Dear Internet
In the summer of 1976 I was travelling all through Canada as part of a year long back packing hitching trip with my girl friend Jane. We spent a week in Quebec and watched the opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics on TV in a Quebec City youth hostel. When Fanfare for the common man played we were exhilarated. So it was off to Montreal the next day to catch the Olympics. We hailed a ride with some others from the USA in a Volkswagen bus. When we arrived the highway and city was jammed. People were everywhere. You couldn't move. We couldn't get tickets, all the hostels were full, and we were two of thousands of young Americans hanging out trying to see the Olympics. Security was so tight because of what had happened in Munich in 1972.....it became a nightmare and we left. We had hoped to see some of the runners from Boulder, but that was not to be. At the time both Jane and I were practicing Buddhists with a bit of Zen and Christianity thrown in for good luck.
we started our days off with chanting.
Sunup we headed west on the Can Am.......west toward the Rockies..across the great plains of Canada by foot. While having lunch in a small truck stop we learned of a disastrous flood that came down the Big Thompson canyon in Estes Park Colorado; 125 dead. A phone call home to Boulder proved to be fatal as some of our friends had been killed in the rushing waters two days before.
As I sit here watching the opening events of the 2010 Olympics from Montreal, I wish I was there. My friend John left by car last Sunday. He invited me, but who the hell wants to freeze in Canada in February. Yet the summer of 76 is with me as though it were yesterday.
Jane was a tall 5'8" blond girl of 22 from Indiana who lived in Boulder. She spent her time back packing and travelling. I met her in the Daily Camera parking lot while I was working for another newspaper (long story). That night we got drunk in Shannon's Bar and moved in together for three years.( it seemed like the right thing to do at the time...no regrets)
Before Canada in the summer of 76 Jane and I had gone to the 200th Birthday celebrations of America in New York City. Jane was a baton twirler with a Colorado marching band in the huge parade down Broadway. Later that day decked out in her white and gold hot pants band uniform, we watched the tall ships come into New York Harbor. That Night we watched the fire works over the Statue of Liberty from Battery park. We spent the wee hours leaning against one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.
In the morning we caught a train out of Grand Central and headed to Boston station. There, with the Charles river as a back drop, we saw the Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by the famous Arthur Fiedler. It was simply a thrilling time of my life. From Boston we started walking to the White mountains of New Hampshire where we climbed Mount Washington. Compared to Longs Peak which we had climbed earlier that summer, it was a walk in the Park; except for the wind. From New Hampshire we went to Putney Vermont and visited my old college, Windham. Then off to Rutland and to the coast of Maine. From there it was Canada: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Labrador and the stormy Sea of St Lawrence where I hit the jackpot on a ferry in International waters. That gave us enough money to spend the rest of the year on the road. In the spring Summer and Fall of 1976 Jane and I had backpacked and hitch hiked all over Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, down the entire coast of California, across Nevada, the entire united states, back trough Canada and down to the Great Lakes.
In 1976 we logged over 13,000 miles, went through three pairs of hiking shoes each. We both carried Keilty frame back packs, 1 set of cloths, shorts, two sets of underwear, little food, a camera, a map and serious gear. We did it on less than $100 a week. Through my writing I got all of the gear sponsored.
Today Jane lives near the Lewis and Clark trail in Washington with her cats. She wind surfs the Columbia River Gorge is 55 and a realtor.
from Americas most famous small city
Jann Scott
Boulder Colorado
348 days left
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