The winter after being notified of the successful bid, we saw our garage converted to a workshop, where my father, and many helping hands, built a 16’ Wooden “spaceship” from a kit. Launched in Spring ‘59, it’s first job was to transport a tent trailer to our site. This would be “home” for my parents and 5 1/2 kids for the next two summers till the cottage was built and the other half kid was born. Yes… my mother spent 8 weeks of those summers, in a tent with 5 kids, while pregnant. My father would leave every Sunday and get picked up again on Friday at a pre-arranged time, which never really worked out, regardless of rain or mosquitos. Remember back then there were no cell phones let alone phones of any kind on the lake. Hwy 400 didn’t exist. Hwy 103 North from Barrie ended at a stop sign in Coldwater where you turned left onto 69. The traffic would be backed up for miles on a long weekend, except for the knowing few who knew to use the farmer’s road to cut the corner. The drive in those days was 3-3 1/2 hours from Oakville. I could go on forever about those first years and laugh when I hear people complain about anything now!
