The Brussels Post, 1976-12-22, Page 3A relMV
ALL THE WAY FROM SASKATOON — Pat Hemingway, left, Daryl, 5;, Brian, 2;
andDave Hemingway in front of the bus that they packed with all their furniture
and drove froth Saskatchewan to Ontario. (Photo by E. Townshend)
xi.*::`k••
004
Joyous ChRiSTMAS
As,_the .shopherds kept their vigil at night,.
our Savior was born. Let us rejoice as, we celebrate
His lorious
..
g coming: Sincere thinks all,
ld
Out the cOuntet, Oh 'kip of the hill
ouch bf Myth
,ph 50-095
From all of us al:
TtE BRUSSELS POST DECEMBER .22,„ 1976
at
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The
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Th e Hemingways
oupie.1-MVOS
Bay by • bus.
In 1969 newlyweds Dave and
0 Hemingway loaded their
tedding gifts onto a school bus
or a trip to their new home in
askatchewan. In Manitoba, they
u ned the bus in and used a
Raul trailer to complete the
tourney. Meanwhile, Dave's
brother drove their Volvo out for
them.
Seven years later they packed
their belongings into another bus
and headed back to Ontario. By
his time they had two small boys,
wo Volvos and enough furniture
o fill a house. The latest
xcursion is one they will
emember for a long time.
Most of their seven years in
askatchewan were spent in
Saskatoon and Regina. Dave
worked for the Alcoholism.
Commission of the Provincial
Government and later with the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
Now he is employed at • ARC
Industries, Dashwood, and the
family is residing at R.R.#2,
Bayfield.
Dave, the son of Mr. and Mrs.
arl Hemingway of Brussels,
ttended the Seaforth, District
High School, while Pat, the
aughter of Mr. and Mrs.. Ray
Cox of R.R.#2, Bayfield, received
her Secondary School, Education
in Clinton. For DAve and Pat,
returning to Ontario meant
coming home, and to Daryl, aged
and Brian, 2, it meant being
loser to grandparents, aunts,
uncles and cousins.
Why make the trip in a bus?
Economics was the biggest
incentive. The estimated cost of
tenting trucks or hiring movers ,
was $2500, while Dave's scheme
totalled about $350.
"I thought of the idea four
years ago, " he grins, "and it
ook that long to find a reason to
do it."
The reason materialized
abruptly at the end of August.
The family learned Dave had
been accepted at ARC Industries
and he was scheduled to begin
work in early November. Thus
hey had only two months to
prepare for their excursion.
Dave checked out school units '
and found several busses- were
available. He bought a fifty-four
passenger '68 Ford with
overdrive. He could sell the bus in
Ontario for the same price he paid
fork, but he has another plan; he
will turn it into a camper. They
einoved the eighteen' seats,
telling all but six to friends in
Saskatoon to be used for laWns,
atios and rec moths.-
Their the packing began. The
bus stretched from the front door
of the house to the sidewalk, and
the crates were squeezed through
the rear emergency exit. With the
help of friends, the packing was
Completed in four days. How
much did they manoeuvre into the,
bus? - bedroom and living room
furniture, including a piano, and
itchen appliances, including a
love, a frig, a fietzer and 'a
!Ter, The only things' they left
behind were two bikes and a
washing machine.
Next they hitched the' old
Volvo, which was still too reliable
to leave behind, to the buS using a
ball hitch and a towbar. The car t?wed well, and the NS averaged eight miles to• the galled.
Considering the bus weighed eight tons and towed a One-arid=a-,
`alf tan car; 66' mileage was
While DaVe drove the bus, Pat,
and the boys f011owed in their new
Volvo station wagon. The most
dangerous part of the journey
occurred in their own subdivision.
"I wondered, whether we'd
ever get off our street," Pat
recalls. "We met the Separate
School bus at the corner, and the
driver had to back up to let Dave
through. Brian giggled; he
thought it was a big joke. A little
boy was watching the two busses,
and he walked across the street
right in front of me. Luckily I saw
him and stopped in time."
They left Saskatoon at 4 p.m.
on Friday,. October 29.The short
days meant a lot of driving after
dark; they didn't stop until 8 or
8:30 at night. They spent the first
night with Pat's cousin in Regina
and the second at Dave's
brother's in Melita, Manitoba.
Then they took the U.S. route,
staying overnight in motels and
cooking their own breakfasts.
They expected hassles at
.customs, but the officers were
brief. The caravan rolled into
Pat's parents' farm around
midnight on Tuesday, November
2.
Pat summed up the whole
family's, feeling when she
concluded, "It was good to hit
Ontario!"
Along the way, they
encountered a few complications.
Daryl developed the flu one day;
Brian took it the next; and then
both Dave and Pat felt ill. Daryl
offered to drive the car so
Mommy could lie down on the
back seat. When they left their
motel the next morning, they
noticed banners announcing that
flu shots would be available in the
afternoon. 'But it was too late for
the Hemingways!
The weather was clear and the
pavement dry for the whole trip.
The only motor trouble occurred
on Monday when they discovered
the bus battery was dead.
Dave explains the solution:
"The Volvo battery fit in the bus,
but the bus battery didn't fit the
Volvo, so I put the wagon battery
in the bus and took the battery out
of the old Volvo to put into the
wagon. Then I stashed the bus
battery inside the bus, and that's
the way we finished the trip."
On the, United States election
night, they stopped at an
American restaurant. Pat and'
Daryl went in first and .overheard
two waitresses talking by the
,window. When the girls spied the
bus, they groaned, "Oh, no! Not
a busload of people. That's all we
need." They were relieved to
discover the bus was filled with
crates instead of hungry people.
Daryl's favourite incident
happened at a service station
near Mackinac, Michigan. While
Pat took the boys to the
washroom, Dave filled 'the bus
and car with gas. He had Pat's
keys because the Volvo had a
locked gas tank: When he
finished, he drove away in the bus
taking the cat keys with him. Pat
shouted and waved, but he
rounded the corner out of sight.
The man at the garage said he
couldn't "start that foreign car by
crossing the wires" and
suggested she have the State
Troopets stop her hUsband.
"Well, he shouldn't be hard' to
spot," she conceded.
Dave glanced back once,
noticed a yellow car and
presumed it was Pat and the
boys:
Thirteen miles later, when a
State Trooper flagged him down,
Dave thought he was getting.
(Continued on Pagd 4)