A Trip of a Lifetime
On a Friday morning, 6am on Labour Day weekend 1968, our family of twelve set out to go to Grand Bank to visit our sister who lived there. My mom and dad and grandmother and nine children in a 1957 Pontiac (no seat belts) started the journey on gravel roads. We went about five miles when the battery went dead. Dad hitch hiked back to Hampden to his brother's sawmill and got another battery. We were on our way again. When we got to Bay Verte Junction, the muffler fell off. We got it repaired in the garage. On our way again. We got to Lance aux Loup 11 o'clock, raining, and very dark (no street lights) and settled in for the night. Next morning mom and dad went shopping in Grand Bank. My dad saw ozonal ointment that was advertised on TV for burns. Dad bought two tubes. Later that night we were going to Grand Bank to visit my sister and friends that owned the cabin we were staying in. Dad put out the kerosene lantern and it exploded. My little brother, who was two, got his face and hands burned. My dad got his arm burned. Out came the ozonal ointment and dad used the two tubes on his arm. My grandmother fainted and the nylons melted off her legs. My sister lost her quarter (lot of money back then) in the dark. She fell and cried out "I found my money!" They took my brother, dad and grandmother to the hospital. They kept my grandmother in overnight. On Monday we made the journey back to Hampden. Dad stopped to buy us treats on the way. All of us wanting to go in the store with him, but he wouldn't take one without the other. Dad brought out six glass bottles of pop in a cardboard carton with his good hand and the storekeeper brought out the other six. We made it back to Hampden safe and sound with no other car troubles. Lots of memories to last a lifetime. Submitted By: NULL
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