Day Three: Detroit, Michigan, to Chicago, Illinois

Wednesday 25 September -- Again I awoke to the sounds of bustle and childish chatter, and lazed in bed for a bit feeling perfectly content.  Then of course I had to leap up and rush downstairs to say goodbye to everyone leaving for school and work, but that’s okay.  The R’s have a great, compact house with a beautiful yard in a suburb of 50- and 60-year old homes that all look different from each other.  Apparently, they were built that way, and not as identical levitt-like boxes that got altered over time.  No, this neighborhood has great character and charm and has from the beginning.

We went out to breakfast at a great local place and got heaps of excellent eggs and toast with trimmings for less than $15 including tip.  She then showed me around the Grosse Pointe area, and Detroit’s downtown neighborhoods, which delighted me.  Downtown has Tigers and Lions and theaters and an opera house, oh my, with food trucks and architecture from neo-classical of the 1930s to right-now contemporary.  We zoomed up to the midtown area, which includes the art institute (beautiful building but no time to step inside – not to worry, as I shall return), the main public library (ditto) and a big chunk of Wayne State University, which was hosting a farmer’s market.  We also saw an entrepreneur who’d set up a phone business with a card table and small canopy in a vacant lot that may turn into a rink for the Red Wings.  Cool.

Back of the library, not as handsome as the front, but parking was easier.

A few blocks away, I got a little lost on my way to the interstate.  Note the two well-kept, pretty houses on the right.

I loved Detroit.  I may move there.  The GPS is crazy.  U-turn indeed!

On my way out of town, I first stopped at that farmer’s market and got a sandwich and some honey from Detroit bees.  I was going to get a miniature sweet-potato pie, but I got distracted by all the soups on offer at the sandwich stand.

It’s 300 miles to Chicago, and they were pretty uneventful.  I stopped at a rest area and ate my bean-and-corn wrap from Detroit, and an apple.  I’m really surprised by how many wildflowers bloom in late September.  I’m enjoying noticing them – but I’m enjoying just about everything on this trip.

Uneventful but beautiful southern Michigan

Except Indiana.  There’s another place to return, as I just nicked its northernmost edge, which was ugly with traffic and greater billboard density than seems possible.  Who pays for a billboard that’s wedged in with seven others in a tenth of a mile?  Also, Indiana either did not welcome me, or else I seriously missed a sign for which I was watching.  I used to work for a native Fort Waynian, and he would never have failed to welcome someone to his state.

Illinois welcomed me, and Chicago welcomed me with free secure WiFi at a coffee shop called Dollop.  I hung out there for a while with another sandwich (brie, fresh pear slices and fig jam) while waiting for M.J.’s friend T., who’d volunteered to hand over the keys.  M.J. was off in Europe on a work trip, but graciously offered me free rein in her apartment.  Isn’t that kind?

Her apartment is on a high floor, with wrap-around windows in the living room allowing a view of Lake Michigan (the only one of the Great Lakes entirely within the US border) and a construction site next door.  So you get a bit of everything.  Plus she’s apparently used to having visitors when she’s away, because she left a printed list with details on the laundry room, WiFi password, local stores and restaurants.  Five stars.  This was my first chance to write up some of my road notes, and very useful indeed.

I fell asleep in black sheets, with the lights of the city shining in on me.