The Mellon's were a banking company and they date back, way back in the States. In fact he told his sons only idiots join the army during the civil war so he kept his kids out of a- ... War. And they're still huge- huge.

We've covered Canada from coast to coast. And um, then down to California and over to, uh, Florida, so we've covered a fair amount of the States, too. And then ah from there on we travelled n-- when we're- went to Australia, we took uh six weeks travel time to go there.

Speaker: I've been all over. Believe-it-or-not but I done one down in the States. Interviewer: Did you? Where did you go Kurt? Interviewer 2: Tell us about that. Speaker: Mexico, New York.

I think ah Kent-Burns- I knew Kent-Blair and Kent knew his dentist. So when I was down fencing for him, he had met this woman from the States through some horse club down at- down at the club fair. And she come up and she seen all his fences and all the other old rail fences and she just had to have them. So I ended up going down there.

In his case, he was very notably educated in the Mayo-Clinic in the States. He was a skin specialist.

Speaker: That- no there's not- not nearly the amount of snow we used to have. ... I think Toronto getting more snow sometimes- Interviewer: Really? Speaker: Than- than we did. And l-- and the States last year, they had a lot more snow than we did. Interviewer: That's odd.

Speaker: They were born, yes, in Canada. Actually no, my mother was born in the States. ... And my dad was born in Canada. Interviewer: Whereabouts in the States was your mom born? Speaker: Youngstown, around Youngstown, New-York.

Speaker: And we went to a lot of their performances if they weren't too far away. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: If they were- they even went down in the States to Florida one time and they sang different places on the way down and back.

You- you-know that's the next step, post-secondary- if you haven't got post-secondary, you're not going to be able to get a job either. ... So- but I'm sure it must be the same in the States isn't it? ... Yeah like there's- there's a lot of people that- you know what I'm referring to when I'm talking about unemployable people. People that- ... Haven't got the mental capacity to get an education.

I was born in Ottawa and for the first few years ah we lived in the States 'cause my dad was finishing up medical school and then we moved back to Barrie's-Bay. I was, I think four when we moved back.

That was one of the reasons he wanted to move back to Barry's-Bay. 'Cause he was doing surgery down in- in um Ohio, and he could of stayed and continued but he didn't. He wanted to come back and come to B-- and even when he lived in the States, he would wrangle. Every year he would get up here for those two weeks in hunting season. He would drive up and so yeah. Um he really loved the outdoors, and that's sort of why we got into you-know, boating.

And um, more people have moved into the area, and more people have you-know bought up property and retired, and lo-- it's more the tourist ah is- tourist industry is much bigger than it was when I was young. I-mean people from the States had cottages and-things but it wasn't like it is now with people so mobile and they're you-know driving.

And then he said, "Well, I don't understand, this health care system is like, why don't they pay for you to go to rehab da-da-da-da-da" and then he's like, "Well I could of easily gotten the- my surgery done in the States and they could send me to rehab." So then we're like "Oh, so if you don't mind me asking-

Why don't you go to the States and have the surgery done?" "Well I can't afford it." And we're like "Oh my gosh."

Speaker: So you're getting your surgery for free, you get your nursing care and like you stay in the hospital for free and you'd rather- Interviewer: Complain? Speaker: Complain and not spring a of couple hundred bucks when you could be paying thirty thousand dollars for your surgery in the States. Interviewer: Yeah, exactly.

Ah and I think my dad he was in Toronto- once he went to Kingston on his honeymoon and ah, he was in the States once I think in his lifetime so that's, that was typical travel then. You just didn't have the- you didn't go off to Florida for ten days and then someplace else and someplace else.

... needed workers, so these people were given a hundred acres of land that they had to clear and cut and plant and provide for themselves and so on so forth. So that's how it was settled. And if you can imagine arriving from- I guess some of them came through the States, most of them probably through Montreal, most people. The port in Montreal. And ah arrived here with not much more than a- a swede saw, an axe, crosscut saw, and maybe ah some matches. Okay, there you are. Go and provide. Which they did.

And I already had the camping bug because ah i-- in just my own immediate family we would go camping every summer with the children when they were small. We- we'd just travel out east, travel out west, travel down into the States and we always took a tent. And ah we were always on the move so it meant setting up a tent every night. And sometimes if we'd drive for a long period of time it'd be dark when we arrived at the camp ground.

...and I started meeting a lot of people from um- what I call the sticks, I 'm so- I was- yeah you-know, I- I must admit I think I was...

Speaker: Yup, they're all nice little towns. But, were just back in the sticks and quiet. Interviewer: Yeah it's nice though. I'm liking it. Speaker: I know and the first time my aunt come over from England…