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April 29 - Detroit (3 days worth)
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THURSDAY 27 APRIL. TORONTO-DETROIT. DAY 38
Off to Detroit to see my friend Jodi, whom I had met in Germany on my European trip in 1999. I slept for most of the 6-hour bus ride to Detroit, 45 minutes of which was spent at US customs. They sure give you a grilling at the US border, asking you rapid-fire questions hoping you will slip up. Of course, being an unshaven, unemployed traveller with a backpack and three passports is bound to arouse some suspicions and the guard went through all my stuff with a fine-toothed comb. He found nothing illegal, though, so I was able to walk off with a satisfied smirk, but I had to pack all my own stuff back up.
Detroit is just over the border so we were there immediately after passing through customs. Some guy was talking to me very energetically and quickly and in fact seemed a little too perky for someone who had just passed unscathed through customs.
Jodi's sister-in-law had taken my message down wrong so I was waiting at the bus station for quite a while, but she finally turned up. She drives a really modern Ford Escort, and this is the Motor City. That makes it all the more ironic that the roads around Detroit are absolutely atrocious - potholes and ditches and lumps and bumps all over the show. Detroit city isn't all that attractive either, in fact it is a bit of a dump. They even closed the tourist office a while back apparently, because no one was going there to visit.
Jodi lives in a town called Taylor, about 25 minutes from downtown Detroit. It is an unexciting suburban maze with rows of single-storey brick houses, and pick-up trucks and SUVs lining the curbs. Jodi lives with her older brother Andy, his wife Laura and their three kids: Becka (5), Jacob (8) and Cassie (10). They are all really cute (the kids at least), well-behaved and friendly.
We went to a typical mid-western bar for a burger and fries, then to another typical mid-western bar, called Simon's, where we met Jodi's best friend Tim and watched a rock band for a while. It was just like the sort of place that Roseanne Barr would go to.
FRIDAY 28 APRIL. DETROIT/TAYLOR. DAY 39
We took the kids to a place called Greenfield Village. It is a large park basically, with lots of real houses transported from their original locations around the country and relocated here. Consequently there is hotch-potch of buildings, like Henry Ford's birthplace right next to Thomas Edison's laboratory and Noah Webster's house. It is an interesting idea and, because of the relatively brief history of the United States, it manages to combine the houses from different eras without looking silly. Most of the houses had someone in period clothing who tells visitors about the house and answers questions.
I got on really well with the kids, who have lots of energy. I gave them piggy backs and we fooled around on the grassy areas. It was just like being a parent (without the responsibility) and I really enjoyed it. We spent most of the day there in the pleasant sunshine, then bought some steaks and cooked them up at home. Somewhat mysteriously, Jodi drove us miles and miles to some anonymous little town called Wyandotte, where we went for a 5-minute walk by a lake then drove around looking for a cafe that didn't exist. We ended up buying a bottle of Tia Maria and a bottle of Baileys and making some very strong cocktails back at home.
SATURDAY 29 APRIL. DETROIT/TAYLOR. DAY 40
Up early again to take the kids to the opening day of Little League baseball. It is a huge deal here. There was a parade down to the park with a police escort, floats and all the kids marching past in uniform, with the parents lining the streets and cheering. This was followed by a boring opening ceremony that culminated with the Mayor of Taylor throwing the opening pitch. Becka's T-Ball game was first so we watched that. The kids all have complete uniforms, umpires, loud parents on the sideline: the typical American suburban life.
After lunch was Jacob's game. This was even more hotly contested, with some of the parents getting quite worked up. Fair enough too, he is 8 years old. Andy commented to me that Little League and all the accessories thereof is the grass roots of American politics, an astute observation I think. Jake's game started late so we didn't leave the park until after 7pm. Jodi and I went and got a meal at a chain restaurant called Appleby's. Jodi seems to love driving because we went to the Appleby's 40 minutes away rather than the one just around the corner from her house. In complete contrast to my deadbeat attitude in Montreal I was full of beans and bursting to go out, but Jodi was a bit knackered so we just got a video and watched that at home. A very successful day: lovely weather, pleasant company and a quintessentially American culture-blast.
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