As I learned in March, Brian is an awesome road trip companion. We only had one CD to listen to, as we are chumps, so for most of the five-hour trip to Midland, MI, we cruised the FM airwaves. Sang along to many classic rock tunes. Made up new words to improve on old songs.

We stopped for gas in the rural part of Gary, Indiana. I haven’t heard anything good about this place, but there has to be something about it to keep people there, to keep people trying and hoping to make it into someplace more livable. Some kids were having a car wash for their school [sports] team to take a trip somewhere. Most of the town looked weathered, but I think Michigan City looked way worse, which we saw on the way back to Chicago the following day.

It started to rain as we drove north, but the rain was spotty and fleeting. We ate crappy car food. I took little naps. Gave Brian a hand massage. You do what you can when stuck in a little Ford Focus car, speeding through the drizzle.

We stopped in Kalamazoo, where Brian lived for five years. He showed me houses he lived in, his college campus, places he remembered. That was awesome. If we go to Olympia this summer, I’ll do the same for him. I wonder if my old haunts are even still around . . .

As we drew closer to Midland, the land became increasingly rural. Great big barns the color of dust stood broken along the road, missing windows and doors. I imagined these places at night, spooky and full of rats and cats.

Along the way we saw countless animal corpses along the side of the road, mainly deer and raccoons. One raccoon had bloated twice its normal size, and looked more like a bear cub. It was sad, and also made me glad we did all of our driving during the day, because I guess you never know when some stupid deer is gonna leap out in front of you.

Phone service was spotty, especially for Brian, so we used my phone to let his sister know we were a couple minutes away. When we walked into the apartment, his mom looked just astonished, it was great. Woo hoo! We ate some dinner then went to see “Bruce Almighty,” which I thought was pretty so-so. I agree with OddTodd’s review . . .

We stayed up late again, being on eastern time now, and slept in the next day too. We got Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, and around midday drove the long way to Brian’s uncle’s house out in the country for a big family cookout. Brian showed me the river where he and his friends hitched a ride on an iceberg one time. Huck Finn in the North Pole! Heh.

I met the family, did pretty well at remembering most people’s names. We rode around on the ATV. Sorry for yelling in your ear on all those tight turns, Brian. There was a huge spread of food, which always feels like a real family gathering to me. Reminded me of the Seattle potlucks of the 80s on football Sundays. Ahhh.

Directly from the cookout we started back to Chicago. Our flight was early the next morning, so sleeping near O’Hare made the most sense.

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