They stayed in Invermere for another two weeks until Bert earned enough to allow them to carry on with their adventure. Jim found another mechanic, but he was sorry to see Bert and his family leave. The drive to Fairmont Hot Springs was through the canyon and very steep in places, but it was also exciting and very beautiful. Chris offered to hold Lloyd for a change to give Nell a rest. A half hour later, Nell happened to turn around, and chuckling, she took hold of the steering wheel and told Bert to turn and look.
Marion and Bruce were sound asleep with their heads together, Chris was snoring with his head down on his chest, which didn’t seem to bother the baby who was curled up on his knee doing the same thing. The dog, Champ, was on his side laying across both Bruce and Marion’s knees with one leg resting on Lloyd’s legs as though he was determined to touch each one of them. It was a picture Nell wanted to keep in her memory forever. To Bert it was all part of the wonderful life he had envisioned for himself when he lived in England and first learned he was going to Canada.
They stopped at the Hot Springs to have lunch at a picnic site, and Bert said they should all go for a dip in the Springs before they left. Nell thought it would be too much trouble, because they wouldn’t have time to dry their bathing suits, but Bert said they could just hang them outside the car and let them blow dry as they rode along. Nell had really enjoyed the hot water, so she decided to go in for a half an hour. Chris, complaining that he had been boiled enough at the Invermere Hot Springs, offered to look after the children, but they said they wanted to go in too, so she said it would be nice if he would just look after Lloyd.
While in the change room, she heard a lady say that it cost $2.00 each to use the pools, so she went to find Bert and tell him that they couldn’t afford it. He just laughed and pointed to a sign on a wall that said children were allowed in free of charge if they were with an adult and that accommodation was included with the $2.00. That was such a bargain, Nell couldn’t resist it, and suggested they stay overnight. Chris offered to sleep in the car, but Nell said they should rent two rooms and Bruce could share one with Chris. It was still fairly early in the year, so there weren’t many guests, but the owner of the lodge told Bert he was sure they would be fully booked for the summer. He said that the new Banff Windermere Highway was the reason so many tourists were going north.
The pool was forty feet wide and sixty feet long, and because there were only four others using it, they practically had it to themselves. There was another smaller pool they could use beside the big pool where the water temperature was lower. The children preferred the small pool, because they could play more without getting tired and Nell was still able to keep an eye on them. The accommodation at the lodge was very nice, so they all had a good night’s sleep and were ready to get going in the morning.
“Momma, I liked the cabin a lot, but I’m really glad we’re going to be back in our tent tonight,” Marion said when they were back on the road.
“Yes, I feel the same way, but it did give me a chance to write to everyone. I want you to stop at Canal Flats for lunch, Bert. According to this map there’s a post office there, but not much else. We’ve spent so much of our trip in cabins and lodges that everyone I’ve written to will think we were being silly to buy so much camping equipment.”
“We have a long way to go yet, Nell. You shall have lots of camping stories to tell before we get to Vancouver,” Bert assured her.
“Is there a real canal at Canal Flats, Mom?” Bruce asked. “Our teacher told us about a canal in Holland. He used to live there.”
“I’m not sure, dear, but there was one there not so many years ago, and even a Paddle Wheeler. Do you know what that is?”
“Sure, that’s a big boat with a big round paddle on the back, or on one side.” Then he tried to explain it to Marion. “Something like the paddle on that butter churn Auntie Wendy had. Only this paddle pushes the boat. I hope it’s still there, and we can go for a ride on it.”
“A book I read at the at lodge said that there were only two Paddle Wheelers that went through the locks,” Nell said. “The last one was ‘The North Star,’ and it was wrecked. But there may be pictures of it in the post office there.”
Canal Flats was just a short distance from Columbia Lake, and although it was hemmed in by the Purcell Mountains on the left, and the Rockies on the right, there was a good amount of open area with, as Nell put it, “enough room to breathe.” There were a few log houses about, but only two of them appeared lived in. A sign over an old building read Post Office, but it appeared to have been uninhabited for many years. Nell was disappointed. She wanted to mail her postcards and letters, besides, she liked the place, and thought it would be an ideal location to camp, but Bert said it was too early to stop for the night. They had lunch by the river, and then let the children and Champ run about for an hour before continuing.
Bert wanted to get as far as Skookumchuck before they set up camp, and because the road was fairly smooth and flat, they made good time arriving before sunset. Nell had enjoyed the rugged scenery in the mountains, but she found the Skookumchuck prairies more relaxing. “It’s so nice to see farms again,” she exclaimed as they came to the junction where the Kootenay and the Lussier Rivers joined. “We should be able to find a campground near here. Oh, look, there’s a store, and according to that sign, it has a post office. Stop the car, Bert, and I’ll go in and mail these. Then I can ask if there’s anywhere we can camp.” The children were as anxious to see inside the store as their mother and begged to go along, so Nell gave Lloyd to Bert and took the other three with her.
The building was fairly new and had two welcome looking high-backed chairs on the porch. There was also a wagon hitched to two horses that were tied to a hitching rail. As Nell was going in the store, a man dressed in cowboy attire, with a sack of feed over one shoulder, was coming out. He took off his hat and nodded to her. Bert was watching and something about the man made him think of Roland Arnett, the man he worked for in Saskatchewan. A nostalgic feeling overcame him as he realized how much he missed the Arnetts and the other cowboys. On an impulse, he passed Lloyd back to Chris, jumped out of the car, and went over to talk to the stranger, who was just about to climb up on the wagon.
“Hello, we’ve come from Calgary and are on our way to Vancouver. I wonder if you would know of any place we could camp for the night?”
The fellow rubbed his chin, had a good look at Bert and his car, before he replied, “Looks like you got everything you need packed in there, an’ a mite more.”
Just then the children came running out of the store and over to Bert. “Ice cream, Dad, ice cream!” they all shouted together. “Mom says she is going to buy some for us, and she wants to know if you want some too,” Bruce announced.
Bert laughed and apologized to the farmer before telling the kids he would love some. Then he sent them over to ask Chris.
“My lord! Are they all with you in thet machine?” the man asked. When Bert nodded, the fellow muttered, “I’ll be God Damned! Room fer the whole family and then some. If mother saw thet she’d have me buy one tomorrow.”
Bert knew that when the man said mother, he meant his wife, so he answered that they’d never regret having one. Then he asked the farmer again if he knew where they could camp for the night.
“There’s a real nice place you’ll all like, an’ it’s not too far from here neither. It’s by a creek, so’s you’ll have lots of fresh water. When it gets warm in the summer, Hildy and me takes the grand-kiddies there fer picnics. It’s part of Grieder’s land, but he moved into Kimberly and has put er up for sale, so’s I don’t think it’d bother him none if you was to use it. You can’t see it from the main road cause there’s trees, but I’ll be goin’ past where you turn off on my way home, so if you want, you can follow me an’ I’ll point it out to you.”
Bert said that would be great, and after thanking the farmer, he added, “You can go on and we’ll catch up in a few minutes when the wife finishes her shopping.”
“I reckon you can go a mite faster in thet there automobile, but Dolly here is no snail either. Won’t hurt me to wait a spell.” And with that the farmer got up on the seat of his wagon, took a pipe from his shirt pocket, filled it with tobacco, and lit it. “Smoke?” he asked.
Bert wasn’t sure if he was being offered one or not, but he said, “I have from time to time, but I had better wait for my ice cream.” Bert was unusual in that he would occasionally smoke if somebody offered him one, but he seldom bought any. Alcohol was another habit he never fell victim to and if he went to a party and the host poured him a drink, he would take it, but he preferred a cup of tea. John Field used to say giving Bert good alcohol was like pouring it down the sink, because he could down drink for drink with the best of men, and it didn’t seem to have any effect. It also irked John that Bert didn’t seem to know, or even care, if it was the good stuff or the bad—he only drank to be sociable.
When Nell and the children came out of the store with a few parcels and the ice cream cones, Bert helped them into the car, and then waved at the farmer indicating that they were ready to leave. He didn’t want to start the car up and spook the horse, but the farmer, stubbornly, motioned back that he had no intention of leaving before Bert. “It’s like he’s waiting to have a race,” Bert muttered as he started the motor. The ride to the road where they were to turn off was only a couple of miles, but because they had to go slow enough to keep behind the horse and buggy, it took almost an hour to get there.
Although the scenery was pleasing, they all found it tiresome, and were thankful when the farmer stopped, got off his wagon, came up to the car and pointed to a little trail on the left side of the road. “There it is folks. It don’t look too good, but it’s been dry for quite a spell, so I reckon there’s no bog holes to worry about. There’s not many that knows bout it, so’s you should have it all to yerselves. If you have any trouble, my place is just down the road a spell, and I’ll be glad to help if I can.” Bert thanked him, but the man didn’t leave until Bert introduced him to the whole family.
After he left, Bert laughed and said, “His dear wife must be like mine. When he tells her about us, she’ll want to know exactly who was in the car, what their names were, and what they were wearing.”
“It’s not me who’s the nosy-parker in this family,” Nell said, laughing. The children and Chris laughed and pointed to Bert. The trail into the clearing had only been used by horse and wagon and was pretty rough. There was a small stand of trees they had to go through, and one had fallen across the trail. Chris, Bert and Bruce managed to drag it to the side, and because it was near the clearing, Bert said they could probably cut it up for firewood. Just as the farmer said, it was an ideal spot for camping, and there was even a fire pit they could use, but what Nell appreciated most was the outhouse she discovered hidden in the trees.
Nell had brought a good-sized pot roast and had intended to cook it when they got to the camp, but it was so late by the time they got a fire going that she decided to cook it the following day. They were close enough to the river to see it and hear it, but the little creek that ran right beside the campsite was crystal clear and appeared to be much safer for the children, so Nell didn’t have to worry about them. While the men got the fire going, and put up the tent, she made supper with a can of bully beef, two cans of pork and beans and some buns. Nell loved to make her own beans with lots of molasses, brown sugar and pork, but the kids were just as content to have the canned ones.
After Bert played a tune on his violin, and the children were in bed, Nell, Bert and Chris sat by the fire drinking tea and relaxing. It was a lovely evening, and they enjoyed talking about what they had seen during the first five weeks of their adventure. Chris, usually silent, was the one who talked the most, and because he had never mentioned it until then, Nell was surprised to find out that he had been as enthralled with the mountain scenery as Bert and her. Bert said he thought they should only stay one night where they were. “We have a long way to go yet, and it would be nice to arrive in Vancouver before fall.”
“I guess so,” Nell said. “But it takes so much work setting up camp that it’s a shame to pack it all up in such a short time. How will it be if we stay wherever we camp for two days, and then if we run short of money, you can find some work somewhere and we can stay there for a week or two? Do you think we can do that? The children love having time to explore the different campsites.”
“We can give it a go. Now I think it is time to get to bed. It shall be lovely and quiet here tonight with just the sound of the creek to lull us to sleep.”
“Isn’t it lovely? I am going to cook that pot roast tomorrow, and then we should have enough for the next day too. That’s one good thing about this cool weather; things don’t spoil as fast.”
The following morning was cloudy, and it looked like they may get rain. They hadn’t had much rain since they left home which suited Nell. She didn’t mind the wind or the cold, but she hated having wet clothes to contend with. Even if the tent didn’t leak, everything in it felt damp and smelled musty. Champ had a habit of waiting until he was inside the tent before he shook, so that didn’t help either. Chris and Bert left to cut some firewood from the tree that had fallen across the road, while Nell gave Bruce some lessons to do and read to the others. The sun came out just in time for lunch. They had peanut butter and honey on buns, and then Nell browned the roast and onions and put it on to boil.
With Bert’s help, the children had fun making boats out of sticks with pieces of newspaper for sails, and they let them float down the stream to a sandbar. When the boats got hung up, they would holler, “Get my boat for me, Uncle Trissy. Please get my boat.” Nell felt they were taking advantage of him, and told him to refuse, but he didn’t listen. Over and over again, he’d take off his shoes and socks, roll up his pants, and wade out to get their boats while grumbling that it was the last time, but then he would do it again.
Nell had the vegetables boiling, and was thickening the gravy when Bruce and Marion, who had gone up the trail to fetch some of the firewood, came running and calling, “Mom, Dad, there’s someone coming.” They had no sooner said it than a horse and wagon appeared. It was no ordinary wagon. This one was built like a house. Nell had seen pictures of such wagons and she knew what it was. She, instinctively, called Bruce and Marion over to her and told them to stay there.
“They’re gypsies,” she whispered to Bert.
“They prefer to be called Romas,” Bert replied. His Gran had known a Roma family when she was a young woman, and had told Bert how badly the Romani were treated all over the world, but she thought they were nice and very talented, so Bert was quite excited to meet them. However, the two men sitting on the front of the wagon didn’t share Bert’s feelings. They had come as far as Skookumchuck once before and done well with their wares, but they were harassed when they camped in town, and this campsite gave them the privacy they needed. Now they were annoyed to see that someone else had found it too. Not only that, but they had taken the best place to set up their tent. The younger one leaned over and whispered, “Looks like they got money, Dad. I bet that car costs plenty.”
“We ain’t thieves, but the men look pretty puny. Maybe we could scare them into leaving. That shouldn’t be hard to do.” They stopped the horse and the youngest man got off the wagon.
When Bert went to walk over to greet them, Nell grabbed his arm and said, “Tell them we are leaving in the morning.” He nodded and then continued.
“That’s a nice-looking horse you have,” he said. “He has quite a bit of Clydesdale in him, hasn’t he?”
“What business is that of yours?”
Bert smiled, and replied, “None. I just couldn’t help but admire him.” Then, holding out his hand, he added, “My name is Bert White. We are on our way to Vancouver. Can I help you get settled?”
The man ignored Bert’s hand while the older man, looking down from the wagon, snarled, “You got our campsite.”
Bert apologized, “Sorry about that, but there’s plenty of room for both of us.”
Instead of answering, both men frowned and gave Bert a threatening stare, but to their surprise, he didn’t appear to be intimidated. Instead, he sucked on a tooth (a habit Nell was trying to discourage) while sizing up the strangers. They were both over six feet, but the older man appeared to be in poor shape. Although he had a dark complexion, his face had a sallow hue—at least what Bert could see of it, since most was covered in grey and black hair.
He wore a hat with a droopy brim causing it to look more like a bonnet than a hat. In spite of the shabbiness of his clothes, Bert thought the young man’s features more pleasing. He was hatless and wore his curly black hair shoulder length, which blended well with his handle-bar moustache. His features were rugged, but it was his eyes that held Bert’s attention. Their rich walnut colour, along with his long eyelashes resembled those of a deer, and assured Bert that these men were no threat to Nell or the children. However, the woman who had suddenly appeared from the back of the wagon, might be.
She wasn’t much shorter than the men, and the amount of wrinkles under her bushy eyebrows, caused Bert to think she must be the older man’s wife. Her hair, a harsh red and grey colour, was long and straggly, and the word “Hag” popped into Bert’s head when he saw her. What teeth she had were large and stained yellow. Walking right up to Bert, she put her hands on her hips, and in a loud, deep voice demanded, “This is our place, you move.”
“We shan’t be moving until tomorrow. So you shall have to park somewhere else,” he replied as amiably as he could.
“Okay then, you pay,” she declared, holding out her hand.
“No, we shan’t pay, but we can invite you to share our dinner.” Then he called over to Nell, “Think you can handle a few more, Nellie?”
Nell had heard stories about Gypsies kidnapping children ever since she was a little girl, and the last thing she wanted was to have these strangers any closer than they were, but she was afraid to say so. The woman and the men could smell the pot roast, and when Bert said that all they had to do was to bring their plates and cutlery over, and they could have a hot meal, they couldn’t resist. Then, when a younger woman, four children, and a goat came out of the wagon, Nell knew she had better put more potatoes in the pot. By the time the wagon was in a level spot and the horse and goat tethered, Nell had the food set out.
Bert didn’t have to tell them to come and get it twice; they practically ran over. Not wasting time with introductions, the strangers helped themselves to the food, and while they were eating, both women’s eyes were darting this way and that. Nell thought they must be deciding what was worth stealing and what wasn’t. They didn’t stop eating until there wasn’t a crumb left. There goes my leftovers, she thought. She was disappointed but seeing how much they seemed to enjoy the meal made up for it a little. She would have felt differently if she knew how bland the two women thought the food tasted, and how they would have enjoyed it a lot more if Nell had added some garlic.