Pittsburgh to Detroit

               Determined to get the hell out of Pittsburgh, we were up and out of the city at the butt crack of dawn. We parked in the “Rally garage” and watched the horses go round, pulling their jockeys in carts.  We found a spot up top where it seemed very few others had discovered.

We ate breakfast in peace and got out of the garage in quick time.  We’d been on the highway less than a mile when suddenly the flat tire light went on.  We pulled over and Yeu-Fann checked the tires.  None looked flat.  I pulled over at the next exit and found an air machine that had a nifty feature.  You programmed in the desired pressure and just stuck it on the valve and it shut off.  One of the tires was low but when I turned the car back on, the warning went off.  I can detect a slight shimmy when I get above 60.  Will have to get that fixed.  Then we proceeded to put Pitt in our rearview mirror.  Compared to it, Detroit was a breeze.

We decided to forgo the straw museum in favor of picking Alex aka Temple Witch aka The Canadian at the Detroit Greyhound station so she wouldn’t get stabbed in an alley.  Of course, when she told her friends she was going to Detroit to hang out with 2 strangers she’d met over the internet, they assumed they’d never see her again.

               With a little bit of creative repacking, we managed to fit 3 people and the mutt in the Mini and headed to Pontiac and our hotel.  After, a bit of debate and a gift exchange.  I gave Alex a book and she gave me an awesome Canadian bag (that was not lush) including some Canadian spray and whoo mama, was it strong.  Also included was a geode maple leaf otter sculpture and pure maple syrup!  Yum! 

We headed back to The D and parked in what all three of us immediately identified as the New York Raid parking garage, which is not nearly as creepy when it is filled with Minis.

 At the event, we tried to avoid the super loud music while we split up to frequent the various food trucks.  I had Mid East, while Alex was completely baffled by the idea that Americans had this thing called “chicken n' waffles.”  I assured her it was a thing and she was intrigued.

 After we perused the venue and the art dealers, we found the dessert trucks – only 2.  There was no line for donuts, but a 20 minute wait for the ice cream sammies.  We waited and boy was it worth it.  I got salted caramel in between snickerdoodle cookies and it was delish.

               It seemed to take forever for them to announce the raffle, which was making people antsy as there was a huge storm front moving in.  We got back to our cars just as the sky opened up.  The drive home was not fun, mainly because Michigan doesn’t seem too keen on putting reflective lane lines in so the only way I could see my lane was by judging the line of pot holes that ran between them.

               Once safely back, we brought out the candy and Scrabble, where we found that Alex is an amusing, if not skilled player.  You can see it started out very appropriate for Denver.

 We also discovered that "T-Dub" has a "pun face" which, according to her, she makes every time she cracks a pun.  So when you hear the silence online, after a particular bad one, picture her like that.

 Yeu-Fann and his 62 point “Qi” won the day.