Long, Long Ago III

This is pretty much what we had in 1972 as we camped and painted at the same time.

Continued from "Long, Long Ago II"

Again, I was excited about doing something different. I was beginning to realise something important about myself and my life vocation. I was having increasing difficulty working for somebody else, punching a time clock, and having someone control me and my potential to make as much or as little income as I pleased. Also, I needed variety, at least in location. Going to the same location day in and day out was extremely boring and predictable.
Heading to Williams Lake was new scenery, a new challenge, and the harder I worked the more I would be rewarded.
We set up some basic amenities in a suite that was barely framed up, set up our camping gear and got right to work. By now I was used to having a wife who was a great cook and looked after a lot of my needs. I was beginning, after a few days of this nonsense, to formulate a plan. I brought it up with rest of 'the boys' and they went for it. I was soon headed back home and there I rented a camper, put it on the back of my dad's work truck, and drove immediately back to Williams Lake with Lis in tow. She was anxious to get out of town too and was game to cook for the bunch of us and in return, she and I got to live in the camper instead of on a hard plywood floor.
Her recollection now is that all she did was cook and cook and cook. My recollection of those days was that all I did was paint and paint and paint. I learned to paint in the dark and was even doing it in my sleep. I was certainly going from a novice to a pro in just a few weeks. It was tedious and the hours were long, but the company was great and there would be a good reward in the end.
Williams Lake was a boom town back then and through a contact of my Uncle's, my dad and myself were able to get a contract to not only paint, but install all the ceramic tile in the new Overlander Motor Hotel that was being built just then.
I brought Lis home after the apartments were done and then my father, a friend of mine, and I went back and we did the Overlander, this time staying in a motel the whole time. Certainly by this time, I had two skill sets under my belt and once again, a pocket full of money.
I stayed home after that, but my landlady found out I was now an experienced painter. She asked me if I wanted to re-paint suites in the two apartment buildings she managed, each time a tenant moved out. She offered me so much per suite and she supplied the paint. I did a few to see if it would be good for me and soon I was doing it almost full time. Having an arrangement like that allowed me to slowly establish myself in my own business. I so appreciate all who helped me along the way and exercised patience with my inexperience. Today, I am in the process of winding down. I value the slow weeks and am more willing than ever to turn down work, something I would have never dreamed of in the early years.
So, that is how I became a painting contractor, almost 34 years ago.