Post #227994 by Sweet Daddy Tiki on Sat, Apr 22, 2006 12:38 AM

Tonight I went to the Provincial Archives annual film night to see a feature-length travelog by Mel and Ethel Ross of Calgary, documenting their road trip from Calgary to the southernmost tip of Chile in 1961.

Mel built the camper for their truck, and they headed south from Calgary with their 16mm camera, supplies and a Spanish phrase book, and drove 17,000 miles over five months. In 1961, the Pan-American Highway could only be loosely termed a highway. In some areas it was just a trail carved into the dirt and rock, and in spots it disappeared completely.

I wondered if there would be any mention of Easter Island when they got to Chile, and indeed, in the beach resort city of Viña del Mar they took shots of this Moai, an actual Easter Island statue that stands in the garden of a museum.

Mel and Ethel were an amazing couple. Mel held only one "real" job in his life - which he hated. He stayed at it only long enough to finance the purchase of a general store... but that didn't suit their lifestyle either and they sold it. They built houses from the ground up, living in them until they were completed - then selling them for enough profit to finance their world travels (they've been to all seven continents).

Unfortunately Mel and Ethel couldn't be at the screening (they're still alive and thriving - in their 90's I think), but their grand-newphew was at the screening telling charming stories about them and narrating the film from Mel's script.