Time zone shifts suck...especially when you *still* wake up before everybody else. But after starting the morning with James Brown goodness, it was off to brunch en mass, where we found out we were too early for the good stuff (live music, high-octane drinks) and too late for the sunshine and warmth. Luckily for us, the James Brown soundtrack continued and we munched on waffle nuggets (oh yeah, those babies are *fried*) and I loved my New Orleans' French toast (guh. so good) in happy silence. The driving tour of Detroitland was fun, especially when we did the Grosse Pointe stretch. You canNOT believe the houses, all decorated for the holidays. One place had three trumpeting angels over the front entryway, and these suckers were a good 10' tall. I'm quite serious. We waved at Canada ('can we go?' 'no.') and giggled at their idea of public transportation via elevated rail. Two cars on a monorail. Hee.

Detroit is a fascinating place, but ultimately sad. It just...fell apart. It's like when you see a picture of a woman who was once a world-famous beauty, like Helen of Troy gorgeous but now looks neither anything like her old self nor an 'aging gracefully' kind of person; it's hard to believe they're the same, but the eyes are the same if you look just right.

Detroit has sad eyes.

We eat again (continuous activity with this group), we shop, we count train cars leaving Detroit (25 vehicles to a car, 25 cars=625 Motortown babies) and big metal transports rolling in to replenish the vats. Since the train was a good 10 feet away, it was impressive. The basics of product management--finished product out, raw materials in. It's just a larger scale than most of us deal with.

Time to go home! We get the *other* directions (the ones I had the first time that we screwed up, remember?) and we're happy to head west after wacky pictures. (Are we *in* these?) We get settled in, perform one last act of mischief to Biker Boy and are off. Here's our entrance ramp to 75! Here's a big emergency vehicle denying us entrance! NOOOOOOOOOOOO! We can't get on 75! And then the exit to 696 is before the next entrance...what to do? Awww, screw it. Let's take 75 to 94 and be done with it.

That requires FINDING a way onto said route 75. We kept following signs and my hysteria started growing...we couldn't leave Chicago, and now we can't escape Detroit. This isn't happening...and is that gaper's block ahead?

Whew. The miles start ticking by (262! woo!), the Chicago (the musical) soundtrack plays, and Bebe Neuwirth sings her heart out.

OT/ I can't wait to see the movie version. Christmas. Go see it. /OT

Is that rain we see? The cloudy overcast day has turned muddled, and now it's just sprinkling with showerbursts now and then. Did I mention the film of crud on my windshield? Did I mention I ran out of Coke and was tired? It was a long stretch of road, but we could taste freedom as we realized that there were only 37 miles of Michigan left! Plenty of time to put in the cast recording of Urinetown.

Oh yeah, it's a musical called Urinetown. I'll let you guess the subject matter. (Watch out for this link--it's loud.) Touring next summer. Get your tickets now.

INDIANA! McDONALD'S! Fortified with chicken sammiches, eggnogg shakes, and soggy fries, we're now able to make it home. Too bad that the entrance to the Skyway is freaking me out and I turn into that driver that we ALL hate: the driver who swerves across 3 lanes of traffic and the striped area, then zooms into the exit lane. Luckily, FooFoo talked me down from the road-psychosis and we gladly paid every toll between there and here.

Gary? We loooooooove Gary, Indiana. I held myself back from singing the entire song from The Music Man, but it was hard. But...the lights! The excitement! The...'aromatic delights' and all that insinuates. Oh, sweet Chicago urban planners...such pretty grids of life in the distance.

I mean, I love driving, but I need a little more to look at for 4 hours. Such lighting! Such fun! Target, here I come! Dropped Disco Diva at the train and flew up to Target, where I couldn't buy everything I wanted simply because it wasn't in stock. IN FACT, they were missing an entire line of toilet tissue. And honestly, that's a region of your self you want to treat with respect, n'est pas? So, disappointment there. But, hey, TARGET! Home to a parking spot right in front, which was another miracle since my neighborhood has the second-highest concentration of cars in the City. Oh, sweet home. Oh, sweet food that balances out all. that. sugar. Oh, sweet water that I can drink as much as I want without measuring how long until the next rest stop. Oh, sweet joy of walking around and making sure my legs still work and my jittery calf didn't think now was the time to make its disgruntlement known. Oh, sweet housekeeper, who will clean up my entire mess today while I'm at work.

I spent my time in the shower creating arguments for the morning's return of the car to Budget, since I'm not at the top of my game at 7a (and in fact I'm generally still looking for my game at that point, which can be found in my hot cocoa at work) and wanted to make sure nothing went wrong. It was beautiful. I drove in, handed 'em my stuff, they told me "we're not charging for the tire" and I was done.

YAY! I'm not saying I love Budget now, but they're less-bastardy right now.

I am now ready for a busy week of pre-Christmas activities, where I will consume huge amounts of eggnogg and other drinks, where I will wear cute outfits and keep an eye out for mistletoe and the sneaky scary guys who carry it around--maybe I can borrow Double-D's mistletoe belt and be more proactive this year.