Moving To California

One November day in 1971 my dad wanted to talk to me. Susan we are moving to California, were six words that I did not want to hear. My stepmother had up and left my dad several months prior (to move to California) to this big decision my dad was making, so I suppose he had been talking to her. Leaving all my relatives, friends and boyfriend, was not something that I wanted to do. Some people thought I was nuts. How could you not want to go to sunny California where all the stars live, beaches galore, no snow, Disneyland, a new adventure…Nope I just did not want to move. I was happy living where I was in Verdun, Quebec, just dad and me. But dad missed his wife and work at Canadair was not getting any better. Week after week they kept cutting back on his wages just to keep him on. I suppose she had told him that there were jobs galore in California. I fought him on moving. I figured you go, I'll just move in with Grandma and Grandpa, they'll gladly let me stay with them. Much to my disappointment my uncle got wind of what was going on, and said to my grandparents, do you really want a young teenage girl living with you. That killed that plan dead in its tracks. So I unhappily accepted the fact that we would be packing up the car and hitting the road. I think I hurt my dad by telling him that I did not want to go with him, but he was very happy that I would be going after all.

After saying all my sad good-byes to people that I loved dearly, and packing as much as I could possibly cram into suitcases, dad and I set off on our four-day 3300-mile drive to sunny California. The trip itself was awesome. I got to see so many places, and dad and I traveled really well together. I was appointed navigator, which is really funny now thinking back. Dad would say to me how far to the next big town? I would look at the map, measure it with my fingers, and holding up two fingers, I would say to him about this far, we could go farther. We laughed about that for years later.

To pass the time on the miles and miles of road we traveled, I would read or write letters to my friends back home telling them how much I missed them, and all the things that I was seeing along the way.

Dad liked all kinds of music and did not mind all that I wanted to listen to rock n roll stations for most of the trip. I always loved that he and I would sing along together to many of the songs that we both knew. He had a pretty good voice. When he was younger he always sang in the church choirs.

At night on the road we would stop about six at night, get a room and grab a bite to eat. Dad liked his beer, so when allowed to do so, I would join him in the hotel bar and have a coke. He would give me coins to put in the jute box always saying to me pick out something good eh.

Most mornings we were up at five and on the road by six, after having a hearty breakfast.

The route we took was pretty good until we hit a snowstorm in New Mexico or Arizona. It surprised me as I just assumed once we got past Texas we would be in a no snow zone. Could not see a darn thing but we pushed through whiteouts slowly and with care. Good thing dad was used to driving in snowstorms because this one was a bad one.

One thing that does stick out in my mind was seeing palm trees at sunset for the first time when we entered California, and thinking now that is beautiful. I couldn’t believe how many there were and how incredibly cool they looked all lined up on both sides of the streets. Then it hit me, we had arrived. Oh joy I thought to myself ,I really do not want to be here. Back to living with my stepmother was not something I had missed for the past months. She was not one of my favorite people but I would put on my happy face and give her a hug when I saw her just to make my dad happy.

Following directions we made it to Downey, California at about seven at night. Diane my stepmother had rented a nice two bedroom furnished apartment. It was on the second floor overlooking a pool. The idea of a pool made me happy, as I loved to swim. After getting all the hugs and hello’s out of the way, off we went to Bob’s Big Boy Restaurant for dinner.

The following day I could not wait to hit that pool. I asked my stepmother why are there are no people in the pool, it looks pretty deserted. She explained to me that most of the people that lived here did not use it as they found it too cold to swim in December. That did not stop me. I threw on my suit grabbed a towel and off I went. A few people walked by while I was swimming looking strangely at me. Later I found out they thought I was nuts for swimming at this time of year, until they found out that I was from Canada.

I registered in school and made a few friends. We stayed in Downey for about a year then moved to Saugus, and then later to Quartz Hill. Every move was made so that dad could be closer to different jobs he would have. He was an aircraft machinist and would go where the work was.

I feel fortunate to have been able to live in the United States as I made many many great friends that I am still in contact with today. We did end up leaving California and moving up to Seattle when I was in my last year of High School. I did miss a lot when it came to my family though. Weddings, Christmas, other holidays and so on. But that trip with dad driving cross country was very memorable and one that I will always cherish.