Friday - July 21, 2006

We awoke with more excitement than usual, because by tonight we would be in Canada. This begins the second leg of our trip. We will drive along the 401, bypassing the major cities until we hit Montreal. Our plan is to stay there for a day and then head for Maine where we will head south through New England and the Atlantic Seaboard. We'll visit Washington D.C. and Philadelphia before circling back to meet Jenny in New York City next Saturday. So, today we hit the road with enthusiasm despite the relatively brief time we had to sleep last night. Our first stop was the town of Hell, Michigan. Sure, road trips can be hellish, but how often can you actually go to Hell? Getting there takes a bit of work because (as we found out later) signs for the town are always being stolen. Fortunately, we managed to find it without too much difficulty.

At the Hell Country Store, we bought postcards from a woman who gleefully affixed postmarks from Hell after charring them with a lighter. She said that they do brisk business until midnight during tax season. Her store also features plenty of hot sauce, spicy gum, and a marquee that welcomes visitors to this little burg: "Have a hell of a day." We were told that the nearby park's tiny chapel hosted a wedding on June 6th, 2006, or 666. The nearby ice cream place (Screams of Hell) features a sign that warns, "no skin, no bones, no service." When we got into the car, we cranked up the air conditioning full blast and listened to AC/DC's "Hells Bells."

We returned to the interstate and drove into Dearborn to visit the Henry Ford Museum. The many bottlenecks we faced trying to get our tickets helps explain the current state of the American auto industry, but once we got inside Vienna and I agreed: Henry Ford had a vision. This is museum rivals the Smithsonian for its comprehensive overview of popular culture. A small sample: a living room where you can sit and listen to Orson Welles’ 1938 "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, a guided tour of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House, and a chance to sit in the actual bus where Rosa Parks made history in 1955. Other highlights included a vintage roadside diner, a working drive-in theater, and actual roadside accommodations including 1930s-era cabins and a rebuilt Holiday Inn room. Nearby: An actual Holiday Inn "Great Sign" - one of the only chances you have to catch a glimpse of this icon that once dotted highways across the United States (learn more at a page I created about Holiday Inn).

Vienna and I were genuinely impressed - and a little overwhelmed - by this museum. Everywhere we turned, we found more and more exhibits: dynamos and engines, hanging airplanes, antique clocks, home furnishings, and even some "cars of the future." For a while, I could imagine what it must have been to wander a world's fair. Everywhere you look, there's something to read or see or learn about. You can't possibly digest it all, so after a while the place becomes a blur of brief impressions. We could have stayed the entire day and still not seen the entire museum, and that doesn't include that various other facets of the complex including a reconstituted city that allows visitors to stroll nineteenth century America. We wrapped up our visit with an IMAX movie (Superman Returns, kind of disappointing) before heading back to the road. Believe me, we're coming back.

Next stop? Canada. We crossed over from Detroit to Windsor and grabbed a free map from the friendly tourism office on the other side. We then hit 401 and started east. Vienna and I love the idea of spotting the subtle differences between Canada and the States. Our favorite example is that you can buy Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in packs of three. Three! Two or four, we can handle that. But three? Vienna and I agreed with only just a bit of road trip sarcasm: "That's just freaky." Anyway, we decided to seek only Canadian restaurants during our trip. Here, we're looking for chains that package Canadian sensibility in some way. Generally, we agree that quirky local diners are ideal, but I'm interested in the conflation of media, imagery, and packaging that you'll find in a chain.

We grabbed our first meal at Swiss Chalet, a chicken rotisserie place that serves a hearty bowl of soup. Dessert was a doughnut at the ubiquitous Tim Hortons, the place that Canadians prefer for coffee over Starbucks. In a small town about 70 kilometers from Windsor, we found a couple of well-known motor hotels costing far more than our budget would allow. But when we crossed the railroad tracks, we spotted a line of much more reasonably priced dives that are a bit more dingy yet certainly more affordable at half the cost. Now, we're calling it a night and planning to sleep in tomorrow before heading further along the highway toward Montreal.