maughan.ca
a collection of family histories

Judith Ann (Tomsett) Maughan was born 28-Aug-1936 in Eastbourne, East Sussex, England, died 21-Dec-2014 in Oakville, Ontario, CA. Married Michael Maughan on 23-Nov-1963 at the Church of St. Simon-the-Apostle, Toronto, Ontario. Michael was born 21-May-1933 in Toronto, Ontario. For more information about the Tomsetts, please click here.

Early Years

Judith began her career at Caffyns Ltd. Automobile Agents & Engineers on Meads Road in Eastbourne as an assistant to the Assistant Secretary Mrs. Roberts, from Jul-1952 through Dec-1953. They are still in business (founded 1865) at the Meads Road location which opened in 1911.

Having moved to London to accept a job at as a mediacl secretary for Dr. Eppel of Park Lane (we're told he 'catered to the stars'), she lived at 20/28 Bolsover Street on the western side of the Fitzrovia neighbourhood, close to Regent's Park and Queen Mary's Rose Gardens, and a scant 2.5km north of Buckingham Palace. That employment lasted from Sep-1956 to Dec-1956.

Sometime around the start of 1959 she moved to 122 Greencroft Gardens which was an hour walk north of her office, rather than the five minute walk she had from Bolsover Street. Judith first applied to the Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration, located at 61 Green Street, London W1 in the spring of 1959. She received her Assisted Passage Warrant (419-1-34432) 10-July-1959. She then needed to get a passport, arrange her transportation to Canada, complete a revaccination for smallpox, and provide three letters of reference and provide all that documentation to the CDCI in order to be approved to travel. She listed her occupation as stenographer on her application. In order to emigrate to Canada, Judith undertook a warrant (204155) with the Government of Canada. This was part of the Assisted Passage Loan Scheme whereby the cost of her transportation to Canada was a loan for passage that needed to be repaid within the first year of residency. The amount for travel totalled £81-12s-8d (£2,300 in 2025, 3 months wages in 1959). She began paying the loan back in Nov-1959 at $31.00 per month. The loan was repaid in May-1960, in fact it was overpaid by $16.15

At some point in 1962 she and her future husband were setup to meet at a cocktail party hosted by their mutual friends because Judith and Mike both enjoyed single malt scotch whiskey. Things got off to a bit of a rough beginning given that on their first 'official' date Mike decided to take her for dinner at a belly-dancing venue in Toronto - wasn't exactly the best impression. However Mike managed to recover the fumble, and just after midnight in the wee hours of 29-Aug-1963 he proposed. Judith did say that she kept waiting for him to go home, as they had gone out for dinner to celebrate her 27th birthday and had returned to her apartment for a coffee. Mike didn't want to propose on her birthday, so waited until after the clock tolled midnight.

Addresses

The 1960 Road Trip

In 1960 my mother Judith and three of her friends, Joan, Tina, and Liz, decided to take a month off work (I beleive they were all between jobs at the time) and drive a 1959 Volkswagen Beetle nicknamed PP for 'Putt-Putt' from Toronto, Ontario across the US, up into Alberta, over to Vancouver, then down to California and back to Toronto to see a selection of national parks and other sights.
Mom kept a daily journal of highlights in a Toronto General Hospital Temperature Book; not sure how she came across that.
This is that journal with some current and historical photos added in for context, and a link to a Google map of each day’s travels. Text in square brackets [ ] has been added to further refine some details of the trip.

Saturday, 10th September 1960 - Route
7:28am - PP's mileage at start: 06145 - Beautiful morning, sun shone. Walker was up to see us off. Liz drove.
8:30am - Stopped for coffee in Waterdown (Ontario) for approximately half an hour. Inadvertently drove through Brantford. Must listen to Liz in future.
11:00am - 06287 - Bypassed London.
2:40pm - 06388 - Changed to reserve (gas) tank.
3:10pm - Crossed border on Ambassador Bridge.
3:20pm - Put watches back an hour.
2:30pm - Still in customs - no gas. Customs officer unpleasant to Joan and now we can’t leave. Joan and Tina off to get a gallon of petrol.
2:45pm - Left customs.
2:50pm - 06403 - Gas. 9.9 gallons at Shell.
2:55pm - Passed the sheriff of Wayne County.
5:00pm - Passed Mystery Hill between Clinton and Cambridge Junction by lovely Wolf Lake.
5:10pm - Stopped for supper; soup, porkchops, potatoes, tomatoes, and fruit.
6:50pm - Off again, just before Cambridge Junction.
7:15pm - Moscow, 21 miles from picnic lake.
8:50pm - Crossed Michigan / Indiana state line.
9:15pm - Arrived in Elkhart, looked for motels and did a guided tour of the city on all sides of the road, Tina driving.
10:15pm - Took room for four - 2 beds, in Three Point Motel for $11.50 [still operating in Elkhart]

Sunday, 11th September 1960 - Route
7:40am - 06589 (444 miles driven) - Left motel.
8:00am - 06599 - 6.6 gallons $2.18, tyres checked, at Standard Oil.
8:15am - Breakfast at White Chimney Restaurant [corner of Western and Olive in South Bend, Indiana].
9:20am - On the road again.
11:20am - Calumet Skyway Bridge into Chicago.
2:30pm - Left Chicago.
3:15pm - Held up by Millwood Procession across main road on way out of Chicago [I have no idea what my mother was referring to here].
4:50pm - Went under Belvidere Oasis - gas, restaurant, gifts, fountain. Last oasis on Illinois North Tollway.
5:00pm - 06784 - Got gas, 7.2 gal $2.50. From Rockford to 100 miles west, Winnebago County, Abraham Lincoln’s county where he fought as a captain in the militia against the Indians led by Chief Blackhawk. Passed General Grant’s home before Dubuque (Galena, IL).
6:10pm - Crossed Mississippi just at Dubuque and Illinois / Iowa state line.
7:10pm - Pulled in at Scenic View Motel just other side of Dubuque. [I can find no reference to that motel on the west side of Dubuque, but there was a motel by the same name in Elizabeth IL. However that would mean they crossed the Mississippi and then turned around to drive 30 miles back to the motel…]

Monday, 12th September 1960 - Route (approximately)
7:50am - 06886 (741 miles) - Left motel. Noticed that on the farms in Illinois and Iowa pigs graze with the cows. Corn growing country and dairy farming.
11:30am - 07031 - D-X Prairies not all flat.
4:10pm - 07215 - 6.7 gal Phillips 66 $2.35
5:02pm - 07250 - Crossed into South Dakota from Iowa.
6:30pm - Pulled into J. N. Cone’s Farm just outside Souix Falls and with farmer’s permission camped in one of his fields. Had Mr. Cone’s corn on the cob for supper. Very cold night. Up at 6am and washed in very cold water. Sunny morning.

Tuesday, 13th September 1960 - Route
7:50am - 07254 (1,109 miles) - Left farm.
8:15am - Coffee and restroom in Bridgewater South Dakota, saw gorgeous pics in the kitchen. Mitchell SD, nice corn palace decorated entirely with corn, all natural colours, red yellow and white. Redecorated every year for the corn festival at the end of September. Takes about 2 months to decorate.
11:20am - Chamberlain and Missouri River. Stopped for picnic lunch on the Missouri across from Chamberlain after shopping for it. Lovely spot for picnic.
12:40pm - 07413 - 8.1 gal $2.91 at Mobil.
2:15pm - Changed to Mountain Time (1:15pm).
2:35pm - Reached the Badlands. Oligocene period. Indians lived here as early as 14th century. Prairie dogs. Wall Drugs Dinosaur.
5:00pm - 07597 - Standard Oil 6.9 gal $2.50 and supper. Pasta for supper. Rapid City in the evening, we unintentionally did a tour of Rapid City to include Blackhawk on the Black Hills. Stopped for a drink at Tex Fletcher’s Gay Lady Saloon in Rockerville, gold mining ghost town, which had a wooden boardwalk, hitching rails, etc. Only tourist attraction but looked very genuine. [in Rockerville SD, currently the Gaslight Dining Saloon on Main St, Rockerville].
9pm - Grizzly Bear Creek camping site in Black Hills National Forest we pitched our tent.

Wednesday, 14th September 1960 - Route
8:15am - 07681 (1,536 miles) - Left Black Hills National Forest camping site.
9:30am - Left Mount Rushmore heading to Peter Norbeck Wildlife Sanctuary, built all of the roads out over Custer State Park.
10:30am - Held up by two mules and then more mules. Rolling grassland with clusters of pine trees. Custer State Park, forested zoo with 200 pheasants and buffalo.
11:10am - Custer.
11:40am - Black Hills National Forest, hills getting more gentle. Newcastle WY - waited over half an hour for hot dogs at Howdy’s Drive-In Restaurant (now closed). Gas 07758 - 6.2 gal $2.20 filled gas can with white gas [kerosene] but top didn’t block up and gas leaked. Finally traded our can for an old one with a very nice man in a Sinclair gas station.
1:40pm - Finally left Newcastle. Stetsons and blue jeaned men! Wyoming, lovely hills, poor country, huge ranches, deer. Went through valley that was irrigated - green grass of Wyoming at last. Most rivers we passed over were dry. Lots of lovely horses. Wyoming plates have bucking broncos on them. Saw sod houses.
5:10pm - 07935 - Buffalo WY, 6.5 gal $2.35, temps get down to minus 20 in the winter, lots of snow. Noticed lots of magpies. Joan and I did a walking tour of the town after visiting the restroom. Had a Dairy Queen ice cream [no Dairy Queen in Buffalo now, but might have been located at 215 N Main St which is now Wa-Hoo Liquors]. Tina refrained and had peach - getting worried about… From Buffalo we climb from 4,635 ft to 9,666 ft at Powder River Pass in Bighorn Mountains, silver birches a lovely yellow. Rain.
6:40pm - Sleet.
7:15pm - Arrived at Meadow Lark Lodge. One gorgeous log cabin for $7. Beds and table also of logs. One large wood burning stove with which Joan inadvertently burned my (Liz) vest so I burned her socks. Rain still pelting down. Lovely supper of fried chicken made notable by fuses going several times while waiting for it. Talked to two amateur fishermen as we ate. As fishermen left, three live cowboys arrived - with Stetsons. Ralph, Lee and Tub. They plied us with canned beer. Joan and Judy bed. Liz and Tina danced with cow punchers to the jukebox.
11:15 - Joan and Judy asleep.
1:00am - Joan, Tina and Liz off to ranch for breakfast of steak and coffee cooked by our three heroines. Road appalling and rain still raining. Cowboy camp freezing.
3:00am - Breakfast steak was nice but tough as old boots. Joan’s expedition to get horses.
4:45am - Left for lodge, dawn just breaking, rain stopped temporarily. Saw dawn break. Ranch 25 sections, section = 1sq mile. Wyoming greatest drought on record. Stage coaches ran until 1920s. Cabin used during Boer War, war horses trained there. Saw deer, some with antlers, on mountain slope on return.

Thursday, 15th September 1960 - Route
10:45am 08034 (1,889 miles) - Left Meadow Lark Lodge, down steep canyon with steep rock sides. You 'build' a pie here! Arrived in Ten Sleep, breakfast late. Gas 5.2 gal $1.95
1:30pm - 2,000 miles from Toronto. Approaching Cody and Yellowstone.
2:45pm - Cody WY. Climbed into more Big Horn Mountains. Buffalo Bill Dam, pine clad hills giving way to bleak but very beautiful hills. Lake.
3:50pm - Shoshone National Forest - not many trees yet. Rocks with odd shapes.
5:30pm - East entrance Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone Lake very blue, surrounded by mountains.
7:15pm - Reached West Thumb Camp [now Grant Village Campground]. Pitched tent and made hamburgers. Tried to get fire to start in open fireplace. Judith ever helpful threw some white gas on flames and set fire to precious gallon can. Gas burnt like mad and everyone heart in mouth, petrified of starting real fire. However it burnt out without doing any real damage except to can. Neighbouring caravanners came across with kindling and got fire going. Visited by bear in middle of night. Car thoroughly explored and icebag torn to pieces.

Friday, 16th September 1960
10:30am - 08280 (2,135 miles) - Left West Thumb Camp.
10:45am - Saw bear on side of road. Photos.
10:50am - Passed great ocean divide Atlantic/Pacific.
11:30am - Saw Old Faithful erupt.
1:05pm - Left West Thumb, Old Faithful, waterfall - looked at Punch Bowl Hot Spring, black sand pool, very blue water, maximum temp 199 degrees F. Saw Daisy Geyser erupt. Fed large family of chipmunks with ginger snaps. All roads being repaired because of damage done to them during the earthquake in 1959. Liz, Tina, Judy saw a moose. Joan saw a bull elk - same animal!
3pm - Rain. Saw doe, still raining. Drove along Silver Gate, walked to have a look.
3:15pm - Saw bull elk, he even whistled to prove it.
4:30pm - Pitched tent in Mammoth Springs camp.
5:15pm - Off to shower and laundry. Visited shops for shopping. Cooked supper warding off bear with stones, car lights, etc. Brown bear, later it visited the garbage behind tent, drove car at it to scare it. Learned it had slashed tents earlier.

Saturday, 17th September 1960
6:30am - 08358 (2,213 miles) - Left camp to see sunrise and animals. Saw elk amid mist and doe run across detour road to Sheepeater Cliff, a volcanic lava formation. Saw herd of elk grazing around 7:20am
8:20am - Breakfast at West Yellowstone MT.
9:15am - 08408 3.8 gal at Standard (now Chevron). Re-entered Park. Drove beside delightful mountain stream [likely the Yellowstone River] bordered by steep pine clad hills. Lovely sunny day now, and silver birches bright yellow and orange. Passed several big cabins and ranches, and a beautiful log church - soldiers memorial chapel. Joan looking for ideal photo of ranch.
10:30am - Scenery suddenly changed to flat golden plain with rolling hills to left and ahead mountains [likely just north of Carbella MT]. Continental divide.
10:50am - Went through Bozeman, one of the nicer small towns we’ve been through. Lots of horses in trucks, cattle in fields. Mountains in background. Stud Herefords, Aberdeen, Angus. Gorgeous modern school building and some rather nice modern bungalows. Joan still looking for an ideal photo of a ranch.
12:30pm - 08553 7.5 gal $2.71 Mobil
12:40pm - Crossed Missouri River headwater and had lunch beside the river for an hour.
2:30pm - Entered foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Little PP came up a stupendous hill in 3rd.
4:00pm - Approaching Augusta. Criss-cross wooden fences.
5:50pm - Approaching Dupyer. Held up by flock of about 200 sheep for 5 minutes. Went back to look for Liz’s glasses and found.
8:10pm - Arrived in St. Mary MT after skirting the East Glacier Park and climbing to what seemed the level of the mountain peaks. Had hoped to camp by St. Mary Lake in the park but on arrival told by ranger that although camp still open all facilities had been cut off because of danger from freezing. On to Babb MT where we got a motel room for $8 [assume this is the present day Thronson’s Motel]. Went for a meal to local café [likely the log cabin beside the present day Thronson’s General Store], was log cabin, in which a party of local Indians were sitting. After a while the Sheriff with a border patrolman. Tina and I listened into the conversation between the Indians and the Sheriff re: body being found unburied etc. Back to motel room to do washing etc. Lewis & Clark expedition.

Sunday, 18th September 1960 - Route
9:00am - 08822 (2,677 miles) - Left Babb Motel.
9:15am - Reached Many Glacier Park, Browning. Drove around looking at the glaciers and milky galcial water.
9:50am - Canadian Customs, Caraway Alberta. Had a coffee in the border station coffee shop.
10:45am - Cardston, Alberta, settled in 1887 by Mormons from Utah who trekked across uncharted territory. Named after leader Charles Card. 'Tmeple City' of Canada. Rather ordinary though. Temple of the Grecian persuasion.
10:50am - Entered Blood Indian Reserve, branch of the Blackfoot. The are used to be filled with Buffalo, the Indian's staple diet, but in the q880's the huge herds disappeared. Indian legend is that buffalo appear from a hole in the ground. When herds vansihed it was said that the white man had filled the opening up. Flattish prairie land. 08981 7.5 gal at $0.44 ($3.30)
2:25pm - Entering Calgary. Lots of new bungalow type homes on very flat terrain. Most interesting wide streets. Downtown area very pleasant. Birks store, Hudson's Bay, etc. Nothing open. Judy got a map which gave a lot of places to see. Poked our noses into Stampede Ground and were found by an official, Maurice Hartnett, who took us around behind the scenes. Saw cup made of $5,000 worth of sterling silver. 1st Stampede 1912, saw photos of the chuck wagon races, Indians. (Southern) Jubilee Auditorium overlooking Calgary - modern.

Monday, 19th September 1960 - Route
09108 (2,963 miles) - Departed motel for Banff Springs Hotel, then Sulphur Mountain [this is now known as the Banff Gondola and Upper Hot Springs].
Took sedan lift to top of Mt Sulphur ($1.50 one way) 7,487 feet. Most modern gondola lift, rises 2,293 feet from lower level. Walked down trail in drizzling rain, took 1hr 10 mins. Joan and Liz slid down the mountain. Joan and Liz then went for bath in sulphur pool - water at 100F. Water deep green, a bit too hot for comfort, like a hot bath. Water thick and heavy. Only 20 minutes in pool allowed. Tina and Judy went to Indian Trading Post and then in to town for coffee. Had a meal in town and left for Lake Louise about 2:30pm. Scenery shrouded in cloud and rain.
Mount Eisenhower over 9,000 feet.
Elk and deer by roadside. Quite chilly and damp.
3:40pm - Looked at Lake Louise water, most beautiful greeny colour. Glacier at head of lake. Chateau absolutely hideous. Very cold and wet.
4:00pm - left Banff National Park and Alberta. Entered Yoho National Park and British Columbia.
4:35pm - Emerald Lake. Most beautiful greeny-blue colour, not true emerald.
5:10pm - Left Yoho National Park. Golden, BC, 09225 7.7 gal at $0.444 ($3.50)
6:30pm - Left Golden for the Big Bend Highway in pouring rain. Road full of potholes and passed various lumber trucks.
9:05pm - Arrived at first signs of civilization - Kinbasket Motel - 74 miles from Golden. Took a housekeeping cabin for $8.50. Man who owned motel and gas station and that's all there was. Had coffee in coffee shop and talked with man, Mr. Sutton - he came from Brighton, England 32 years ago [1928] - told us the valley [Columbia River] was to be flooded if scheme between Canada and US goes through for hydro and water conservation. New road from Golden to Revelstoke has three year extension. Only game seen on Big Bend Hwy - one rabbit. Pines must be 150' tall. [The northern end of the Big Bend Highway was flooded out once the Mica Dam was completed in 1973 and the Kinbasket Motel no longer exists - parts of the road are still around and the western leg from Revelstoke to the dam is now provincial road 23]

Tuesday, 20th September 1960 - Route
8:05am - 09298 (3,153 miles) - Left Kinbasket Motel.
8:45am - Sun beginning to shine and snow-capped mountains wreathed in cloud looked beautiful.
8:50am - 09320 $1.59 3 gal - Picked up one of two young chaps whose VW had broken down at Old Wooden Head Boating Encampment and took him down to Revelstoke for garage parts.
12:35pm - Revelstoke. Dropped off young man and shopped for lunch. Lunch at Three Valleys Lake. Raining again. Lake Shushwap - named for Shushwap Indians (5,000) of northern BC. Hunters and fishermen. Shushwap Lake between pine clad mountains rather like a fjord. Lake beautiful blue. Lumber mill and logs on lake. Just out of Salmon Arm Adam Lake Indian eserve. Tina and Judy (especially Judy) stiff. Very stiff indeed in buttock region. Judy walking in very elegant manner. Joan carried protesting to campsite 12 miles off route at Monte Lake. Nice site. Lit fire, which actually stayed alight for a while. Judy and Tina washed at coffee shop - took hours.

Wednesday, 21st September 1960 - Route
7:20am - Left campsite at Monte Lake. Breakfast at coffee shop to jukebox.
8:10am - Left coffee shop 09560 on reserve tank. 09568 (3,423 miles) 7.1 gal $3.18 at Monte Creek, paid cash.
10:15am - Saw and eagle. Road alongside Thompson River, beautiful sparkling green. Fraser Canyon. Across Alexander Suspension Bridge and through Sailor Bar Tunnel.
1:55pm - 09745 6.7 gal $3.00 BA
4:40pm - Had coffee in Vancouver having come in via tunnel and thruway ($0.60 toll). Booked in at Ailsa Lodge. Very nice but full of old people. Took ourselves out to Chinatown and the Bamboo Terrace for Chinese meal. Walking through Chinatown but frightening as streets full of men (? result of unemployment). Taxi back to Ailsa Lodge. Last few miles of trip made miserable for drivers because heater wouldn't turn off on their side.

Thursday, 22nd September 1960 - Route
Went our various ways. Joan and Liz went to Volswagen and had heat box repaired (torn by stone? - Big Bend Highway).
Tina and I had breakfast at Ritz Hotel Captain's Locker.
Saw Art Gallery (minute), new Post Office and Public Library and also new theatre.
Took trip in afternoon in car to Stanley Park. Rained all day but enjoyed park. Then went across Lion's Gate Bridge to West Vancouver and looked at beautifl new homes including British Properties (houses in this subsection have to cost at least $50,000) lovely ranch style homes. Beuatiful coves and bays with plenty of sailing en route. Tina went out in evening and we three went for ginormous meal at the Captain's Locker and then back to do hairdressing, etc. I saw on television 'The Man from Blackhawk' - I knew I'd taken everyone to Blackhawk for some reason!

Friday, 23rd September 1960 - Route
11:00am - Left Ailsa Lodge and crossed to West Vancouver and Horseshoe Bay - Pacific Ocean.
12:00pm - Took car ferry to Nanaimo.
1:55pm - Left ferry and entered Nanaimo.
2:00pm - 09948 (3,803 miles) 4.7 gal $2.00
4:00pm - Arrived in Victoria and booked into Thunderbird Motel near Thunderbird Park. Liz rang John and we were all four invited out.
7:30pm - John and friend Bernard Kelly arrived and took us to the Empress Hotel for a drink. Empress Hotel large and rather Victorian with palms etc. Onto the Princess Mary (ship on dry land Harbour Rd Vic West) for dinner of marvellous seafoods. Princess Mary extremely nice and very nautical. Back to motel at abut midnight.

Saturday, 24th September 1960 - Route
Rudely awoken this morning by apple on nose! Up and going our various ways. Liz went to see married friend. Joan and I went to museum which had a very good Indian exhibit. Shopped afterwards and had slacks mended and Joan bought a pair of shoes.
1:15pm - John and Bernard arrived to take us to races (Sandown Park - no longer exists) for the one race meeting of the year (last four weeks). Very pleasant afternoon but none of us made any money. Saw Premier of BC.
Tina left races to get ferry back to Vancouver.
We got back about 6:30pm
We three had dinner at Glenshiel Hotel just down the street.
8:15pm - John and Bernard arrived in two cars to take us to drive-in movie - 'The Wonderful Country'. Liz, Joan, Judy and Bernard's first visit to drive-in. Back at motel about midnight and John and Bernard came up for coffee. Stayed about 2.5 hours. Put clocks back an hour, end of BC daylight savings time.

Sunday, 25th September 1960 - Route
Joan and my anniversary - one year in Canada! [we believe Joan is Joan W. Buchanan who was 30 years old and on the same ship as Judith arriving 25-Sep-1959 in Quebec City; Joan was to start working at the Toronto General Hospital]
Liz went to see Southams. Judy and Joan walked around park and took some pictures. Packed car at 12:45pm and went to ferry Coho.
John and bernard came to see us off which we thought very nice indeed.
2:35pm - Ferry docked at Port Angeles, Washington, USA
5:00pm - 10131 (3,986 miles) on reserve tank, 9.6 gal $3.05
8:30pm - Portland, Oregon, motel, $6 for 3, fairly horrid. Judy had migraine and was sick at restaurant.

Monday, 26th September 1960 - Route
7:15am - Left left motel 10279 (4,134 miles)
8:55am - 10342 7.5 gal $2.10 cash
Oregon - Pacific Wonderland State. Passed through lumber area on highway 99W. Adair Air Force Station. Pheasant State Farm, also farming area. Back to Burma shaving ads - 'Passing cars when you can't see may get you a glimpse of eternity' [this was from the 1959 campaign]
2:20pm - Grant's Pass 10548 7.4 gal $2.80
3:40pm - Entered California. Stopped for quarantine inspection looking for fruit.
5:05pm - Saw Pacific Ocean through mist at Crescent City. Climbed mountain through mist and climbed above it. Through ginormous redwoods. Stopped on top and looked down at trees rising above mist, looked as if one was above the clouds and the sun was shining.
Stopped for supper at Klamath and then went on to Prairie Creek Camp in California State Forest. Very warm and setting perfect. In bed by 8:15.

Tuesday, 27th September 1960 - Route
6:15am - Arose. Morning surpisingly warm. Breakfast and on road at 7:20am 10673 (4,528 miles). Took short putter along nature trail over log bridge. Saw lots of elk feeding on Elk Prairie. Still very misty.
Pacific looks cold, dirty and grey. Black sand.
8:40 - Stopped for breakfast at the Feed Bag in Eureka. Visited tourist gift shop and house in tree gift shop - 20ft room hand-hewn in foot of 3,500 year-0ld redwood.
Went to Founder's Tree which used to be tallest but 18 feet broken off top. Dedicated to the founders of the Save the Redwoods League - 346.1 feet tall.
11:55am - 8.5 gal $3.30 at Mobil 10790. Bought salt and pepper shakers at Hunt's Burl gift shop
6:30pm - Healdsburg. Gas 6.5 gal at $0.309 was $2.00 10973.
Arrived in San Francisco about 8pm after driving on super highway and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.
Drove down Lombard Street, the street of motels, and then turned off and came to the Capri Motel [2015 Greenwich Street]. Rates pricey at $14.00 so Liz and Judy decided no-go.
Very nice room with TV, radio, phone and free coffee in morning.
Walked around the block for supper and then to bed after chat with Vi and Ed.
Watched TV and then bed.

Wednesday, 28th September 1960
Took bus along coast past Maritime Museum. Inadvertently got off in Chinatown and went into Greyhound terminal to ask but closed and all timetables etc. in Chinese.
Walked down to Union Square and Liz and I bought a dress ring each for $1.00. Then to American Express, the White House, Livingston Brothers, Saks Fifth Ave., and other stores including Macey's.
Then took cable car at turntable at Powell and Market Streets to Fisherman's Wharf. Absolutely tremendous riding on a side seat on the car over the hills, some 85 degree angle.
Walked along Fisherman's Wharf where there were some rather swish seafood restaurants, cheap seafood restaurants, and souvenir stands.
Had lunch in a cheap restaurant along alley with stands on which crabs, lobsters, and prawns were cooking. Passed Di Maggios Restaurant (Joe?).
Walked to Church of St. Peter and St. Paul and then onto the Coit Tower up an absolutely perpendicular street. Spanish style houses on the hills with the courtyards. Walked around Coit Tower which had a magnificient view of the Golden Gate Bridge, Oakland Bay Bridge, Alcatraz Isalnd, and Treasure Island. Coit Tower is memorial to firemen with modern mural behind glass doors. Walked (for miles) back to motel up hills and down.
Liz and Joan went to Post Office and looked over Public Library and looked at City Hall and then past the Museum of Fine Arts, Mission Dolores, auditorium and State Department.
In evening watched TV and then went for a drive along neon-lit Geary Street to Cliff Houseand Seal Rocks and along the beach, through Golden Gate Park. Ate terrible chicken meal at terrible drive-in place.
Watched late movie on TV with Norma Shearer.

Thursday, 29th September 1960
Checked out of the Motel Capri and into the YMCA Hotel.
Went out to Cliff House and had a simply super breakfast in restaurant overlooking Seal Rocks. No seals, but lots of sea birds. Bought Joan and Jack a redwood mortar and pestel in souvenir shop next door and Joan had photo taken in automatic machine thing - very good picture.
Drove through Golden Gate Park past Aquarium, Vetran's Museum, and walked this Japanese Tea Garden - rather cute. Ate fortune cookies. Drove to Palace of Fine Arts which was crumbling away and seemed completely devoid of any fine arts. Seems to be used as a stadium? Decaying state due to earthquake. Drove back to YMCA Hotel anlong beach past Yacht Club.
Went around downtown shopping etc.
8:15pm - Waiting in lobby to be taken on the Greyline Nightlife Tour. Were collected by Greyline chauffeur in magnificent limousine and taken to terminal. Went on bus which had a driver and an escort and a guide.
- Went first of all to Finnochio's which was a floorshow which was all female but only males in the cast - some very good indeed. Jokes a bit lewd in places and some accent on fairies. We all drank whiskey sours.
- On, as soon as the floorshow ended, to Gorman's and his Gay Nineties Show [555 Pacific Avenue]. Again, whiskey sour and this time the place looked a little more like a nightclub. Ma and Pa and son Gorman in show. Son comedian and had to contend with drunken women beratting him most of the time.
- After show here - apparently a sort of theatre club restaurant, we all went on to La Casadoro [720 Broadway] in which it was recommended that we drink cappucino - that's cappucino coffee with brandy - delicious. Here in Beatnick land, La Casadoro was just one long room with a bar at one end and a small stage with two charis and a grand piano alongside. Small tables and chairs and various antique opera posters completed the setup. The show was all opera sung by Italian mand and woman with lovely voices and German pianist. Very good show indeed and we all enjoyed it and the cappucino. Left on cue which was 'Funiculi Funicula'.
- On to Nob Hill where with a bit of a race we took in the 'Top of the Mark' at Mark Hopkins Hotel, and the Trojan [sp?] Room in which a native band played for dancing on the swimming poool, native waiters, etc. and the bar - the bar was a merry-go-round complete with horses etc. in the Fairmont Hotel.
- Opposite the Fairmont was a very exclusive club membered by millionaires.
- Next to Bimbos 365 Club. In through stage door to reserved tables. Very, really, night club atmosphere. The floorshow was 'C'est Paris' and was extremely well directed and constumed. Three of the showgirls appeared nude from the waist up and mooned! However there was nothing disgusting about it and they had beautiful bodies. After show here we went into bar and watched through mirrors and prisms and things smimming nude girl who was the famous Girl in the Goldfish Bowl. A very good and enjoyabe evening even to the embarassment of staying at the YMCA Hotel.

Friday, 30th September 1960 - Route
10:55am 11099 (4,954 miles) - Left YMCA Hotel, passed circular Drive-in Bank
11:05am - Gas. Cheveron. 11100 5.6 gal $1.85
2:3pm - Had lunch down a side road under some vines. Country flat as a pancake with vines and fruit trees growing. Joan got asked out for coffee in the morning a soldier and some sailors while Judy and Liz were shopping. Were slowed down in the afternoon for a time by a holdup caused by two trucks colliding.
4:50pm - Gas. 11308 6.7 gal $2.20 - Had coffee and pepsi at cafe and nice owner told us about his Icelandic sister-in-law from Saskatchewan who funnily enough we didn't know. She lives in Town of Zelma Sask. We rather care for cities of over 600 inhabitants.
Drove through Angeles National Forest on outskirts of L.A. looking for one of the 34 campsites. No sign, so asked at gas station and told of one 8 miles up the road. Finally found campsite, mainly for trailers, and saw lots of trailers - apparently a meeting of a trailer square dance club. Pitched tent with difficulty as ground somewhat hard but sandy.
Approached by couple from Hamilton, Ont. travelling in VW who had seen us very early on around Chicago and had been following us ever since. Their VW was in garage at same time as ours in Vancouver. Very nice couple on way to Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, and Mexico. They came round Big Bend Highway and reported that the two lads had made it into Revelstoke by night of that day. Couple had been same places as us - incredible.

Saturday, 1st October 1960 - Route
8:30am - Rose and had breakfast and broke camp. Said farewell to VW couple who were off to Death Valley. 9:30am - 11513 (5,368 miles) - Left camp. 10:05am - Gas. Mobil. 11534 7.7 gal $2.30
Outskirts of Los Angeles very very hilly, dry, skinny scrubby sort of bushes.
Went into Los Angeles and browsed Beverley Hills. The houses were just beautiful as one would imagine but no swimming pools in evidence. On through Hollywood but no sign of studios so on to Long Beach. Also a port but beach not bad, long sandy stretch and so Joan changed in 'Comfort Station' and then swam. Liz and Judy just lay on sand until 2pm when it got a bit chilly so we left the fair shores of Long Beach and took various freeways out of L.A. which apart from Beverley Hills was not so hot. Very industrialized. Pasadena very nice town. Passed the Sheriff of Los Angeles County riding in car with star on door. Sheriff in khakis, young and blond.
Drove up after San Bernardino through the Cajon Pass over the mountains.
Barstow for supper and coffee and gas. 11753 7.7 gal $2.83
8:50pm - Crossed into Nevada. 9:30pm - Arrived in Las Vegas and tried the Flamingo [Capri] Motel (ads say 'Most Beautiful Motel in America' - brought down price to $10.50 from $12.50 - notice in room said $22 for one person). Wonderful room in beige and tangerine - absolute luxury. Bathed and went out on town at 10:50pm. Las Vegas seems to come to life at midnight.
Finally wound up at the Flamingo after inspecting the swimming pools at Desert Inn (really something, very tropical and movie-like), the Sands and Flamingo. Won about $8.50 playing 5 cent machines in the Flamingo. Bed at 3:30am, tired but exhilerated. Had pleasant flirtation with the driver of a flammable gas truck for the last 130 miles into Las Vegas.

Sunday, 2nd October 1960 - Route
12:00pm - Checked out of Flamingo Motel 11918 (5,773 miles). Went to pool to take photos just like a film set. Temp 86F, suntanned people just lounging by the pool.
Long straight drive through desert, very dry yellow. Red hills on either side. No habitation.
1:40pm - Glendale. Gas. 7 gal $2.65 11971
No more Joshua Trees, just scrubby bushes and sage. Plateau like formations with deep cracks in them.
2:10pm - Lunch by side of road under tree just outside of Mesquite NV. 2:45pm - Entered Arizona. Changed to Mountain time (3:45pm). Small oasis of green and settlements on Virgin River, beaver dam. Saw small willi-willi on side of road amd stopped at Indian gift shop which had a bobcat kitten in the cafe. Bobcats wild and killers of sheep. Looked somewhat like a tiger cub. 4:15pm - Entered Utah. Passed old man on covered wagon drawn by two mules in indian reservation. Red mountain range. Mountain goats near Zion.
5:45pm - Arrived in Zion and decided to eat here. Campsite just inside gate. Later decided to spend the night there as Bryce too far and too cold. Pitched tent. Joan and Liz talked to Los Angeles woman in washroom whose husband was professional photographer and to whose pictures she wrote the captions etc. Doing similar tour as ours but in opposite direction and with a trailer and three children.

Monday, 3rd October 1960 - Route
5:50am - Got up and had breakfast etc. 7:00am - Left campsite in Zion 12092 (5,947 miles) 7:30am - Left Zion National Park. Dixie National Forest. 9:20am - Coffee and postcard shop at Ruby's Inn. 10:00am - Bryce Canyon National Park. Drove through to Rainbow point. Lots of chipmunks and a large crested blue tailed bird. Went out to Bryce Point. 11:50am - Started on Navajo Trail, 1.5 miles 12:40pm - Finished trail. 12233 on reserve tank. 1:10pm - Gas. 12236 9.7 gal $3.66 Conico Phillips 2:40pm - Stopped for lunch at Kanab, UT and shopped for provisions. 3:40pm - Entered Arizona 5:50pm - Entered Grand Canyon National Park. Saw lots of deer, firs and aspen. Drove along north rim to Bright Angel Point and looked at canyon which is immense. Pitched tent in lovely wooded campsite and built a fire which unfortunately didn't last too long.

Tuesday, 4th October 1960 - Route
8:30am - Left campsite 12381 (6,236 miles) and drove to Bright Angel Point and walked along trail resting at various points because 8,000' above sea level. Also very warm. Tonto plateau where fossils found of over 500 million years ago.
Small salt sea 200 million years ago with various sea life including sea lilies, sponges, moss, etc.
10:20am - Left Grand Canyon.
11:20am - On way to Flagstaff passed truck carrying lumber which had run over a white buffalo and dented bonnet and tipped wood off one of the trailers. Rather nasty.
11:40am - Gas. Conoco. Cash $2.00 5.7 gal 12459
Passed through Navajo indian reserve. extremely primitive houses, mostly round with no windows and thatched roofs. Goats.
Flagstaff. Gas. 7.1 gqal $2.82
Whislt drinking coffee in Flagstaff saw the Santa Fe rush by.
Left Flagstaff and saw sign post to Walnut Canyon National Monument so went for a look see. It was Indian cliff dwellings about halfway down the cliffs. Pueblo Indians approx. 500-600 people sometime before 1276AD.
Left Walnut Canyon and drove to Joseph City and camped in a large rest area just the other side. In bed by 8:15pm.

Wednesday, 5th October 1960 - Route
7:20am - 12677 (6,532 miles) left rest area.
Stopped and bought momentos at Geronimo Trading Post and Liz her ring.
Painted Desert, triasic period, 160 mil years ago. Newspaper Rock. Agate Bridge. Jasper Forest. Passed lots of Navajo indian mud huts some with washing machines outside and almost all with cars. Women very gaily dressed in brilliant blue, green and turquoise satin skitrs to ankles. Some with wrap type stoles over one shoulder and around waist.
Phillips 66. Gas. 12789 6.9 gal $2.20
12:25 - Entered 'The Land of Enchantment' - New Mexico.
Saw cliff dwelling from highway, looked like castle in hollow in cliff.
Marker where Francisco Vasquez Coronado entered New Mexico in 1540 looking for the Seven Cities of Gold.
Moriarty NM. 12992. Gas 7 gal $2.30
8:15pm - Santa Rosa. Booked into rather crummy motel for $6.00. Ate in room and then Liz and Judy car to have battery filled for the first time. It was completely dry!
Kept awake at night by peculiar smell finally located as the garbage after lots of rather nasty thoughts.
Gas at battery garage $1.00

Thursday, 6th October 1960 - Route
6:05am - Arose and breakfasted.
7:05am - Left motel and Santa Rosa. 13072 (6,927 miles)
8:50am - Texas. Central time 9:50am. Saw Rock Island Line.
Amarillo a very pleasant city. Contains the biggest helium factory in the world. Pipelines to as far as Chicago. Joan has fallen for Texas in a big way. Very flat country but very nice.
Groom Texas. Gas. 7.5 gal $2.45 13287.
2:20pm - Oklahoma. 5:15pm - Came upon rather unexpectedly lake which was rather pretty. Asked dear old toothless duck in beautifully shabby old fashoined sun bonnet who was fishing if OK to camp. She said yes and so we promptly put up tent and got organized. In bed about 7:30pm and all quiet until 8:45pm when a car stopped and footsteps approached, a flashlight flashed in our eyes, and a man's voice called 'Halla'. We all lay quiet until Judith, unable to feign sleep any longer owing to bright light continually flashing on closed eyes and hollers getting louder, asked who it was. Surprise, surprise - it turned out to be a handsome ranger with a lovely drawl, who having told us it was illegal to camp there finally relented and said we might just for the night. Warned us of thieves and said if any trouble to flash our lights on and off and he would come. Whereupon we chose our weapons and went to sleep. [Believe this is Lake Overholser on the western edge of Oklahoma City, OK based on milage]

Friday, 7th October 1960 - Route
6:15am - Arose. Ranger came by to check that we were leaving.
7:25am - 13487 (7,342 miles) Left lake. Passed Citizen's State Bank which is round with high round gold roof. Plaza Tower hotel with six side very nice. Saw First Christian Church [only tower left now].
12:15pm - Gas. Turner Turnpike. 13528. Very red soil and rolling wooded farmland.
12:50pm - Passed first Howard Johnson on trip, Joan says not typical one.
5:25pm - 13738. Apco garage man told us of camp site (private) 4 miles up the road - Lazy Acres. Pitched tent there and went another 4 miles up the road to restaurant for lousy meal and sat and read our books. Back to camp where fire had been laid which we didn't use, hot water tap for our use - luxury.

Saturday, 8th October 1960 - Route
7:45am - 13752 (7,607 miles) Left Lazy Acres.
11:50am - Gas. 13935 7.6 gal $2.35 12:40pm - (1:40pm Eastern time?) St. Louis.
Illinois. Back to the sweet corn country and white farm buildings.
14138 7.5 gal $2.53 Terre Haute - nice Indiana clocks all haywire. Passed Indiana State Farm Prison with warning against picking up hitchhikers.
Rained most of the day so we drove on until 8:30pm when we booked into the Mary-Anne Motel just 22 miles west of Indianapolis.

Sunday, 9th October 1960 - Route
8:40am - 14260 (8,115 miles) Left motel for Indianapolis and breakfast.
10:40 - Gas. 14299 5.7 gal $1.90 Indiana lovely with sun out, leaves just changing and lovely farms.
Fort Wayne - very nice.
Ohio.
Defiance Ohio and a small detour because of inadequate sign posting.
Road from Independence and along Maumee River very pretty.
At Maumee went on the Ohio Turnpike for 11 miles but not realizing this had gone 30 miles before realizing mistake and then had to go another 17 miles for an exit. Turned around and returned 47 miles to where we should have exited. Then onto Toledo-Detroit Expressway.
7:40pm - Detroit. Looked for Steaks 'n Shakes place but couldn't find it. Went over bridge to Windsor and saw very nice Customs man who let us through without a murmur. Pizza in Windsor at Marios [755 Ouellette] and motel at Arrow Motel (3260 Dougal Road). Gas 14703 5 gal $2.00

Monday, 10th October 1960 - Route
8:35am - 14706 (8,561 miles) Left motel. Beautiful day and Ontario looked wonderful. Very reluctant to return to Toronto. Arrived in city about 1:45pm which turned out to be 2:45pm and went to OVC but not open until 4:30pm. Went to 58 Elm and no one home. 14944 (8,799 miles driven). Our apartment looked terrible, mural painted over and everywhere mucky. Took our miserable selves to Ranch House. OVC and told 3 beds at Madison but turned out to only be 2 so Joan and Liz stayed and Judy took room across street at 127. Back to 58 Elm and just like home (in a way) everyone pleased to see us and hear all about it and most kind. Parked car in Madison Ave and in morning ticket for $2.00! Tuesday spent day at 58 Elm clearing up and cleaning up. Terrible job. End of trip. End of log.

In November 1962 Judith Maughan (nee Tomsett) went on a three week holiday to the Caribbean. This is her letter home to her parents and family in England from her apartment at 45 Elm Avenue in Toronto, dated November 23rd, 1962:

There’s just so much to tell you about my holiday. It was the holiday of a lifetime, and when I think of how nearly I didn’t go because of the Cuban Crisis, I grow cold. The weather was perfect, the flights wonderful, and after having climbed on and off no less than seven planes in two weeks, I am happy to say that flying no longer bothers me - too much! So, it was really a wonderful holiday and I’ll tell you about it country by country, I think.

We left here on Saturday, November 3. 'We' consisted of myself, Marjorie (hereinafter called Marj) a Scots friend of mine who has been in Canada for eight years and is 28 years of age, we were three, the third member being a friend of Marj's called June and an Irish-Canadian girl (more Irish than Canadian) around 30 in age.

So, on Saturday, we left here at the crack of 7:30am and travelled first to New York and there changed planes to a jet clipper to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

You can imagine it was just like stepping into an oven - we'd left the northern climes in temperatures around 35° and it was 82° in San Juan. However, the first Puerto Rican we met offered us a frozen rum daiquiri, compliments of the rum company, and this refreshed us and gave us new life. After going through the usual formalities, we were driven to our hotel - the El San Juan - a huge American-owned hotel, and were allocated a room with balcony overlooking the beach, simply gorgeous.

Our very first act was to collapse on the bed and sleep until around 6pm. In this hotel we had not booked meals - just room - rates simply fantastic. So in due course we got dressed and taxied to the city to a place called the Swiss Chalet - how touristy can you get - arrive in a Spanish place and eat in a Swiss restaurant.

The food was excellent and the decor of the whole place was an emphasis on the relationship between Puerto Rico and Switzerland - even to the fountain which was a mixture of local water and water from Lake Lucerne.

After dinner we meandered just around the corner and were promptly 'picked up' - however our suspicions were lulled as he was a 'real American boy' and insisted that we accompany him into a pub-type place which, he assured us, was usually not frequented by tourists and was, therefore, typically Puerto Rican and, most important of all, it featured two tremendous Flamenco singers and guitarists.

Since the tavern, bar, club, pub (call it what you will - I've forgotten) was just next door to the restaurant we'd just emerged from, we were game. Well, the bar was so dark that until one’s eyes adjusted, you couldn’t see a thing. I told Marj (as we felt our way along) that this was just the sort of thing my mother had in mind when she wrote and warned me to be careful.

The guitarists were good and Gerry was an amiable host and he was joined by a friend called Alberto (a Puerto Rican) who was most amusing and told us about the island and the people - it’s only within the last ten years that girls and women have started going out unchaperoned (although girls from the best families still have to suffer a chaperone). Women have also started working and this is now socially acceptable but, in Alberto‘s view, this is one of the causes of the high divorce rate. Puerto Rico is, of course, a Roman Catholic country and I was surprised to hear the divorce rate is high.

We left the club and took a taxi home in time for a 1:30am bedtime.

The next day, Sunday, I arose at the crack of dawn to go to early communion at the Episcopal Cathedral (Puerto Rico is an American Commonwealth country, Episcopal is the American for Church of England). The communion service was, I was happy to discover, in English and another service was being carried on in a chapel at the same time in Spanish. The Cathedral architecture was on Spanish lines and built around an indoor courtyard.

The rest of the morning was spent upon the beach and in the sea. It seemed so odd to be sunbathing and swimming in November but it was so good to feel the sun on our skin. Marj went in for a long swim (she was our swimmer) and came out with a man! Carlos by name, Puerto Rican, and very nice. He advised us to go for a walk rather than lie in the sun - we did - and then he drove us around the vicinity to see a little of the outskirts of the city. By the time it was the hour of our siesta he had invited us to spend the evening with him while he showed us the city - both Old and New San Juan. It was a date.

We ate that night in a Spanish restaurant and the food was hot and spicy and good. Then off with Carlos. It was the most comprehensive tour and seemed incredible that, again in November, there we were driving in a convertible in sleeveless dresses and feeling no chill. Old San Juan was the most exciting part of the city, and the streets are still very narrow and cobbled, the house is very Spanish, and the people everywhere. One excellent idea was that in all the public squares and parks there were television sets and all the people were standing, or sitting, or squatting around and gazing at the monster. A lot of the people are poor, probably can’t afford much entertainment, and it’s far too warm to sit indoors, and so this seemed a good idea. Heaven knows what happens though if Jose wants to watch channel 9, while Felipe standing next to him wants channel 5, could be fun.

The next morning we sallied forth on our official tour of the city - this cost us money and wasn’t half as good as Carlos‘ tour. However, we did get to go into the odd thing, including El Morro Fortress. Puerto Rico was discovered by Christopher Columbus and captured for Spain. El Morro was built for the defense of Spanish possessions (Puerto Rico, being in some senses the gateway to the Caribbean) and especially Puerto Rico. Good old Sir Francis Drake (whom I always thought of as a gallant gentleman but who turns out to be a privateer) was always seeking to capture the gold and other booty the Spaniards were taking out of their new Caribbean possessions and shipping off to Spain. He was most successful in most of his adventures it seems and the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I, seems to have done very well as a result of Drake‘s privateering.

To resume, El Morro was built and so well that, with the help of its cannons, it put paid to many an English ship. It was interesting to find out that the great Drake didn’t die in action, but rather ignominiously, of dysentery in the waters off San Juan.

So, after gazing at the fort, built in 1539, we went on past the beautiful white President's Palace, past squatter's huts, and generally all around San Juan, including the University which had an entrance arch of beautiful Inca-type mosaic.

Afternoon spent on beach and Marj again went for a long swim and came back with another man - different species this time - American named Frank. Frank was down on a sponsored holiday from an air conditioner manufacturer. He was a dealer in electrical appliances and for selling 30 air conditioners in one year he was awarded a week's holiday at the El San Juan. There were a whole bunch of these people in the hotel - they had a whole floor and their own dining room and floor shows, etc. Well, Frank bought us a drink and chatted and then suggested that with him we gatecrash the cocktail party to be given that evening for the Fedders people (Fedders Air Conditioners). This was to be at the poolside, complete with steel bank, and we were keen to go.

We duly met Frank, and his friend John, and sat by the pool sipping rum and listening to the band - then they suggested that we crash the Fedders dining room as they would be willing to sign the bill - this was OK too. Dinner was good and the floor show very good (Flamenco dancers). After a while of watching the rich gambling away their dollars we adjourned to pack and Frank and John came along too to sit on the balcony, talk to us, hamper our packing, and generally drink rum and be happy.

The next day bright and early we were at the airport for the flight to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. However, our plane was delayed for 3.5 hours so it was a bit of a wasted morning. However, we met two American girls (Judy and Carol) who worked for a travel agent in the U.S. and were having a complimentary tour of the West Indies. They were also going to Haiti and we agreed to travel together and meet again in Port-au-Prince.

In the afternoon we arrived in Haiti to be met by our travel agent representative who was the most charming, attractive, negro I've ever met. Let me digress about the Haitian people.

Maps out - attention! Haiti is one third of an island discovered by guess who? Yes, Columbus. He named it Hispaniola and is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Haiti is all mountains and the Dominican Republic is very flat. Haiti has 4,000,000 people in its 10,700 square miles and simply teems with people.

Originally the Arawak indians lived on this island until the advent of the Spanish, hungry for the gold the Arawak indians had found. The Spanish were not particularly kind and by their brutality and overworking of the indians, the latter died in hundreds until, in something like 50 years, there were only a few left.

In 1640 came the French and because they needed workers they started importing slaves from the coasts of Africa. These slaves came primarily to work the plantations. Eventually after three centuries, the black slaves broke out in revolts and with very few arms attacked the French. In January 1804, the first Black Republic was born and this is Haiti.

The Haitians are every colour from the palest cafe-au-lait to the darkest black and the elite are the Creoles - a mixture of the slaves and the colonists and they are a cinnamon colour with European features (for the most part - they come in all colours and features really). They have often been educated in Paris and have all the charm, sophistication, poise and wit of the French, coupled with the primitiveness of the negro. They can't keep still when the music starts and they dance extremely well, although in a completely different way than us.

I'm sure there was magic in Haiti because I just loved the country, the people, and everything that was Haiti and hated to leave.

It's a very poor country and the poverty is apparent - hits you in the eye in fact. However, the poorest of the poor have the same charm and ready smile. The children, ragged and barefoot, are just sweet and have the biggest brown eyes. It is also a very backward country and about 87% of the population is illiterate. This is perhaps partly due to the fact that the majority of the people live in the mountains and farm and are probably miles from the nearest school. The other 13% seem to know too much and are very wealthy, usually owning not one, but two or three businesses. They are not the idle rich though because it seemed that everyone went to work, no matter how rich. It's a Roman Catholic country but with an active Episcopal Church. It's French speaking and it seemed strange to see negro people speaking no other language but French - the only ones I've known have only spoken English.

Colour made no difference and there was no animosity toward white people - it seems that in the upper echelons of society pure white isn't top drawer but the nearer you come to white the better.

To resume. We checked into our hotel which wasn't overfull. Six guests including the three of us. This very charming manager made us very welcome and assured us it was because of the blockage, but one wonders - he'd only been manager since the beginning of November and I gather the place was in pretty poor shape before he took over. However, one thing about being almost the only guest is that the service and attention is excellent. The food was also excellent - French cuisine.

That night we went to bed early as we were feeling rather pooped and the next morning paid a visit to the pool after breakfast. The beach was rather far away so we relied on the pool and Marj's success as a fisher of men was pretty doomed. However, in the pool were some new arrivals from Puerto Rico, an American couple who were also island hopping. He, Captain Bob Andrew, was a captain in the Episcopal Church Army and this turns out to be a lay minister, I think. Anyway, quite by chance he'd met the Episcopal Bishop of Haiti at the airport and the Bishop was rather upset to hear Bob and Eleanor were staying at this hotel (apparently, at one time, it was owned by Al Capone's gang and I guess the Bishop was a bit behind the times). The Bishop had promised to drop by in the evening to see that the Andrews' were no worse off and I asked to be introduced to him if I was around.

We then set off on our city tour. This included the Roman Catholic Cathedral, which was rather run down, the Episcopal Cathedral which had the most beautiful murals of New Testament stories painted by Haitians under the direction of Dewitt Peters. This Haitian primitive art is just beautiful and the colours and outlines are so strong and vibrant - will need to send a postcard of one of the murals to give you and idea. We then went on to the museum and met up with Judy and Carol doing a city tour t'other way round. Next to a mahogany factory where they carved primitive figures and bowls, etc. etc., here we were served a 'cocktail' which was condensed milk (very little fresh milk in the country), coconut water and rum. Very potent, but oh so sweet. We each bought a souvenir and then went on to the Iron Market - an open market where you can buy anything. Much bargaining was done and we entered into the fun but they were so poor you felt like giving them the first price they asked. The women seem to be the beasts of burden in the country and they all carry simply everything on their heads - such beautiful posture that we felt ashamed.

Siesta in the afternoon and the girls went to the pool while I stayed and rested. Marj hadn't even been in the water and when I came out there were three men! Local business men who had dropped by for a drink - the bush telegraph is very effective and I guess they knew we were the new girls in the hotel. Anyway they ended up by asking us to the local nightclub in the evening but we'd already booked to go on an evening tour including this club. In Port-au-Prince they only have one nightclub open each evening and the three or four clubs take it in turn - most odd.

We went on the tour with Judy and Carol and it started off with a voodoo ceremony - this was most eerie and involved much beating of drums, ceremonial dancing and incantation and fire play culminating in a sacrifice to the gods. This was a chicken, brought in live, and in a twinkling of an eye the poor bird had its head screwed completely off and the assistant high priest drank the blood from the neck, the chicken was not yet completely dead, of course, and it writhed most horribly. The entire group of dancers and priests then plucked the bird (very quickly) and drained off some more blood and set fire to it - taking great care that the bird wasn't damaged. It was obvious that the bird, now decapitated and plucked was to be eaten later for dinner - goodness knows what the gods thought of such an incomplete sacrifice. Although it was a tourist attraction voodoo ceremony it was really quite horrible and primitive enough and the native drums built the tension up to a climax. I would never want to see a genuine ceremony, that's for sure. I'm told that every now and again, the gods can only be pleased and satisfied with a human sacrifice but most of these rites take place in the mountains.

After the voodoo we went to a nightclub, which was owned and run by a German. The floor show was a native one, of course, and did some terrific dances dating back to the times of the slaves and was most colourful. Our businessmen friends were there - Andre 1, Andre 2 and Sydney. I became attached to Andre 1.

We also met at the club three Canadian girls, one of whom was having a birthday the next day and so when the club closed, the German invited us to his private bar for a 'birthday drink'. We finally got home early in the morning after a tremendous day out.

Forgot to mention that earlier in the evening the Bishop, true to his word, dropped by the hotel to discover that Al Capone's gang had long gone and to give us his approval of the new manager and his wife, and Bob introduced the three of us to the Bishop - an absolutely charming and wonderful man with a great sense of fun. The Bishop went on to invite the Andrews' and the three of us to lunch the next day - wasn't that splendid of him.

So, next day, we arose early and set off on a mountain tour, stopping half-way up the mountain at a house which was once the ancestral home of the Barbancourts. It was now a brandy distillery (or whatever places they make brandy are called) but the house remained in its beautiful original state. There we were seated and offered the first of the famous Barbancourt liqueur brandies - this one made from mangoes. We went on through 15 different kinds - mango, papaya, aniseed, coffee, lemon, banana, and many others, finishing up with a rum brandy. And this before lunch with the Bishop. They were truly delicious and I came away with a bottle of mango brandy - price $2. We went on up the mountain to see the tremendous view and had a flat tyre halfway down. While the driver changed it in the tremendous heat we tried to con some children into letting us take their picture - most difficult because they all wanted 10 cents for it. Finally, I sneaked around and took a whole street full of children for nothing. The kids were adorable with big brown eyes and lovely grins.

We finally made it to the Bishop's house (or palace, I suppose) which was a gorgeous place with very few rooms except bedrooms and the Bishop's study and reception room because everything happened on the terrace and patio. He invited us first to wash our hands and freshen up, and then we went on to the terrace for a rum punch - fifteen brandies at 11am and a rum punch before lunch - can you beat it? Loverly.

The Andrews then turned up and we had lunch, buffet style, on the terrace too, served by impeccable houseboys. Lunch consisted of soup, and something I'd never had before, a pigeon and native vegetables - it was sumptuous - after coffee and various conversation and much laughter. We all went down to the Episcopal High School which was fairly new and a great success, then on to see the Bishop's personal collection of primitive Haitian art, and so on. The Church also runs a training centre for physically handicapped children, the blind, deaf and lame, etc. Everyone connected with the Church was very excited about the work they are doing especially because they have practically no money and have to go fairly slowly, but although they have so little money they are undaunted because, always, the money seems to come to them when they are ready for the next stage. For instance, they had managed to buy a very dilapidated house with grounds, which they wanted to use as an arts centre for all the people in the city, but having bought it they had no money to have the house torn down and a new one built - however, they were confident that the money would come from somewhere shortly and that the work would go ahead. Meanwhile the Bishop kept his most valuable paintings in this old tumbledown house so that anyone who wished could go in and sit and look at them. This was the first time I'd ever been near a missionary project of any kind and I was really aware of the tremendous faith of everyone working with it, not only in God but his providence for the work that was being done in his name.

Andre, Andre, and Sydney turned up at the hotel around 4:30pm and took us off to another part of the mountain to visit a friend who ran a wonderful hotel. We visited and had a drink and admired the beautiful view and then drove down again to our hotel for dinner. Afterwards they came and picked us up to take us to yet another hotel to dance and see the floor show. The hotels in the mountains are small, beautifully landscaped, and specialized in personal service - you were always made to feel most welcome by every member of the staff. We danced on the terrace under the stars and when the place closed at 1:30am we all went right to the top of the mountain to see an absolutely breathtaking view of the city by night. Andre became most insistent that I stay over and not leave the next day and then wanted me to promise to return next year - I pointed out however that I would be going home to see my family on my next big holiday - and finally, the dear man proposed to me, offering a wonderful life on that magic island, everything I could possibly ever want, and also promising that every year I could go home to England for as long as I wanted - quite a proposal in the most romantic and magical setting I've been in. I was most tempted to accept not because I was madly in love with Andre but I was madly in love with Haiti and everybody and everything and, at the moment, could think of nothing more wonderful than spending the rest of my life there. However, I must have quite a lot of Anglo-Saxon blood in my veins and my own good sense overcame my romantic nature and I explained that since I was not madly in love with Andre I couldn't possibly marry him - this brought forth much quotation of poetry in French of a very sad nature, almost provoking a breakdown of my common sense - and finally he said he would make a voodoo sacrifice to the gods to keep me there (and here I was flying the next day - my trepidation knew no bounds) but he was a gentleman in every sense of the word and graciously but regretfully returned me to my hotel with fond adieus. Oh my, I'm so glad we went to Haiti.

By the way, the Bishop told us that 75% of the people practice voodoo, even though converted Christians, and someone else told us that often they would offer prayers to God to protect them from the powers of the gods they were about to offer sacrifices to.

The next day, bright and early, we left Haiti, rather sadly, because we had all fallen under the spell. We went on to Jamaica and were amazed that Jamaica was so British. It is a mountainous island and very, very green and lush (lots of rain). Here the people are perhaps better off than in Haiti and are very proud of their new independence - their motto is 'Out of many, one people'. Jamaica was discovered by - you've guessed it - Columbus and was for a time the home of the buccaneer Henry Morgan, who was tried in England for piracy and acquitted, finally knighted, and became the first Governor General. I found the history of these islands so fascinating (they seemed so dull at school) that I want to find out more and more.

Our hotel in Ocho Rios on the north shore of the island was wonderful and say what you will, you can't beat British trained staff. So polite, so interested in one's welfare. The room was good, the food delicious and plentiful, and the beach was sandy and the sea warm. We spent three days lying in the sun and dancing at night on the terrace under the stars. There wasn't too much to do in and around Ocho Rios that didn't cost quite a bit of money, but we were very glad of the relaxation. We arrived on the Friday, and a letter from Ford Zacca, our branch manager in Jamaica, was awaiting us (Gordon Henderson had written him we were coming) inviting us to lunch with him in Kingston any time. Saturday and Sunday was spent in and around the hotel - Judy and Carol we staying there too. Sunday afternoon we borrowed hotel bicycles and wobbled our way around but it is so hilly it was too much like hard work. In Jamaica they drive on the left side of the road much to the astonishment of North Americans.

There is also a little bit of a feeling of colour bar in Jamaica and not too much love of Americans, but, maybe I talked to the wrong Jamaicans. I was fascinated by the way they talk - almost with the same kind of lilt as the Welsh - and when they talk pidgin-English it is quite unintelligible to us.

On Tuesday night we went to see the banana boat load - it was an English freighter bound for Southampton - and all the bananas, millions of them were tallied on the wharf, loaded onto barges, and towed out to the freighter where again by hand they were passed from one to another to another into the hold, and then from hand to hand to hand inside the ship until they are all neatly stacked. They are tallied in the ship too. We went out to the freighter to see them loading and it was a wonderful sight - the night was clear and warm and the natives very ragged but with a wonderful rhythm as they passed these huge stalks of bananas from one to another. They began to sing in a sort of chant all that was missing was Harry Belafonte singing the Banana Boat song - I kept feeling that any moment he would turn up and burst into song - but, of course, he didn't. We were told that once the freighter brought a conveyor belt along to link the wharf and the ship but no one would use it at all because it would mean that numbers of natives would be out of work and this weekly loading and tallying of the bananas was their only source of income.

It must have been Monday night we went to the banana boat because on Tuesday morning we went down to Kingston. Drove down, or were driven, and it was the most beautiful drive - truly a very pretty island - and was 75 miles of narrow windy roads. Had no sooner arrived at our hotel than Ford Zacca called and asked us to be ready at 11:50 and, sure enough, there he was right on the dot. He first of all invited us to have a martini there and then he drove us to a hotel a little out of the city, one of the better ones and we sat by the pool and had another martini. Drove further and finally came to another hotel and restaurant (owned by a former branch manager of National Life) and, yes, I had another martini - June and Marj were unable to cope with another - But I joined good old Ford. It takes stamina to work for National Life!

Lunch was very good, stuffed boneless chicken and local vegetables and coffee on the terrace. Ford Z. then drove us to the botanical gardens to see the orchids etc. and finally around the city back to our hotel. I was very grateful for his hospitality, especially because he insisted on al three of us going with him - and all out of his own pocket too, poor man.

We then siesta’d and went to dinner at 9:00pm - everyone takes their time about everything - and moseyed out to the terrace for the floor show - and lo and behold the place was simply swarming with men. There were men, men, men, everywhere and only a handful of girls!

It appeared that there was a U.S. aircraft carrier in the harbour with four destroyers (part of the precautions should Castro turn funny, I think - although the U.S. Navy put it out that the men needed rest and relaxation - mind you they'd all been busy resting and relaxing at home until they had 24 hours notice to join the ship for Kingston - some slight exaggeration here as some of them had come from the Mediterranean). Anyway the men were certainly given liberal shore leave. We sat down very sedately and rather conspicuously since we were the only unescorted females for miles around. Promptly two gentlemen approached us and said they were officers in the Marines attached to the aircraft carrier and would we like to join their table - no obligation attached (whatever they meant by that). With one accord the three of us rose to our feet and joined the table. There were four Marine officers and one local resident although a U.S. citizen, who was undertaking to see that the boys had a good time in Kingston - however, they really were officers and gentlemen and were all unmarried except for the one who very properly kept himself circulating.

We watched the floor show and then all eight of us piled into a Vauxhall and went off to the new Kingston Sheraton hotel to dance, and when it closed we all went on to another nightclub. You should have seen the dismay on the faces of several taxi drivers who thought here was some really good trade - two cabs needed at least - only to find that we all piled into this small Vauxhall.

We finally emerged from the nightclub about 3:45am to walk straight into the arms of the U.S. Navy Special Police who demanded to know why the officers weren't on board the ship - our boys thought they were free as the birds so long as they reported on board at 8am in the morning. However our married Marine was also a commander (is that top brass?) and since he was willing to take full responsibility for the others we were alright - rather an amusing end to a very good evening.

However they were really stuck then because the last boat back to the ship left at 3am and then next one wasn't until 6am and the police very firmly said they must keep off the streets. So we all went back to our hotel and sat and dozed in the garden until 5:45am when they moseyed off - they were nice men and they completed a lovely day in Kingston. It's such a pity one only meets these people fleetingly, but that's life.

They were all rather upset to be told by the police that there were 31 other ranks missing from the ships because, as they said, some of them were only kids and this was the first time in a tropical port and they were probably drunk and (how do you put it nicely?) somewhere. Apparently the U.S. Navy and Marines is completely dry - they are not allowed liquor on board at all and, needless to say, when it's suddenly available very cheaply, these kids don't know how to stop. I often wonder about those boys and hope they came to no harm, and it was rather pleasing to see our escorts genuinely upset about it.

The next morning at noon we flew off, out of the sun and relaxation and into the cold climes of North America. We arrived at New York at 7pm and went straight to the Y.W. (the holiday was really over - from luxury hotels in the sun to the Y in New York). There we met Barbara, a friend of June and Marj who had come down from Toronto to join us. We were all rather tired so we just went out for a meal and then to bed.

Next morning we hit Fifth Avenue, and what a sight for sore eyes - we were completely penniless by that stage so we could feast our eyes on all the gorgeous clothes and accessories without fear of temptation overcoming our common sense. The stores were already decorated for Christmas and were really lovely.

In the evening we went to Sardi's the famous restaurant just off Broadway where anyone who is anyone eats before a show - we couldn't get seats for a show and we were just nobodies but we ate at Sardi's anyway. Fabulous food but fabulous prices - for instance I had a side salad - called a tomato salad - which was just one tomato cut into four slices and placed on a lettuce leaf - my dears, it alone cost me $0.80 which, being converted, is around 6/6d. I leave it to your imagination to guess how much the meal cost - we really blued our last few shekels on it and it was worth it.

The next day we did an all-day tour of New York City, taking the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty and climbing millions of stairs (after the elevator petered out around the middle of the lady) up to the wreath she wears on her head. The view of the skyline was tremendous from that point. Next stop the United Nations building but no time to do a tour of it, just wander around by ourselves, then the Cathedral of St. John the Divine which has been in the building for about 60 years and is still nowhere near finished - but most beautiful with simply breathtaking stained glass windows. Next to the Empire State and right to the top - boy is it ever high - was on the 101st floor - and its really impressive. Then on to the Rockefeller Centre and a tour of N.B.C in Radio City. Along the way we took in Chinatown, the Bowery, Harlem, the Bronx, Central Park, Park Avenue, the slums and tenements and the mansions and the millionaires - a very tiring but comprehensive tour. I'd like to go back some day, with some money, and do a tour of the United Nations and visit a few of the museums and art galleries and see a Broadway show.

Of course, we went to Times Square at night but give me Picadilly any day. Was rather disappointed in New York because I thought that one would arrive and immediately get caught up in the great stir of the big city - I was sure that everyone and everything would be in a tremendous rush - but it really didn't seem any faster than Toronto, although of course, in two and a half days who can judge.

Marj and I flew out of New York Saturday afternoon (the other two stayed an extra day) and got back to Toronto around 6pm and home around 7:30pm

It was the most marvellous holiday and I felt so relaxed and refreshed that I couldn't believe it. It took me about three days to unwind and lose a feeling of impatience because everyone and everything was so slow, and then I felt a different girl - now I realise just how fast our pace of living is and how silly we are to rush though life in a constant fever. However, it doesn't take long to get back into the old rush and tear.

So my dears, that was THE holiday, it's taken me days to write thus screed but I know you want to know all about it. Sorry it didn't come a little faster.