A 1976 Citizen photo of Andrew Lumsden, left, and his son, Gavin, then age 11, after their hitch-hiking adventure from Ottawa to Vancouver and back. Photo by Supplied /POSTMEDIA

Article content

Andrew Lumsden was 42 years old when he first decided to take his son, Gavin, hitchhiking from Ottawa to Vancouver — and back.

Article content

His son was an 11-year-old at the time.

Article content

Article content

Now, 50 years later, his son was the one initiating another trip, this time across the four Atlantic provinces.

Article content

With Andrew now 92, the dream team has done it again.

Article content

This time, they flew into Newfoundland and Labrador and hitchhiked four days to Channel-Port aux Basques, a town in the southwest corner of that province. From there they took a ferry to Nova Scotia, eventually making their way to Truro.

Article content

Article content

In total, the Lumsdens used three ferries and travelled the four Atlantic provinces for two weeks, eventually taking a train home from Bathurst, N.B.

Article content

A look at how the Citizen covered the Lumsden’s hitchhiking adventure in 1976.

Article content

Article content

“Both times, the biggest takeaway for us was just how much people wanted to help us,” Andrew said.

Article content

Travelling with a young kid had it’s perks in the 1970s. “It was clear some people only picked me up because I was with a child,” he told the paper at the time. Many people would stop and offer the hitchhikers a ride, Andrew said.

Article content

But making the trip, half a century later, this time with no youngster, was no different when it came to the hospitality they received.

Article content

Drivers were happy to pick them up, often taking detours to help them along their journey. This trip, they were even picked up by a tractor-trailer.

Article content

“He went out of his way to drop us off,” Andrew said of one man. “It was incredible how much out of his way he went.”

Article content

Andrew Lumsden, left, and his son, Gavin Lumsden, recreate their thumbs-up salute 50 years after their original hitchhiking adventure to Vancouver and back to Ottawa. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA

Article content

Andrew had similar observations when the Citizen first reported on their trip in 1976. “You learn more about the country and its people by hitching rides than by driving through with your family,” he said then.

Article content

Let’s put the passage of time into context. On Sept. 9 of that year, when this paper first reported on the Lumsdens’ trip, the front page of the Citizen offers a time capsule. That day, an era in Chinese history came to a close when the death of Chairman Mao Zedong (then spelled “Tse-tung”) was announced.

Article content

Article content

Also reported on the front page: Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s slump in popularity, a looming teachers’ strike in Quebec and inflation had dropped to 6.3 per cent, its lowest level since March 1973. (This June, the inflation index was 2.3 per cent, according to the Bank of Canada.)

Article content

Ottawa Citizen, Sept. 9, 1976 page A1 Photo by Archives /Postmedia

Article content

Article content

None of this stopped the pair though. They thumbs upped their way out west for two weeks that summer. The pair travelled the distance in full — back and forth — between Ottawa and Vancouver.

Article content

This year’s trip started on June 12 and lasted until June 29. Andrew said he was struck by the humanity of people on Canada’s East Coast.

Article content

It was Andrew’s son, Gavin, who brought up the idea to hitchhike this time.

Article content

“The roles were totally reversed,” Andrew said in an interview Monday. During the first trip fifty years ago, the 92-year-old said he had been completely focused on keeping his 11-year-old son alive and well, and hadn’t had much time to socialize with people.

Article content

This time didn’t require the same vigilance.

Article content

“People in the Atlantic provinces, dare I say, are the warmest people in Canada,” he said.

Article content

Andrew wanted to prove that it was safe and doable, even at 92.