The Great American Road Trip: Day 57 - Don't look suspicious on the highway to Detroit

To Grosse Pointe at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Michigan
Distance - 134 miles
Time - 2 1/2 hours

Laura had to go to work and Frederic was off to volunteer with Laura's mom at her school, so I was also out the door fairly early after them. I stopped by Laura's work at the Battle Creek Community Foundation to bring her the house key, then went over to the Brownstone Coffee House to do a bit of blog catch-up. Of course, on this particular day their wifi wasn't working! So I sat and typed entries in Open Office instead, enjoying the artwork and the very friendly owner who stopped to chat with customers when the counter slowed down a bit. It's a fun place to hang out - the coffee is a little pricy but worth it for the atmosphere. Plus the shop is at 18 1/2 W. Michigan - how often do you get to have coffee halfway between two addresses?

My drive to Detroit was a short one but I did learn a valuable road trip lesson! Every speeding ticket I've ever received has been while on a road trip, so I get a bit overly nervous when I see cop cars behind me even if I'm going the speed limit. I was entering a construction zone when a police car slowed down dramatically to merge behind me, which made me even more nervous since work zone speed limits can vary so wildly and the fines are so high. To avoid spending the next few miles with my nerves singing, I decided to pull off at the next exit and just get back on the highway to let the cop go by. She pulled off behind me. Didn't help my nerves one bit. So I turned around in a church parking lot and went to get back on the highway, and got pulled over. *sigh* She said that I had been pulled over for acting suspicious and explained that drug traffickers often travel on that road to Detroit, with out of state plates and a habit of pulling off at the next exit when followed. She asked directly if I had any pot, heroin, cocaine, or large amounts of cash in the car, asked a few questions about my road trip, and then let me go with a warning to stop being so nervous about speeding tickets that I get pulled over anyway. I felt pretty silly but very relieved - whew!

I got to Grosse Pointe and found Kate's house without too much trouble. She had an interview to go to but we did get a chance to sit and talk for a little bit before she went. She directed me to the Village (sort of a shopping/main street area) up the road as a place to wander around and look for cards, so while she was gone I happily uploaded a few blog entries and went to explore. Kate and I were also in Burkina together (this week is a whole bunch of PCV visits!), and we both were on the Volunteer Advisory Committee from our training group, meaning we met quarterly with the Peace Corps staff and tried our best to make sure things were running smoothly between the office and the volunteers. While we were in Burkina it was obvious that Kate had a lot of pride in her hometown of Detroit, expressed primarily by the "MooseJaw" brand label on her computer/waterbottle/sweatshirts/t-shirts/etc, and when I saw the store I just had to go in and take a look around. They didn't have any postcards, but the staff was happy to chat and did generously load me up with a whole bag worth of MooseJaw stickers, posters, sunglasses, and even chopsticks! (pictures haven't been taken yet but they will) So if you're in Grosse Pointe, stop in the MooseJaw store, say hello, and ask for their recommendation on where to get the best hot dogs in Detroit - they have a running tally list of votes ;)

I got back to the house with my MooseJaw swag, then went for a run around the neighborhood since Kate was still in town. Along with some fun Halloween decorations I also saw a bunch of black squirrels, just like in Kansas! I'm curious how that particular fur color gene ends up in some populations and not others? I got back and changed just at Kate got home - perfect timing. We chatted while I sorted through photos, and as more people came home the kitchen started to get happily busy. Kate lives in her childhood home with her brother and one of her two sisters, plus they've rented out one room and saved one as a guest room. It's a very comfy old home full of odd staircases and little nooks and crannies, with some modern updates like a big kitchen and laundry room. We ended up with 7 for dinner - Kate, her brother, sister, and mother, plus Steven their housemate, myself and Rhoda, another PCV from Burkina from the training group ahead of us - it was quite the fun crowd!

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