Waiting at the Lido Motel

July 4, 1972



We have been here at the Lido Motel since Monday evening. The only food we took from the car is peanut butter and jelly. No luck with the insurance companies so far about letting us use a car to continue our trip or paying our motel bill. The car has $1400.00 damage to it,but it is all sheet metal work. The engine, trans and frame are OK.

Monday I didn't go to the hospital as all we wanted was someplace just to stay and collect our nerves. So when the aches and pains of Monday persisted today (Tuesday), I went to the motel office and asked the clerk where I could see a doctor. She called the St. Leonard, Quebec Police Ambulance service amd in 5 minutes I was in Santa Cabrini Hospital. At the hospital my sore neck and back were diagnosed as muscle spasms caused by the two impacts. The first doctor's diagnosis was whiplash. X-Rays were taken and showed no damage yet. He prescribed me medication for the muscle spasms.

I found myself diagnosed and medicated with no cab fare to get to the motel. I didn't know where it was, so I stopped people for directions as I walked back. It turned out to be over a three mile walk. It was a new experience trying to communicate with Italian people who only spoke French, as I was in the Italian part of Montreal.

(Many thanks to my French speaking Angels.)

I called the first driver's insurance company, he still hasn't reported it! We couldn't contact the second driver yet. We are still eating peanut butter and jelly.

Doing the "Lido" Shuffle!

July 3, 1972

(this post is written in 2007 from my memory, but the taxi fare ticket is the original from the trip.)


So there we were wrecked in Montreal. No where to go, no way and no one to call from the side of the road. Then came our first angel, the tow truck driver who took us to a small restaurant somewhere in Montreal. I tried to call home, but no one was there. So I called the A & W where I worked part time to tell them we were ok and to get word to our parents. I then called a taxi to take us to a motel and we left the car parked at the Hochelaga Shell Station across the street.

So we left to go where? The first motel we stopped at was full, so that is how we ended at the Lido motel. Now a word to describe the motel: TACKY, but they were willing to house us "foreigners".

Captive in a tacky flea-bag we pondered the rest of our trip. Would this accident eclipse the eclipse? Or could we soldier on to PEI?

Returning now to my '72 journal for the answer to those questions.

Accident on Second Day

July 3, 1972

Approaching Lafontane tunnel entrance (in my 1971 Ford Pinto) I was completely stopped. Wet pavement, raining hard. A 69 Ford Torino struck me from behind. The force of the impact pushed me into the 69 Thunderbird I had stopped for. Previously there was 5-10 feet clear distance between us. Damage Severe. Front end wiped out, left rear quarter panel + entire back end wiped out.

Food and most equipment left in car, i.e. 2 tents, fire extinguisher, Joan's shovel, cribbage board, canteen, firewood, coleman stove and lantern, 8 cans sterno,2 complete cans coleman fuel, 1/2 of one Palco 5 man cook kit, hammer, True Temper Hatchet, my radio, ground tarp and Goldstar First Aid Kit.

All clothing is with us. We have the two cameras + Lorin's binoculars. The two sleeping bags are also with us as well as the two baseball gloves.



My car... after becoming the center of a Pinto sandwich.



The 69 Thunderbird I was pushed into.



This was a REAL "international incident." A car registered in Michigan, USA involved in a collision with a car from Montreal, Quebec (French speaking only) and Ontario, Canada!



This is the car that hit me.

First Day of Trip

July 2, 1972


Left at 11 AM. Stopped in Dutton, Ontario to gas up. Took highway 401 to exit 85 and highway 2 east to Presqu' ile Prov Park. $3.50 for camp site. Good park, camped about 200 feet from Lake Ontario. Rain hit about 2 AM. Still raining at 8:30. Camped with Michigan family. Haven't seen one in 400 miles. Toasted marshmallows. Ate macaroni and cheese plus chicken soup.

The story of my trip

July 1, 1972


Me in my infamous 1971 Pinto!


(Preface written August, 2007)


This is about my trip to Prince Eward Island. The following pages are copied directly from the journal I kept during the trip, plus some scans of some scrapbook items.

I had heard about the approaching total eclipse of the sun, so I decided to go there. My previous camping trip in 1971 was a solo trip to Isle Royale in the upper peninsula of Michigan. This time I asked my 15 year old brother Lorin to go with me. I was too young to worry about going 1,600 miles, Detroit through Canada to Prince Edward Island, with only a map and nothing else to guide me.

The one essential item I ended using the most was my Shell credit card. All my other supplies were packed in Stroh's beer cases. Trust me, we packed light.

The only words of advice from my parents and friends were "Lorin, take good care of Arthur."

So on a bright sunny day we left on an adventure.