Head west to the end of Gitchee Gumee Yooperland and hang a left

salem

Oops. Original title had the intended geography a bit wrong. Woke me up at night! I.e., what did I write?

Sometimes half-assed planning is the best thing. My buddy Sam (archaeologist, not dog) and I have learned in these last few years of octo-parents, et al, that we never really *make* plans. At least not without a lot of tentative this and that and the other thing and big-time knocking on wood. She lives in Hotlanta but her parents are not too far away from the Planet Ann Arbor and we both have Yooper cabins, so sometimes we try. Then there was March 2006, when we tried to plan to meet up at her parents’ house and, uh, my dad (aka Grandroobly) died (long story and not totally unexpected). Ever since then, well, I can’t exactly explain how we handle plans but tentative is the word and no-guilt is an important corollary.

And then there’s a day like today. The tentative plan was for Sam to arrive here yesterday, spend the night, and then we would drive her over to her parents’ today. And guess what? That actually happened. And, not only that, after a couple months of slodging along through cold and dark and ice and snow and cold and dark and did I mention snow? Today. It was warm (over 32 F) and brilliantly sunny. And so, we drove the beautiful back roads over from our planet to the Haehnle Audubon Sanctuary and then north to her parents’ Lansing area home. No cranes at Haehnle today and we didn’t expect them. It was just a destination.

You get this picture of Salem because I didn’t really take pictures today. Why? I was occupied with driving. Just for the sheer joy of driving the Ninja! Apparently, it is a “performance” vee-hickle and I didn’t even know “what eeez that” when we bought it but the taarrrrs are not that great in snow, so we’ve been taking the old*, reliable Dogha on our winter trips this year. Today? I had great fun navigating the twisty old roads through the ancient glacial hills out in western Washtenaw County and beyond with my 6-speed manual tranny civic. It was gorgeous everywhere today. And then lunch at the Tsunami Toilet Panera and a visit with Sam’s wonderful nonagenarian parental units. Conversation covered many topics and these folks always have maps and books at the ready for checking up on specific points of possible confusion. And books and maps can sometimes be faster than using the iPhone. Hmm…

Home via a faster route with the sunset at our backs. Wonderful day. Wish all the days could be like today. Love.

* 2001 top dolla Honda Accord, 122K

One Response to “Head west to the end of Gitchee Gumee Yooperland and hang a left”

  1. Dog Mom Says:

    Great that plans DO work out once in a while! As planned, even!

    Ooooh, yeah, the Ninja is a SWEEEEEET vehicle! The short spin GG & I took it on between The Landfill and Plum Market was enough to tell me that I could be very happy with one (the *coupe* version, of course 😎 ). Not that I’m in the market. DGSLD is still VERY adored and VERY much alive and has a lot of good years left!