RANSVESTIA

me out of the way. My TV interests were general knowledge in the field by this time and they didn't want any weird old TVs in their company. So he had had a motive for buying me out rather than vice versa and we finally made an agreement and he did so. Now I was re- tired, not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination but at least able to survive on my own. I had managed to retain some of the mutual fund shares in the divorce settlement and of course, I had the money he paid me for the business. So, I bought a home of my own, which had only one neighbor behind a high hedge, and moved everything into it feeling that now I could come and go and do as I wanted. The divorce was final in May of 1966 and the business relationship terminated in December of 1966. It was a busy year and one which didn't permit of any foreign travel.

But 1967 was another year. I had met a dressmaker here in Los Angeles and we became pretty good friends. The fair in Montreal was coming up that year and we decided to do it together. But, I had already decided that in the following year (1968) I wanted to go to Alaska and return via the Inside Passage by boat. Thus, I decided to use the trip to Montreal as a sort of trial by fire. I flew to Detroit first and met with the Detroit group of FPE. Then I got on a boat called the South American and started for Montreal down the lake and through the Welland canal and down the St. Lawrence to Montreal. The thing about a boat trip is that either you have to make it, lock yourself in your stateroom or jump overboard, there are no other choices. I wanted to prove to myself again that I could live with the same people, eat with the same people, and walk the decks with the same people for three days, and come out unrevealed and friends at our destination. I did and it was great for my self confidence.

In Montreal I met my lady friend and we went out to a house that we had arranged to stay in during our stay. Together we did the fair and really enjoyed ourselves. After the fair, I went to Rochester, New York and did a couple of TV shows, then to Boston to do the same and finally, to New York to spend the weekend with Susanna at the Casa Susanna. Although it was now several years after the "big bash" and there were only 15 or so people there, it was still a great experience and change. After doing a show in New York, I went on to Chicago for the Chi chapter of FPE and then to Minneapolis where I spoke to the medical school group that was running the 25 test surgeries for transexuality-a program that they have since terminated. While I was in Minneapolis I had the interesting experience of having dinner

63