From my mother’s journal 1970:

Sunday August 2

Up at 5:30, ate, and I asked a policeman at the restaurant why the cars were backed up last Friday waiting to see Niagara Falls and he said there had been a local bank robbed so they were checking cars. It kept traffic backed up for hours in the heat.

We checked out of motel. So far I haven’t seen any locked mail boxes in Ontario as we did in Montreal. I haven’t seen any litter along highways at all and the restrooms in filling stations are shiny-clean. The kids enjoyed the swimming back at the hotel and Jon said he’d never forget Niagara Falls. Today the weather is grand – just cool enough even with the sun shining. The rain yesterday cooled down everything and it seems to have blown much of the smog away and made it more like the Canada people have told us about.

mileage: 56,526 gas 56 cents a liter in Guelph.

The town of Guelph and Montreal were the prettiest and most scenic of all the towns we’ve driven through in Canada. The petunias grow in profusion even around the downtown buildings. We went to a church meeting in Guelph. It was excellent. The Pelons from Florida were in charge of the music. Mr. Gunn and John Smart were the speakers. Ate dinner at Guelph and were sorry to leave with such pretty weather and nice people. Left Guelph at 2:30 driving on 401 towards Windsor Ontario, Canada.

Drove to Windsor, Ontario about 5:30 P.M. Robbie called two people he knew here. We spent the night with a couple of his friends and enjoyed it.

Monday, August 3.

Left at 10:20 A.M. went over Ambassador Bridge from Canada into Detroit. The toll was $1.15. We all laughed when the customs man asked R what was his citizenship and R replied “Houston.”

Entered Detroit, Michigan. Murky weather much traffic on 94 freeway towards Dearborn, Michigan. Today is a civic holiday in Canada so it might account for some of the traffic here. Stopped for gas. It was 58 cents a liter in Windsor. Here it is 35 cents a gallon.

Detroit  – mileage: 56,748

Got directions to the Henry Ford Museum. We stopped at the new Ford Central office and Info Building. The Ford Complex is a huge, beautifully organized place with building marked with blue and white signs. Well worth the trip with plenty of nice parking both here and at the museum – even pulling a camper trailer as we are. (Museum $6.00)

At the museum we walked around and truly enjoyed all the exhibits we could take time to see. It was better arranged than the Smithsonian. We saw more smiling people here. Cars, railroad engines, antique things of every kind. Ate in the Garden Room Cafeteria, ($10.35), then walked upstairs to see Henry Ford’s personal things. The chandeliers were fully one story tall. I liked Mr. Ford’s saying that “no man can say he has no chance”. Downstairs the kids had their pictures taken with a boy about Becky’s age dressed in colonial costume. I think he was trying to single her out and chat.

We bought souvenirs ($7.69). When we left, we discovered that the shade from a tree had kept our car and camper cool so we mapped out our route – on to interstate 94.

We shall travel west until we find a Holiday Inn. Why? Because there is no camping available. There must be thousands of campers on the road because of the civic holiday. We went to visit the Griffins in Bloomfield township and had a delicious pizza, which we had never tried. On to a Holiday Inn in Romulus, Michigan. The motel may cost a little more, but I’ve never had to clean up a nice motel bathroom before we could even use it. This one was a little too close to an airport but had a wonderful pool and even a hot drink thing in the wall of our room.