The boy's body was found.
He hadn't been mugged.
Apparently he'd gotten into a disagreement with friends.
Then he decided to run into the pond and go under the surface.
But Winnipeg has reclaimed the title Murder Capital of Canada.
The Winnipeg Free Press even has a map of where the murders happened.
Click on the icons and you can read all about the cases.
Mostly they're clustered in the West End.
Big surprise there.
It's been hot and dry.
We're supposed to get rain tonight.
Our grape vine has tiny green balls.
Our tomato plants have small green balls.
Our zucchini plants have tiny green sticks.
About average for this time of year.
I'm sorry to report there's no sign of our robins.
Mama and babies have left the nest.
We haven't seen them for a couple of days.
No sign of any trouble.
We still have plenty of sparrows and finches.
We're hoping the robins will come back.
About our first few days in the Vancouver area...
On July 16, 1972, late at night, we paid for two nights at the Blue Haven Trailer Park.
It wasn't that great a place.
We just wanted to know we had a place to stay while we got our bearings.
We had crossed the continent.
New York to Vancouver.
We had actually done it.
In hindsight we would have done it differently.
Paced ourselves better.
Driven a few hours each morning, then driven to a campsite in the afternoon.
We'd have time to set up, have a nice meal, walk around.
Maybe even spend a night here and there.
Well, it was a learning experience.
We didn't know a truck could force us off the highway the first day.
We didn't know we'd get two flat tires.
We didn't know the Rockies, the Cascades, the Selkirks and the Coast Mountain Range were so hard to cross.
We didn't know summer is THE tourist season in Canada.
We didn't know summer is THE tourist season in Canada.
We didn't know to make reservations during the tourist season.
Well that would've implied we would have paced ourselves.
Also that we would've known what we were doing.
But, after our journey, we did know that we could face problems.
No big make up scene like the ending in The Long, Long Trailer.
No major blowup which would have lead to the big make up scene.
We just got through the trip a day at a time, a problem at a time.
Vancouver was a disappointment.
We didn't know what to expect, so our imaginations had run away with us.
At one point during our trip we had discussed whether it would be nicer to have a mountain or lake in our back yard.
We thought we'd be getting a place like Loretta Lynn had in Coal Miner's Daughter.
Like in the scene where she and Doo were designing their new home.
The scene where she explained they should place the bedroom so the sun wouldn't be hitting them in the eyes first thing in the morning.
Vancouver was a city, no doubt about it.
And, if we'd wanted a city, well, we'd just left New York, a honking big one.
What was the point of the trip if we were going to be stuck in another city?
With these thoughts in mind, we went to bed.
Our first night in Vancouver.
After a good night's sleep we felt better.
We washed up and had breakfast.
Vancouver was a city.
Well, we could handle that.
It couldn't be any worse that being at Hell's Gate with a boiling radiator.
Blue Haven wasn't one of the nicest campgrounds we'd seen.
But we were glad we could leave our trailer there for the day.
And we were really glad when we had to park.
Vancouver is hilly.
Instead of parallel parking, one drove into a space by the curb.
As one would do in a shopping mall parking lot.
After parking in the space, either the driver or the passenger would open the door, then fall out of the car.
Well, every city has its little quirks.
We decided to get some advice.
We went to a tourist bureau and explained that we wanted someplace quiet.
He asked if we'd mind being away from Vancouver.
Nope, no problem at all with that.
He was surprised.
Most tourists wanted to be "close to the sights".
We explained, no begged, for something nice and quiet.
Maybe in a park?
We were planning to stay for a few weeks.
He pulled out a few brochures.
One was for the trailer park right across the Lions Gate Bridge.
North Vancouver was quieter in those days.
Paul said no.
There was another trailer park.
Quiet, right by the water, in White Rock.
There were people who stayed for the season there.
Snow birds, he called them.
He pulled out a map and showed us the way to White Rock.
Okay... Hiawatha Trailer Park wasn't in the town of White Rock.
We drove up and down, back and forward, on every street on every hill in town.
There weren't that many streets, but we were wondering if we were the victims of some kind of joke.
And we weren't in the mood for a joke.
We went to our old favorite, A & W, for lunch.
It was becoming an old friend.
We really were getting to know our Papa, Mama and Teen burgers.
Yes, the girl who brought our order knew where Hiawatha was.
No, it wasn't a joke.
We drove to Hiawatha.
It was perfect.
We found a spot up on the hill with the Snowbirds.
We checked out the showers.
We checked out the campground's septic tank.
Hiawatha had it all.
We paid for our first week.
We were told the park was open until Thanksgiving.
Perfect.
We'd be there until the end of November.
Who knew Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving the second Tuesday in October?
