Great Westward Push Day 2 (Friday, Sept. 20, 2002 — Buffalo, N.Y. to Ann Arbor, Mich.): Blowing Through Motown
Got up at the Econo Lodge bright and early, wolfed down a complimentary Belgian waffle, and left at about 9:15.
Drove through Buffalo on I-90, my first time to this city. Everything was suitably gray, with dingy-looking industrial complexes belching forth the plumes of steam one might expect from a Rust Belt city. Passed an abandoned coffee warehouse & a sort of oil and grease factory.
Crossed the Peace Bridge into Ontario. “Where are you going?” the Canadian customs officer asked. “Ann Arbor, Michigan,” I said, and away I went, breezing straight through.
Did not stop in Ontario; drove all the way through to Michigan. Saw my first Manitoba and Saskatchewan license plates. Soon, as I move west, I will have the weird license plate.
Took the Queen Elizabeth Way to 403, to 401, to 402, and to the U.S. Again straight through customs, with no delays — a total of 3-1/2 hours in Canada. Swell. Lunch at Bob Evans, which I am later told is a competitor of Denny’s. As if that class of restaurant needed multiple players.
Went down I-94 to Detroit. Along the way, caught in the worst rain I have ever driven in in my life — a complete whiteout, with the rain coming down so hard and heavy that I could not see anything at all. I was afraid to stop, though, because I worried that I would be rear-ended, so I kept on going. As I passed through the weather front, the rain abruptly stopped, and I was all right again. As a good omen, if it was indeed a good omen, I soon pass a convoy of Shriners, five weird red ‘Jeepster’ vehicles.
As I approached Detroit, my first time there, the traffic got very bad. Nonetheless, I tried to keep my spirits up, putting on Jackie Wilson to get in the right Motown mood (“Lonely Teardrops” was co-written with Berry Gordy himself). For the full Detroit experience, I took Route 3 — Gratiot Avenue — into downtown.
I have read, most notably in James Kunstler’s The Geography of Nowhere, that Detroit resembles a bombed-out horror, and the drive down Gratiot bore that out. Although there was some activity, dilapidated and even abandoned storefronts were the order of the day. No Starbucks in this neighborhood! A bit alarmed at my surroundings, I ditch Jackie Wilson and put on Queen, just to try to defend myself.
Got to downtown; it was raining again, so I just drove around a little. Saw Greektown, the Renaissance Center (the ultimate urban fortress — making the gritty inner city safe for suburbanites), Hart Plaza and Joe Louis’s fist, and the People Mover, a transportation curiosity that obviously seemed like a good idea at the time but turned out to be a sick joke. Drove up Woodward Avenue, Detroit’s main drag; this, too, is a major disappointment, although Comerica Park and the magnificent façade of the Fox Theater are highlights. Still, it is obvious that Detroit is a city that has simply died. I’m curious to see what comes of it all.
Traffic on I-94 heading to Ann Arbor is godawful, so I get gas and then detour on Route 12 west, through Dearborn, but this is also slow. It’s too bad, I think as I pass a huge Ford complex, that I won’t have time to see the Henry Ford Museum or Greenfield Village. Traffic is so bad that I begin making notes in my notebook; this helps me write up these journal articles later on.
Got in touch with my friend Julia Lipman and arranged to meet her at her house in Ann Arbor (she’s at Michigan for her Ph.D.).
At 4:35 PM, I have reached the 749-mile mark, at a red light in Dearborn. This is, I think, the worst traffic I have been in since the summer of 1998, going to a Dave Matthews concert at Giants Stadium from Syosset, when it took me two hours to reach the George Washington Bridge.
“People here drive like SHEEP — BAAA!!”, as I put it in my notebook.
Tool on through downtown Ann Arbor — more awful driving by Michiganders — and get to Julia’s house after I realize that the directions she has given me are not correct and follow my own intuition, trying to guess what she really meant. Her apartment is on a shady street near downtown, shared with a few other girls (some Michigan undergraduates). Apparently, living off campus is considered de rigeueur among UMich undergrads.
Julia took me on a tour of her computer-science campus. We passed through a lobby, on the way to her office, where a sign said “Private reception.” A woman actually accosted us as we entered — “Excuse me, this is a private reception.” “I’m going to my office,” Julia responded in irritation. We also saw the main campus, walking around downtown Ann Arbor a bit, and split a reuben sandwich at a diner that is supposedly legendary — Zesigmann’s. (Did I spell it right?) We later met up with her boyfriend, George (“Zhorzh”) to have a beer at the Ann Arbor equivalent of the Cambridge Brewing Company.
Julia generously insisted that she sleep on the couch, so I slept in her bed. How civilized.
Miles today: 362.5
Total miles: 804.4
Noteworthy CDs: Jackie Wilson