Detroit Summer

I guess the obvious choice for today's post title would be one of the Motown hits of Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, the Temptations, the Supremes, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas,  Smokey Robinson, Dwayne Eddie, Diana Ross or the Jackson 5; or indeed to go down the route of Madonna, who grew up in the posher suburbs of the part of the US we were visiting today. But no, with the sun out and the temperature at 87F we need to celebrate the summer in Detroit, so I've picked my title from the rapper Obie Trice's song of that name whose chorus goes: "Yeah! So beautiful man, you should come visit, Detroit Summer. Quit hatin' man, yeah I know its not L.A., its not Atlanta, I mean we comin' up tho, Summatime ya know". And yes here we were on a wonderful sunny day in Detroit, a city I had doubts about, but exceeded my expectations in multiple ways.

Breakfast

Of course the day started in London, Ontario. I got up at 4.00 and wrote the last blog post, showered and shaved etc. and then we went down to breakfast at 7.45. This is the first Comfort Inn of our stay, and while the sister company, Quality Inn, also does breakfast our experience is that the one in the Comfort Inn chain is more consistent in content and format. We had orange juice, coffee, crispy bacon and scrambled eggs which were very tasty. Drew finished his breakfast off with a few small doughnuts.

Leaving London

Today our route is a gentle one in terms of miles, taking us back into the US and to two of Drew's eight new states. The route looks like this:

We left the Comfort Inn, London at 8.30. The first Europeans who populated this area were clearly very consistent. London has a river called the Thames and the next county is called Middlesex and the next major town to the East is Windsor. All very familiar names to people who know the London area of the UK. The founders of London wanted it to be the Capital of this part of Canada, but its proximity the the rebellious colonies to the South (i.e The USA) meant it wasn't a defensible location.

We headed East along the ON402 towards Sarnia. We could have gone South East to Windsor, but wanted to see more of the Great Lakes which will be part of our journey for the next few days. This area, though snow bound for a large part of the year, is very fertile land and we passed a whole set of farms and farmed fields along the 66 miles to Sarnia.

Sarnia is on Lake Huron and the lakeside walk provides a great opportunity to see the Lake and the River St Clair which leads down from Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair. The river forms the Canada/US border for the whole of its length.

Back in the USA

We stopped for a Tim Horton's coffee before leaving Canada, then at Port Edward we headed for the Blue Water Bridge and the border to the US. There was a twenty minute wait for the border, but the border guard was very friendly. While waiting for his computer to update to check if we were fit people to be left into the US he asked where we lived, where we were going in the US and what our jobs were. University lecturer was easy enough for him, but when Drew described himself as an analyst of antimicrobial chemotherapy, he said 'What' and Drew translated to a scientist looking at disease. I still think computer geek would have been easier!

Having been allowed back into the US we entered Michigan, Drew's first time here, though I have visited the state back in 1997 and 2000. The I94 closely follows the line of the River Clair until it reaches Lake Clair, and then the Detroit River which leaves from the opposite side of Lake Clair.

It was a journey of 66 miles from the border until we reached downtown Detroit. 

Detroit Summer

Detroit has a bad reputation for much of the 90s and 00s it was the crime capital of the USA, with a murder rate above any other US urban area. More murders in one City than the total murder rate of the continent of Europe. That and the urban decline brought about by the loss of the major industry - car production - to cheaper, more efficient, Japanese cars - led to the City facing significant decline this was so bad that the Governor of Michigan removed the elected officials of the City and took control of the City's finances in 2013, the city was declared bankrupt in the biggest public bankruptcy in US history.

So not a lot going for it. The suburbs of Detroit, like Troy and Rochester Hills, still thrive, but downtown had been through a hard time. Indeed when we stayed in Troy for a few days in 2000 when my sister and brother-in-law visited some friends who lived there before we started our road trip, we were strongly advised not to visit downtown Detroit if we wanted to be safe. From the interstate at the time it look like a dark and grimy City. How surprised I was then to find that in the glory of summer of 2015 life and wealth are returning to Detroit.

The centre of the City, around Woodward Street, had been turned into a street festival, with the pretend beach, music and an area for playing open air games. The buzz of the City celebrating the glorious weather was infectious at 86F it was warm, but not to warm. We walked through the crowds and stopped and watched the range of people enjoying themselves to the background tunes of Motown. The centre of downtown is dominated by large buildings many of which are the legacy of the car industry. Chrysler, Ford, GM buildings are all around. 

Having seen a sandwich Shop called Potbelly, I couldn't resist going in for lunch. If you eat as well as this all the time you certainly would have a Potbelly - OK I grant I really mean would have a bigger potbelly!! 

Drew opted for the roast beef and provolone cheese on white bread and I had the sandwich called 'A Wreck' which included Salami, Beef, Turkey and Ham with Swiss Cheese - to give a nod to healthiness I had this one wholegrain bread. It was lovely. 

After lunch we left the centre of Downtown and walked to the Detroit River which gives a great view of Windsor, Canada on the other side. The River runs from Lake St Clair to Lake Erie. At the river there is a memorial to the Underground Railway that so large numbers of African-American slaves leaving the nation via safe houses to get to the freedom of Canada. This was particularly important for slaves who had escaped from the Southern States who could be arrested at any time and returned to their slave masters even if found in a non-slaving state. 

Detroit was much quieter than Toronto, but had a positive and peaceful atmosphere that belied all I had heard about it. Well worth the visit, it has been a real highlight of the holiday so far for me - and an unexpected one.

Oh me oh my oh look at Miss Ohio 

This song, as sung by Gillian Welsh, is often on in the car at home and so on leaving Detroit it was only 50 miles south (along the I75) before we crossed the state line into Ohio, the third of Drew's new states. We travelled south through Toledo and on into the town of Oregon, Ohio. Why Oregon, when we are so far from that state. There is a story:

The town was named Oregon by Pierre M. Irving, a nephew of Washington Irving, author of the popular book Astoria.  This book attracted considerable interest in John Jacob Astor's trading lands which were located in what is now the city of Oregon.  The story, however, is an account of Astor's fur trading in the territory of Oregon; but since the nephew was representing Astor's interest in fur trading east of the Maumee River, he succeeded in having the town named Oregon. - Source 

We are stopping the night here in the Comfort Inn East. We checked into our huge room. While being the second most inexpensive room of the holiday it includes settee, chair. A table and writing table the two beds and a kitchenette.

We spent some time cooling off after the heat of the day and went out for dinner at 8.00 pm. We decided not to take the car out, so the location of eating was determined by the distance we could walk. We noticed a Bob Evans (sounds like he could have been a Welsh man) restaurant nearby, so thought we would give it a try. It is a traditional American family restaurant that promises you will "Discover Farm Fresh Goodness". It is what I would describe as homely, but the food was good.

Drew, obviously being healthy opted for the Farmhouse Garden Salad and I went for the Nachos with cheese, tomatoes, onion and jalapeños. I typical American style our mains arrived when we were about 1/3 of the way into our starters.

For mains Drew had opted for Potato crusted Flounder which was served with baked potato and broccoli. He said he needed to be careful of the little mermaid now he had eaten Flounder (a joke I am to old for, but which relates to the Disney film). The fish was served in a potato crust. Drew enjoyed it and it allowed him the opportunity to get his 'two parrots on a perch' joke in.

My main was a Bob Evans Broasted Half-Chicken with corn and home fries. Broasted appears to be a made up word for broiled (grilled) and roasted. Whatever the word means the chicken was juicy within its batter. It was not a half-chicken in the UK sense, but four pieces of battered chicken - when put back together they would have made a half-chicken. The home fries were lovely and both mains were served with two biscuits - which are a salty bread common in these parts and very tasty. 

We walked back to the hotel and were both in bed by 10 am - not sure if it was the heat or the intensity of driving on very busy roads around Detroit, but we were both very tired at the end of today.

I woke up at 4 am, a lovely time of the morning at home I normally listen to Dotun Adebayo or Rhod Sharp on Up all Night, but here I get up and blog. 

Later today Drew will pick up two more states - Indiana and Illinois.