Biking Detroit, and a trip to Big Boy

I Love my bike. It's not as nice as the one I have in Houston, but it does the job, and I feel really cool cruising around on it.

Awesome, No? 

The kid loves her trolley in the back, and waves at people as we go around. Yesterday as we cruised to school, We passed a guy walking a giant, not very friendly looking Pit Bull on a chain. as we rolled past him the kid leaned out the side of the bike and shouted "Nice Dog!" Can anyone enlighten me on why the dog of choice on the streets of Detroit is a Pit Bull? Are we really that hard core that a Black Lab wouldn't do the trick?

Sunday Afternoon we rode the Bikes to Belle Isle and let the kid tear it up on the playground for a while. She had another one of those disgusting Sponge Bob Popsicles. How can a Popsicle taste so greasy? Remind me to blog the ingredients list sometime.

Stone and Pebbles enjoy some Quality time with an inedible Sponge Bob Popsicle. 

On a related note, why does my daughter love Sponge Bob so much? I Just don't get it.

Sunday morning I let Stone sleep in and rode down Jefferson Ave to an outlet of the iconic restaurant chain  "Big Boy" I had never been in one, and sort of expected it to be like a White Castle Hamburgers or something. It was actually more like a Denny's and really nice! They even have a real Big Boy Statue inside!

Fulfilling a Life-Long dream of posing next to a Big Boy statue

I don't even want to think about the germs on that thing. 

Not that any of you give a shit what I had for lunch yesterday, but here you go. Mushroom and Basil pizza from Supino Pizza in Eastern Market. I don't know how they do their crusts, but the crust is So, So, So, So, Good.

I want to eat this every day for lunch and dinner. 

More tomorrow, I'm working on a post about Arabs, Sunni Islam, and the Nation of Islam in Detroit. Don't expect anything profound though, OK?

Detroit Miscellaneous

Just a quickie today, in Bullet point form.

• We bought matching his and her bikes, and a bike trailer for the kid. I ride the kid to school every morning! Its fantastic, everyone we pass says hello. 
• Last night was the fireworks on the riverfront. Estimates say close to 1,000,000 people came out for them. Downtown, Belle Isle, and the surrounding miles of Jefferson and Lafayette streets were heaving with happy people, and little kids.
• We are eating lunch at Supino Pizza once a week. The crust on the pizza is the best I have ever tasted. 
• Mom and Dad, and anyone else who knows Stone personally will find the following amusing: Not 20 miles after I had mentioned to Stone that we should think about filling the bus up with gas, and he said "No way! We've got plenty of gas!" We ran out of Gas. Major violation of our Always Listen To Your Wife policy.
• Detroit, as it turns out,  is a nice place to run out of gas! Less than a minute after we sputtered to a halt, a good Samaritan stopped and drove Stone to a gas station. During the five minutes Stone was gone, 3 different people stopped and asked me if I was OK, and did I need help with the Bus. Seriously, How nice is that???
• There are some truly amazing custom cars around here, and the American tradition of Cruising is alive and well on Belle Isle every Friday and Saturday night. 
• Motorcycles are also surprisingly big in Detroit. They are everywhere, flocks of them ridden my Men, Women, everybody. It's wonderful to see. 
• My only complaint so far: What is up with the Trash Detroiters? You guys just throw all your trash EVERYFUCKINGWHERE! How hard is it to carry your trash to any one of the bazillions of trash cans available on Belle Isle or downtown? Really, I'm asking. Detroiters, You are the messiest bunch of people I have ever encountered.  

My Favorite Butcher Guy at Gratiot Market. He already recognizes me!

And that sums it up for today. More adventures to report on tomorrow. 

So How is the Food in Detroit?

Fantastic, thanks for asking!

Tonight we had super thick cut lamb chops (Gratiot Market) with Creamy Parmesan and Sage (Grown In Detroit) Orzo, and sauteed wild Michigan Morels, in a California chardonnay and Michigan shallot sauce. (all other ingredients from Detroit Eastern Market)

It was, as the butcher who cut the meat for me said, "Some really fucking tasty shit".

Look at these Morels!!!

No, Really. Look at these incredible Morels!!!

Fresh Sage, Grown on one of Detroit's Urban Farms. 2 bucks! 

The Lamb Chops, from Gratiot Market.
You can't see it from this angle, but I had the butcher cut them 2.5 inches thick!

The finished product. It was wicked good. 

Tomorrow we are having Eggplant Lasagna, made entirely with Michigan and Detroit grown produce. Tomatoes, Cheese, Eggplants, Shallots, Garlic, Leeks, Rosemary, Curly Basil and Fresh Green Salad. Everything except the lasagna noodles is from Michigan!  

On the River

Fun and Games at the Detroit River Festival yesterday. We rode the rides, grooved to the music, ate hot dogs, and generally enjoyed the scene. The festival continues through Monday, with a giant Slap-Up fireworks show along the river Monday Night.

You can tour a Giant US Coast Guard ship!

The advances in Ketchup Distribution Devices in recent years is simply staggering.
I'm considering buying one of these for my Step-Son. 

Sand Castle Sculpting Competition

The Ultimate Air Dog Competition.
Waaay more awesome than I expected. 

Dumpster Diving is the new Shopping?

We went down to the dumpsters this morning with yet another load of card board and other detritus from the unpacking. We do this twice a day, filling one of the Old-School elevators to brimming with our cardboard and other shit, slamming the mesh grate, and descending on the creaky-freaky lift to the sub basement level of our building, lugging the crap through three fire doors, out the loading dock, and heaving it into the dumpsters in the rain. It's my least favorite part of an otherwise perfect day.

Today, in one of the dumpsters, was a small box that caught my eye. there were a few gorgeous silk scarves, some old photographs, and some lovely leather gloves tucked inside. And looking into the dumpster further, there were all these clothes for little kids, with the tags still on them. These were nice clothes, tags from all the top New York Department stores, like stumbling into a time capsule from the 1960's.

Then I looked into the other dumpsters. 4 dumpsters full of vintage designer clothes. WTF?

Stone had long since headed back to the apartment, incredulous that I was considering hauling a load of garbage back INTO his house. So I asked my gay neighbours what they thought we should do, and they were like "Let's get the fuck into those dumpsters!" They didn't have to tell me twice.

A small sampling of the treasures retrieved from the dumpster

It turned out that the clothes were from a storage unit in our building that had been untouched since the lady who owned it moved away in 1984. Efforts to trace her went in vain, and so finally the management decided to clear out the storage unit.

Here are some of the highlights. Please excuse the fact that I am ugly and gormless looking. Even nice clothes can't help that.  I hope to love these clothes as much as the original owner did.

The top makes me think of Mad men, the suede skirt makes me think hippie Love fest. 

Full length leather jacket thingy over an short flirty knitted dress

This jacket is the bomb. Made of the softest leather in the world, with inside pockets. 

I Freaking LOVE this jacket. 

I took a few pairs of  long opera length gloves in various colors. 

This fur lined LBD is totally Mad men. I LOVE it and it fits like a glove. 

And a couple of  the many things we scored for the kid. She didn't want to put on a fashion show!

Brand new, with the tags still on it, a fuzzy snow suit. 

Look at this cute little mechanic Jump suit. I Die. 

More Meat

We went back to Gratiot Central Market Yesterday. Our Friend Bo, Texas Butcher Extraordinaire would have been impressed, we think.

It's like the Mecca of Meat! The Taj-Mahal of Tripe! The Pyramids of Pork!

They will custom butcher anything you can imagine, to your exact specifications

Earlier in the week we bought matching his and her 3 speed cruiser bikes to use as transportation when we are in town. We found them on Craig's list, and they set us back $100 for the pair. They are really neat, and deliciously vintage.Today we are searching for a bike trailer so we can transport the kid on our bikes while the Bus is in the shop for a much needed tune up.

The weather today is expected to hit a glorious 70 degrees, with intermittent rain and soothing cloud cover. It's a far cry from the hellish confines of Houston, I tell you.

Detroit supermarkets are so hardcore, even the veggies get graffiti. 

Milk and Meat

We wandered into the Gratiot Central Market yesterday, pretty much by accident.

Photo Credit: Randy's Sausage

It was Meat heaven. Awesome butchery, everywhere. Every cut of meat you can imagine, butchered to order. Amish Chicken, Seafood, a million different cuts of pork, beef, lamb, goat. It was pretty awe inspiring. I'm going back today to get some photos.

We also stopped by a dairy store that sells milk in Glass bottles, just like we used to have growing up! I know it's all in my head, but I'm telling you, milk tastes better from a glass bottle.

On the Riverfront

Still unpacking! We managed to get the kid into a really great summer camp, which she LOVES. After school yesterday we went down to the Riverwalk  for an Ice cream and a few carousel rides.

This blog will be a lot less boring soon, I promise. 

Hello Detroit!

We arrived late Friday night, and Detroit feels like heaven on earth. Just a few photos today to give you guys a sneak peak at out house up here, and a few of the things we have been doing.

 Headquarters of GM on Jefferson Ave

The view from our back yard, looking over the Detroit river towards Belle Isle, a massive public park located on an island in the river.  This morning we saw 28 swans!

This is part of my Kitchen.
The marble Counter tops are salvaged from a Detroit high school that was being torn down.
Don't they look Sexy?

I Love My Kitchen!

This is the Chandelier in the dining room. I love it!

This is one of many children's playscapes on Belle Isle. 

Stone relaxing while watching the kid go bonkers on the playground.

One of the many beautiful old buildings on Belle Isle

More Playscape

Making friends at the playground

Shopping for furnishings really sucks

We have met a half dozen or so of our neighbors, all of whom are astonishingly friendly and welcoming. They have helped us carry stuff in, invited us over for drinks, offered hospitality and assistance, provided great advice, and overall have been exactly the neighbors I have always dreamed of! We are really looking forward to a social summer, filled with Boats, BBQ, friends and food.

 More in a couple of days when we are fully unpacked! 

Engineer's Report from Stone

The bus was in really good condition when we bought it, considering it was built way back in 1973 (in Germany).  The main killer of old VWs - rust - was only present in a few inconsequential surface areas on the body, which we figure we'll fix in Detroit when we do a respray. The engine ran smoothly (it was rebuilt 20k before we got it), with the main niggle being a difficult to get 2nd gear, especially changing down. Double clutching whilst braking remains a skill we both have to get a handle on. The bus of course also leaked a bit of oil and 'marks its spot' when parked.

Handling
But, when we started driving it on our initial 1 night exploratory camping adventures near Houston, we noticed how bad the thing handled on the highway. Top speed was effectively 55mph max while constantly struggling to keep the thing on the road. With even a mild cross wind this dropped to 45mph (at most) because the bus would be pushed around sideways several feet and it was waaay too scary to go any faster, for fear of suddenly being sent into either on-coming traffic or the ditch by the side of the road. Several times we had to get off the freeway, because being passed by everything else on the road while struggling to keep 45 mph was too dangerous.

A search of  the Samba and other on-line resources suggested new shocks and heavy duty anti-sway bars were the key and offered hope of ensuring we could actually get from Houston to Detroit faster than it would take to walk it. So that's what we did.

We decided if we were going to go to the effort we'd do it properly, and so opted for a new set of Koni dampeners (aka shock absorbers) we got from the Bus Depot, and they sure ain't cheap at $500 for a set of 4 (but they are made in The Netherlands). Plus a set of EMPI heavy duty anti-sway bars from The Bus Boys at a reasonable $200 for both front and rear.

A local garage installed 3 of the 4 shocks, but sheared the lower bolt removing the fourth. Oops. The guys at another shop drilled out the sheared bolt and installed the final Koni, plus the front anti-sway. The rear will have to wait til Detroit.

But the result on the handling has been... amazing. Incredible.

We can now cruise comfortably at 65mph (about all the little 1.7L engine can handle), even with a mild cross wind. The buffeting now shifts the bus inches rather than feet and it's easy to stay in the lane. Also the ride is wonderfully smooth yet reassuringly firm when required. Even in a strong gusting side wind, like we experienced in a thunder storm somewhere in Arkansas, I only had to drop the speed down to 55mph to feel safe. It's a totally different driving experience now. Wonderful.

Although by doing both jobs at the same time makes it difficult to know with certainty, I suspect the biggest improvement was from those beautiful Koni shocks. Would just putting new (and much cheaper) OEM shocks have been as good? Maybe, who knows? I didn't want to take the risk of always thinking later 'imaybe if I'd spent the extra $200 for Konis this would be better'. When we put the rear anti-sway bar on and drive it back home in August I'll report on what difference that made, because you can still feel a very slight sway when sitting in the back seat when cruising at top speed, and maybe that'll go too!

Oil & gas mileage
Not too much to report here. We're running 87 unleaded (remember the engine is low compression and was made for standard fuel) and getting an average of 18.4 MPG (ranging from 20 to 17). The better mileage is when Sarah was driving! I've been pleasantly surprised by the oil - it's only used about half a quart of oil so far (roughly 800 miles or so), which I take as a good sign. I'd be more concerned if it wasn't using any oil at all.

Other niggles
Second gear is still a total bitch. Sometimes it's easy on the way up, but just when you think you've cracked it, especially when you've got a pile of traffic behind you, it refuses to go into second making you go back to first and then straight to third. Ah well. If possible, double clutching will get it in on the way down, and shifting up as soon as possible helps on the way up.

more later... got to get ship-shape for the final push to Motown!!!

The Best Burger in the world

Is Located in Brownsville, TN at Brownsville family restaurant and Catering. 

Look at that Burger! 

It cost a mere $2.99, featured a hand formed seasoned patty, two slices of cheese, all the veggies, a cornmeal bun, and a slathering of salty-sweet mayonnaise. It was as big as my head. The restaurant is a massive space, tucked inside one of Brownsville's many historic buildings. Brownsville is a gorgeous little town. 

Inside at the front of the restaurant they have pictures and memorials to the town's citizens who have served  in the US armed forces.

The sting and unreality of slavery is still painfully present in America, where blacks remain economically disadvantaged, and suffering from institutionalized racism. (In my opinion, anyway) 

On the wall of the restaurant, was this Obituary, dating from the mid 50's

Read this. It's so sad / happy it's unreal 

After finishing our lunch (Hamburger-me, Fried chicken and eggs-Stone, and Eggy sandwich-Pebbles) we all got hugs from the chef and the waitresses. we will definitely be back through Brownsville again.