The North American International Automobile Show

Having been to the North American International Automobile show in Los Angeles four years ago with Darlene, I had always thought I would love to see, what I thought was the mother of them all in Detroit. That was four years ago and in different financial times but a lot has changed since then.

Anyway, I made my way to downtown Detroit, assuming it would be super crowded, however it was not nearly as insane as I had thought it would be. After finding a spot in one of the local garages, I walked through a gaggle of groups from the Teamsters to a bunch of Lyndon LaRouche supporters, all of which wanted to talk to me and anyone else who happened by them and plea their cause. Fortunately, I was able to dodge all of them, buy my (say it ain't so) discounted senior citizen ticket and go in to check out prototypes and production models of several companies.

Somehow, it wasn't nearly as blown out of proportion as I had imagined and was not nearly as overwhelming as the show was in L.A. a few years ago.

Most all the companies for whom you see cars on the road were represented plus a few other smaller firms entering into the American market. For the most part, the themes hinged on things like hybrids, Green technology and some form of electric. Some of the newer companies were Asian and were totally electric in concept. It seemed like you couldn't get past a display without encountering a vehicle dolled up in some garish green color. There were little "commuters" that seemed no more than golf carts with roofs and doors on them or motorcycles with four wheels and a windshield. Most were two passenger vehicles and sometimes had the second seat behind the driver.

For the most part, there didn't seem to be a lot of physical change in cars and focused primarily on engine technology. Ford seemed to be a little more lavish in their models, perhaps because they had not participated in the government "bail out" and didn't have the perception of Big Brother looking over their shoulders like Chrysler and GM did. While Ford threw a lot at the Fusion, Focus and Taurus, GM was not shy in the presentation of the Camaro and Corvette. People like Honda and Toyota were introducing crossover vehicles that looked like huge sedans. They were wider, longer and higher than the typical car and looked less like an SUV. They were a little more roomier for passengers but hardly a utility vehicle.

While it was great to see the new cars, nothing in particular seemed to grab me by the collar and shake me. All the companies had their wares on display, well lighted with anorexic models hovering over them, but the "Wow!" factor just wasn't there.

Brrrrrrrr

You can click on any of these pictures to make them a little larger.

Just as I was thinking things couldn't get worse with all the weather dipping into the thirties and some places into the double digits around home, I got that call from the office in St Louis.

"Got a job for ya," says Steve.

"Oh, where to?" I asked.

You could almost hear the smile on his face when he said, "Sterling Heights............Michigan." That would be a bedroom community of Detroit.

My brain temperature dropped about 10° just on the announcement, alone.

Anyway, long story short, I'm here in the frozen tundra for a few days....hopefully, not weeks or heaven forbid, months.

So for the first weekend here, I took a trip over to Windsor, Ontario. With temps down around 12° early Saturday morning I took the tunnel and took a ride south along the river on a parkway. The river had a nice flow to it and the giant frozen ice chunks bumping into each other reminded me of a cold winter decades ago when ice flows made it down to Louisiana and you could hear the noise from the Vicksburg/Vidalia bridge.

Venturing out east of town, I rode along the countryside by fields covered with snow. The roads were straight and in squares so it reminded me somewhat of the prairie and farm lands of south Louisiana except they were totally white with snow.

Not being able to speak Canadian, and not sure that I would be getting much of a deal on my U.S. money, I elected to turn back around after 20 miles or so and come on back to the U.S. via the bridge, after picking up a few souvenirs for the smallest grandchildren.

It wasn't much of a trip but at least I satisfied the curiosity regarding the hassles of international border crossings. It really wasn't much of a big deal and involved no more than the gate keepers on both sides asking me why I was crossing, did I have any alcohol, tobacco or firearms, where I was from, what I did for a living and how long my visit would be.

Cold as it is, far from home as it is and missing everyone, it's still good to have a job when some are not working. Besides, I was being way too blessed staying home cooking and eating too much.

Day 2; Sunday, January 10, 2010

When I got up for breakfast this morning, it was 3 global warming degrees outside.

I'd always heard of Motown and now I've seen it and it took what I thought was forever to get me out of it too. At the heart of it was the Motown Museum where they even had to have bars over the windows and doors and gang scribbles were the only examples of fine art to be seen.Yep, right there on Barry Gordy Avenue.

Downtown Detroit is showing some signs of life even on a Sunday afternoon. There was this little circle area that had a public skating rink in it where some people tried their luck at staying up on two feet. I saw no need to risk breaking another bone (like I did trying to climb a mountain in Oregon) and never considered renting skates. I did see some folks hit the ice HARD and they'll remember it tomorrow.

Another highlight of the day was a tour through Mexicantown. Yep, they have one of those too but still wonder why in the world they'd want to come to this ice cube. Apparently it's been a part of the city quite a while. There are a number of streets that bear Spanish names. One particular way I knew I was there was the guy who thought he was a bullfighter standing in the crossroads of two four lane streets. He stood in the middle, waving the cars by and barely being missed by oncoming traffic from both directions. I thought, surely he was going to get run over but eventually joined a buddy on the corner much to the relief of the drivers. I don't know what he was on but whatever it was made him 100% bulletproof.....car proof too.


Snow was still deep (probably 6-8 inches) and I did some walking in it but after a few minutes, the novelty wore off and I crawled back into my car and found my way back to the hotel.