pix focus on Place Ville Marie and other buildings downtown ... so Bernard must have taken me on the grand tour. 

Other than the pix I don't remember much else .. not even the drive home .. I would like to say the trip was remarkable .. but I just have no memory of it other than what I have stated and the pictures ... maybe that is why I take so many. I am guessing it was probably fall 1965.

The next trip was one that I find hard to believe that I pulled off ... Saint John overnight by train to Montreal ... through Maine into Quebec ... connecting Montreal to Toronto .. picked up there by cousin and taken to Richmond Hill. I am not a great sleeper to begin with so I sat up all night and when in Montreal I stepped in a photo booth at the station and had 4 photos taken .. I still have them somewhere ... 3000 yard stare from lack of sleep. I still have a recurring dream about making the connection .. finding the right train ... etc. .. but apparently I did it. How this trip evolved and came to be I have no memory .. it was Xmas 1967 ... and maybe it was just after Xmas when I headed out ... I do remember staying over for a Leaf Bruin game on the 6 January 1968 .. it was a 3-3 tie .. Walton scored 2 ... and then back home ... 

Other than the game ...  have two distinct memories ... driving around with my cousin, listening to FM radio and all the extended tracks playing .. it was awesome .. and going to Sam The Record Man on Yonge Street and buying Buffalo Springfield Again and Magical Mystery Tour .. the albums were simply stacked on the floor ... stacks 4 feet high ... both had just been released the month before .. there was a third album but I just can't recall right now ...

How the hell I pulled that trip off is beyond me ... but I did it ... I probably would have had stronger memories of the Montreal trip if I had purchased some music ... or of the Toronto trip if I had brought a camera ... unbeknownst to me at that time that was the way my memory was going to work moving forward ... everything tied to either music or photos ... and it's still that way today ... 


Phil (4 January 2021 - San Patricio de Melaque - 7:08 PM)


Krome Koan - 'Take a picture .. it will last longer'




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