Day 7: Michigan

How I pick my stops and visits along the way is a combination of things.  I mapped out my over night stops based on my looking at a map, picking places I always wanted to and suggestions from well-travelled friends (thank you Megan O’Leary) and two guidebooks I have. 50 States 5000 Ideas, and 1,000 Places To See in the United States and Canada Before You Die.

 

Today was a good example of using all these resources.  From Youngstown I headed to Michigan.  My first stop was Flint.  I added Flint after reading the book Rivet Head  Ben Hamper.  It’s the story of a guy working on the GM assembly line in Flint back in the 80’s.  After reading that book, plus watching the movie Roger & Me, by Michael Moore and the current Flint Water Crisis, I had to stop in the city.  I am pretty sure I drove right by the place Ben Hamper wrote about, GM Flint Assembly. I put in my GPS a location where Google said they were doing water distribution, there were a few cars and a huge exhibition center, but whatever was going on, was inside, it wasn’t like there was a huge line for water.  My daughter is taking a class in college where they are talking about economic racism, they use the Flint Water crisis as an example.  The lack of clean water in Flint, now 5 years in, hurts minorities and the poor harder.  I can’t imagine 5 years without clean water.  We had to boil our water for 2 days last fall, and I struggled.

From Flint I headed West to Grand Rapids, I selected Grand Rapids because a bartender in Asheville North Carolina told me that Asheville was second only to Grand Rapids in the number of craft breweries. I know this will come as a surprise to my friends, family and former colleagues, but sometimes I want to see other things beside breweries.  Today I consulted my guidebooks and found the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park.  I really enjoyed the park and especially the sculptures, because most were of something I recognized and not just abstract art.  Finally, I went downtown to the breweries, most I found were closed, but I had a beer at a bar, with a sign, that sums up my philosophy, see the picture below.

Song of the Day: When I think of Michigan, I think of Bob Seger, Roll Me Away is the song of the day.

Podcast: Over the Road – today, Trucking and the music truckers listen to – it’s not all country.

Book on Tape: The Pioneers, today how Aaron Burr tried to use Ohio as a jumping off point for splitting the US West of the Mississippi into its own territory with him as emperor.

Beer of the Day: Bell’s Two Hearted Ale

Total Miles 425