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I got picked up from the house at around ten and we headed to our destination in Michigan. The drive out of the country was uneventful (except for the huge speed trap we buzzed through). At the St. Huron customs, the lady in the booth asked us what nationality we were and where we were going and what we were doing.
At this point, I found out that you cannot say that you're implementing or selling software because one requires a work visa to do that sort of stuff (even if it was only for a week), so the two of us were "demoing" some software. "For a week?" she asked. Uh.. we told her that we were going to a number if sites. (Which is true..) After a quick look at the letter from our boss, and some thought, she let us through without even asking for our identification. Whew! *wipes brow* I wonder what we would've done if they searched our stuff?
We continued the drive (well I didn't actually drive, and I slept most of the way) into the state for another hour or so. I was dozing in and out of conciousness throughout the entire trip, and at one point, I woke up and realized that we were in a city that looked very much like Detroit. *looks at signs* What the?!? This IS Detroit! I don't remember us wanting to be down here..
Oh, I noticed that there were a significant portion of cars on the road which were held together by wire and duct tape. I also noticed that the rest of the cars were in excellant condition. The juxtaposition of these vehicles on the same highway made the experience a little more something.
Apparently our driver missed an important turnoff, so I suggested that we stop and find a map since we didn't have one in the car. (Hey! I wasn't the one who was driving and I had no idea where we were going so don't blame me okay?) Stop we did, for just a moment because on the exit we decided to get off the highway on, we realized that we were in one of the slummiest parts of the city! (I sort of recognized the area from the times I passed through during my trips to Columbus.) We quickly decided not to stop for a map and immediately turned around and hightailed it out of there.
We made it back to the gas station where we had filled up half-an-hour earlier and asked for directions. It seems as if we did pass the junction way back so we continued to backtrack. (Of course, we didn't pick up a map. Well, I didn't even get out of the car at that stop, but I probably should have and got a map myself!) Anyway, we continued on and nearly reached the border when we stopped to (finally) pick up a map. A cursory glance revealed that the juncion point that we missed was basically right atthe border crossing, which meant that we missed the exit way back. *sigh*
At least afterward we were able to find the right highway and make good time.
When we got to the town, I noticed that one of the first signs we saw was a road sign for snowmobilers. I found that.. interesting. No sooner had we stopped off to eat (at Ruby Tuesday's - the food was good, and our waitress was quite talkative) did we see a whole gang of snowmobilers drive up to the restaurant to grab some grub to eat. In fact, there were snowmobilers everywere! When I got to one of the inns (we were comparing prices) I found a pamphlet that listed all of the snowmobiling paths in the city. *pictures snowmobiling gangs running rampant across the city* Crazy stuff.
We went into the first inn and asked what the rates were and if they had any sort of internet connection. At the two places we checked out, the girl behind the counter confirmed that there was an internet connection in each of the rooms. The first girl told us, upon closer investigation, that there's an extra phone jack where you can plug your modem in. *blink* So how do you connect to the internet I asked. She said, "I don't know, just plug it in and connect normally."
Thanks.
The second girl was a bit more informative. She told us that there wasn't any local number that we could dial unless we used some large ISP. Ah, that's what I thought they meant when they said "Internet connection". *shakes head* I guess I won't need this anymore. *throws out ethernet cable*
Our rooms were quite nice. We had double queen beds, and a safe. Too bad my safe didn't work. (We got charged for it too - a buck a day! *shakes fist*)
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