we were really dirty guys.....

Growing up in Chilliwack....... 1958

We all needed work...all four of us.....Don McFarlane, Billy K, Don Reimer and I.....It was April 1958.....we decided to head out to Alberta or Saskatchewan...and see if we could find work on a pipeline somewhere out there....It was a tough goodbye for Bill...he was already married and S and I had been going steady for about 8 months and that was not easy either. Anyway we head out ....Bill has a really nice car...a 56 ford fairlane....so dependable travel was not a problem.....we had an old guitar and sort of sang our way back to Alberta......We stayed in cheapo motels and chased around southern Alberta with a little success...Pincer Creek, Drayton.......a few days work is all we could muster and we kept on hitting sites until we landed jobs in Estevan Saskatchewan....Billy worked with a bending machine.....Don Mcfarlane had a job on the doping crew....Don drove a little tractor and pulled a welder...I was a welders helper and ended up working on that same machine ...Hey ...that was pretty cool.....We were doing fine ......we stayed at a boarding house that belonged to a great lady...Mrs. Yonner.....She supported herself and her daughter by taking in about 8 or 10 guys and feeding us and doing our laundry....that was part of the deal.....She was a great old gal ( about 45)...and looked after her charges with the best care she could muster under those conditions.....We had beds in the basement...a bed and a dresser kind of partitioned off with sheets on wires...it was great......the food was unbelievable...what we missed in fancy was made up in the cooking.....breakfast and supper was something to behold....supper was a loaded table of roast beef...a turkey ...all the veggies...oh ya we had it made in that department....She also made lunches for everyone and always had something washed and clean for us.....the ironing was like a mountain of clothes piled up into a endless corner , that's what she did in her spare time.....there was one bathroom and the water was running steady......the guys hollering out their number for who was next.....the tub water turned the color of mud...it was so windy and dusty ....we were really dirty guys.....The car could be washed and the next morning a film of thick brown dust all over and inside it.......the dust got in everywhere.....but still all in all...we made the best of it and had a pretty good time living there..... I think it was 70 dollars a month.......
I dunno what got into Don Riemer and I....It got really windy......we had been going to work for about a week and sent home because it was to windy to work....even though we started at 2 in the morning to try and beat the weather. Anyway....we screwed up......after missing work for a week and not getting paid any show up time...we get all huffy and are gonna go to Ontario...there is work out there...ya sure.....The guys tried to persuade us to stay but being a couple of stoops we say , yup were goin to Ontario....So we hop a bus and away we go.....all we accomplished was to burn up our reserve money and have a long boring bus ride....thanks to Don's sense of humor we didn't go bonkers....We visited and stayed at Don's brothers place in Toronto...and my sister's in Petawawa, that was a good thing , but.....we tried hitchhiking to find Pipeline work but it was hopeless..and then we bussed.......finding a friendly jobsite was also hopeless.......it seemed like no one was interested in hiring anyone...you had to be connected...Gawd it was a terrible place.....we were used to the warm attitude of the west...that was a cultural shock to be in that people cold country....I could not get out fast enough....who needed that......So....we hop a bus with our tail between our legs and head home......It took about a month to cross Canada...that's what it seemed like......then after we got back to Chilliwack....Don gets a call..like right away...come back to Toronto ....there is a job for you....(Don's brother contacting Don)....I remember seeing him off and pitying him that long bus trip again...anyway...he went back for about a year.......he worked at Continental Can ltd...The Estivan job petterd out in a few weeks and Don M and Billy came home...

A flooky thing happened on the bus about the Regina area......A gal got on and sat in the front...I knew I had seen her somewhere and it dawned on me...Mirah, her name is Mirah.....I went up and sat with her and she was surprised and puzzled about who is this that was being so forward......I said, hey......... remember...Chilliwack....pause..."Oh the 3 Chilliwacks".......so we shook hands began to talk....
Anyway....Mirah was just heading to Vancouver after a trip completely around the world that she started in December 1956........Myself and 2 other Chilliwack boys (Mervin and Pete) were on our way to New Zealand and met her on the Oronsay (ship) when it departed Vancouver......She was travelling with another Gal (already back in Van.) We had all become part of a group that hung out together for over 2 weeks on board ship........We had made many contacts through that great bunch group and used them in our travels.