The morning started a bit slow due to a somewhat sleepless night at the hotel near DTW airport. But I had a plan laid out for the trip with several stops on the way. To facilitate the plan, I took the job as navigator while Kathy drove. (She thinks it would allow me to see more, but through most of it I either had my nose in the maps or was searching for landmarks while she was pointing out the sights.)
The plan was simple enough, to search out my three short-term residences and schools in Michigan prior to Midland. But it was complicated by my unfamiliarity with the roads in Detroit (after all, I have never driven in Michigan) and that in one case I only knew the street and in other I only knew the town, the school, and a hill. (From an earlier post: "it's the downhill slope associated in memory with my direct-drive pedal-to-wheel bike, and later on a friend's way-too-big three-speed. Sheer terror can do that to you.")
The location of the three dictated we take them in reverse order, starting with the most recent. The house was as I remember it but unsurprisingly the tall straight oaks that lined the street 50 years ago are gone, including the huge one that shaded our front lawn.
This turned out to be the easy stop. For the next I had no street address, though I found the block easily enough. But in the years that had passed since 1958 this brand-new development of small essentially identical houses, each with an identical sapling in the front yard, had all become quite individual and I suspect few of the sometimes-large trees shading the street started as those saplings.
The last was the worst. I could not identify our house and had to go locate my elementary school to orient myself. There I met the head custodian, who told me that the school is 60 years old (younger than Eastlawn Elementary) -- and that this was his very last day on the job; he is (now) retired. But from there I was able to backtrack and possibly identify this house, though the "hill of terror" seems have a slope rather less than most driveways.
But while this effort seemed on a downward spiral, not a positive auspice for the journey ahead, something else was happening: Kathy was growing to love Michigan. It started last night when a TSA guard expressed concern over Kathy's difficulty walking (muscle strain) and offered assistance. And at other steps along the way everyone she talked with was astonishingly friendly and helpful -- and she has lived many places around the world.
And the scenery too. She remembered that when I went to meet her parents in NW Connecticut I remarked often how much like Midland it looked (especially from living in California). She was learning what a number of people had said about Michigan lately: it's a beautiful state. Not with the grandeur, say, of our Olympics and Cascade mountains, but more quietly. And even in Detroit the hotel clerk said of Midland, "I have family there; it is beautful."
So we finally arrived in Midland, with just time to check in, get some beverages and food, and head off to the get-together where, once again she found a great group of folks.
It's not that Midland is perfect or the Garden of Even, but what we heard several times from other folks looking back was that it was a great place to grow up -- even if, once grown, the usual desire was to move away. At least until you had children of your own to raise.
With that I'm off tonight; we start touring tomorrow.
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