after what was a pretty intense few weeks of serious riding, this trip seems to have gone into stop, start, stutter mode. a week off riding all together while i visited with guido and juli and took a trip to chicago to visit family. then the ferry ride and a day in ludington. then two and a half days of riding to reach my brother's house and another couple of days off. tomorrow that will all end as i head out for the final two weeks of the trip. two weeks? really? geesh.
but still a day in michigan with my brother. michigan. actually, i should say 'the detroit region'. did i tell you the roads are suck here? for a place that puts a high value on automobiles, they really don't treat them well. they need to take some lessons from tennessee and get their priorities right. stop spending money on education and put it into their roads. i don't even have to look for broken pavement here; it's everywhere.
thursday night, greg had tickets to an outdoor concert, so we went. london soul opened, followed by susan tedeschi and derek trucks, followed by the black crowes. glenn and jenny should be amused that i finally got an education in the crowes. enjoyed it very much, especially sitting outside in the open air on a beautiful evening, smelling the sweet perfumed air of a rock concert. i confess that greg and his friend paul gave me a pair of ear plugs, which i wore the entire time.
yesterday evening, friday, we went over to the city of rochester, to the rochester mills brewery for a few draughts. a good esb and a stout. then greg took me cruising to what has to be a uniquely detroit happening. apparently, i hit the weekend of the annual cruise on woodward avenue. it's a weekend long display of classic cars that cruise up and down a six lane road, with people camped out on either side for several miles. there are tents, parties, review stands, and displays up and down the road. we cruised down the road at 10pm friday evening and there were people staking out their places for saturday. according to greg, these people will be there all night reserving their prime spots. i have to admit that i have no affinity for the love of atomobiles, so it's hard for me to understand, but it was quite a site last night. i can only imagine what saturday will be like.
some of you think all i'm doing is a brew pub and chai tour. well, maybe, but i'm also going to farmer's markets. michigan is a little disappointing. the little village of clarkston, where my brother lives (though he's several miles and an interstate crossing from the downtown), has about a three block commercial area downtown. it's very successful and busy, what's there. the farmer's market, however, is located a half mile away in a school parking lot. i talked to the women running the market and asked them why? the answer was politics. the city leaders here have failed to see the potential synergies that so many places, including knoxville, have been able to tap into. such a shame, hopefully that will change. we bought 4 ears of corn and a bunch of michigan peaches and went to auburn hills.
auburn hills is in the middle of renovating their few blocks of downtown, including building a mixed used development that includes student housing. there is a primarily commuter college less than a mile, and an interstate crossing, away. that will help stimulate commercial, interesting idea. however, their farmer's market is on thursday evening. strange timing that fails to take advantage of a much larger weekend demographic which would include us. so we went to the local breakfast place and had southwest omelettes with pancakes then went home.
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