{"id":2441,"date":"2019-02-15T11:27:52","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T16:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=2441"},"modified":"2019-02-15T12:01:57","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T17:01:57","slug":"1955-camping-trip-march-easterb-break-coming-etobicoke-creek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=2441","title":{"rendered":"1955 camping trip…March….Easterb break coming Etobicoke Creek"},"content":{"rendered":"
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THINGS WERE DIFFERENT THEN\u2026.1955\u2026INNOCENCE <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
(Camping trip \u2026 Easter Break 1955)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s up?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cEaster Break coming\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s go on a camping trip\u2026the three of us.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cEtobicoke Creek is  nice and  wild\u2026abandoned  farms.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWell, we could hitch hike part of the way, as usual.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHey Al, remember the potato farmer last summer?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou guys just laughed at me\u2026I was in the front seat\u2026you two in the back\u2026 laughing.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHe  wanted to know your sex life\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat sex life?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPrecisely.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHitch hiking is  interesting\u2026that time we hitch hiked up to Lake Simcoe..\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGot rides right away\u2026only odd  character was that potato farmer.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSort of sad guy when I think about it.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou should  have invented a sex life, Al\u2026told him what he wanted to hear.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cActually I felt sorry for him\u2026and embarrassed.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Those were the days, mid 1950\u2019s, when the small world  in which we lived was quite innocent even though<\/div>\n
just ten years earlier the world had been ravaged by a war that tore the innocence away from many people.<\/div>\n
Canada had changed.  Lots of jobs\u2026wealth increasing.  Also massive immigration of people from <\/div>\n
Europe including the former enemy nations of Germany and Italy\u2026and Eastern Europe.  We lived in<\/div>\n
a nation which had  been shielded from the blood letting.  Teen  agers  in Canada felt free and safe.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cSo let\u2019s pack up and  head for Etobicoke\u2026three or four nights under the stars.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cFood?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMaybe try a  steak first night\u2026then Kraft dinner for rest of trip.”<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cJust pile our gear beside the highway.,,stick out your thumbs Russ and  Jim\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMy Humberside football jacket should help.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cJesus, the first car stopped.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHi, boys, where you going?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cEtobicoke \u2026west of Highway 27 along Burnhamthorpe Road.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPile your stuff in the back\u2026I can get you outside  the city.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe  want to camp along the Creek.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLots of empty spots there now\u2026nobody to bother you.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy are so many of those farms abandoned?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot abandoned\u2026soon be a different forest of new houses\u2026.Toronto is changing big time.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe love exploring the empty farm barns\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCold  nights boys\u2026frost.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBut feels like everything is about to burst into life\u2026smells wonderful.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow old  are you guys?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSixteen or so.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLucky generation\u2026everything is going to fall your way\u2026jobs, marriage, homes,..you will<\/div>\n
have your own cars  even.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot so sure  abut that.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cJust you wait and  see\u2026”<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
And so the three of us took off for the  wilds of Etobicoke.  Russ Vanstone, Jim Romaniuk and  Alan  Skeoch.   1955.  Explorers of a  sort.<\/div>\n
Ready to face the brave new world.   Breaking free.  Carrying what we needed.  Except for one mistake that camping trip.  We did<\/div>\n
pack three \u2018minute steaks\u2019 but forgot to bring knives, forks and  spoons.  Eating with our hands  was OK though\u2026and we had<\/div>\n
our Boy Scout knives.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cHey Russ, there\u2019s water in the well.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cUse that stick as a pump handle\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cShould  we drink the water?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSure\u2026those little chunks are just fleck of rotten wood\u2026skim them.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cShouldn\u2019t we use the Creek water?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe could\u2026although remember when we were diving<\/div>\n
off the old iron bridge last summer and someone said <\/div>\n
the muck below the water was sewage.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDidn\u2019t kill us.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s trust this  pump.”<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cCold  night.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBut sun is out now\u2026swim is  possible.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBragging rights\u2026did you know we swam across a <\/div>\n
raging river on our Easter Break.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMake it sound big.”<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Exporers<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The Campsite\u2026all  kinds of stuff floating in the river that we could use.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Along with our gear we even packed a  few books.  No flies to bother us in March  of 1955.  Flies wild come later in the year.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cHey Al, Look over here\u2026dead horse floating in the Creek.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSure enough.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMust have died over the winter.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cOr worse\u2026maybe shot by one of the farmers  as he<\/div>\n
left the farm.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGlad  we didn\u2019t drink the water.”<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Alan Skeoch, cooking.  Jim Romaniuk drying himself off after swimming across the raging Etobicoke Creek.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
TEST:  Compose a list of our camping gear using this picture asa guide.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
NOTE:  RUSS Vanstones Humberside Football jacket .  All three of us were on the team, none of us<\/div>\n
in exalted postions.  That would come in time.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
CONCLUSION<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
On a clear day in January 2018, I drove west along Burnhamthorpe Road from Highway 427\u2026a trip I had avoided for decades because<\/div>\n
I wanted the memory of this camping trip in 1955 to never be wiped  out.  Feared that the place would be covered in houses\u2026the barns all<\/div>\n
gone\u2026the  dead horse now a skeleton somewhere out on the bottom of Lake Ontario.   But I was  surprised.  This spot where we<\/div>\n
camped is  unchanged.  It became a park.  And the raging river looks much like it does in these pictures.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
WHY GO CAMPING?  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
We went for the joy of it.  Not because there was  nothing else to do.  We played football, basketball\u2026were members of the Presbyterian  <\/div>\n
Young Peoples Society, Boy Scouts, Drama Society\u2026and we were very interested in girls even though they were less interested in us.<\/div>\n
Camping was, however,  a top priority.  Why?  Because of the challenge of the raging river.  We swam across that river often\u2026It was  so<\/div>\n
dangerous that we took along an inflated air mattress just in case the river swept us down to Lake Ontario.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Feb. 2019<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THINGS WERE DIFFERENT THEN\u2026.1955\u2026INNOCENCE  (Camping trip \u2026 Easter Break 1955) \u201cWhat\u2019s up?\u201d \u201cEaster Break coming\u2026\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s go on a camping trip\u2026the three of us.\u201d \u201cWhere?\u201d \u201cEtobicoke Creek is  nice and  wild\u2026abandoned  farms.\u201d \u201cHow?\u201d \u201cWell, we could hitch hike part of the way, as usual.\u201d \u201cHey Al, remember the potato farmer last summer?\u201d \u201cYou guys just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}