I had never seen Apple Crisp flavored Nature Valley granola bars in the United States. Of course this is Canada, so the wording is in English on one side of the box, and French on the other. I bought a box and liked them, so I bought two more boxes and a banana. That took care of all my Canadian cash except for 60 cents and the $11 set aside for the bridge toll, so I was ready to start my drive.
The drive to the U.S. border was about 2 hours. The land alongside the highway between London and the border was mostly farmland, with a lot of power-generating wind turbines either on open land or in cornfields.
I had seen "On Route" exit signs on Canadian highways before, but I never stopped until today. The "On Route" facilities are rest stops with a gas stations, fast food, a snack store, and washrooms. This is Canada, so they are called washrooms, not restrooms. 😄😄
Before long, I was across the Ambassador bridge and in the United States!
After a short drive in downtown Detroit, my gas gauge warning light came on -- so I timed my gas right, too, since gas is cheaper here than in Canada. I found a Costco in Livonia and filled up. Livonia seems like a nice place, so I'm going to make that my home base.
Nancy, a girl I used to work with at IBM Raleigh, grew up in Livonia, so it will be nice to see what this place is like -- even though I'm sure it has changed a lot since she lived here.
Lavonia has a Planet Fitness, and the Meijer grocery store here allows overnight parking. So I'm all set. I might sleep in the Planet Fitness parking lot tonight, though.
After filling up my gas tank, I made a reservation for tomorrow to tour the Ford Rouge plant, where they have an assembly line for Ford F-150 trucks. I also made a reservation for Saturday to tour the building with the original assembly line for the Model T Ford. Those are the two things I knew I wanted to do while I'm here in Detroit.
I wasn't sure what else to do while here, so I stopped by the Hampton Inn and asked a desk clerk for ideas. I asked her if there was someplace where I could safely walk around, and she told me about two places... Royal Oak and Birmingham. She said they are both safe anytime of day or night.
I drove to Royal Oak this evening. Its downtown has a lot of restaurants and shops, a library, and other buildings. The area was quite lively... lots of people in the restaurants, driving, or walking around.
The train tracks go through downtown. Control arms come down over the roadway, but not over the sidewalk, so there are warning signs painted on the sidewalks!
On Thursday nights during the Summer, bikers bring their motorcycles and hang out in a parking lot at the corner of Center and Second Streets in Royal Oak. Tonight is Thursday, and I had never seen so many motorcycles in one place at a time!
Something else I hadn't seen before tonight was a downtown street that requires cars to be backed into the diagonal roadside parking spaces.
I walked through the park by the library, and listened to some drummers having a jam session near a statue.
I also met a lady with a cute Golden Doodle dog named Zeva. I had never seen a black and white golden doodle before. She said it has a Burese mountain dog somewhere in its lineage, which gives it the unique coloring, and that the coloring is referred to as a "party coat". She and her husband wanted to train Zeva to be a service dog, but it had the wrong temperament -- she is too hyper.
I went inside the library and found a book on things to do in Michigan. It mentioned an annual music festival in Detroit that happens to be held this weekend -- on Saturday, September 7. I might check out the music on Saturday afternoon.
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