Got an early start from Princeton. There was lots of construction along I-80. Illinois has definitely taken advantage of federal stimulus money. If I-80 looks and drives as well when it is finished as I-74 now does–talk about a nasty ride before the construction, it’d be worth the cost and current inconvenience.
Speaking of driving, I’d love someone to explain why drivers who–at best–are driving speed limit settle into the left lane and won’t move out of the way. I was taught that slower drivers should be in the right lane or at least should move over and allow the faster driver to pass. After being stuck behind slow drivers more times than I can count, I find it rather frustrating. My pet peeve, I suppose.
On a much better note, I reached the University of Michigan this afternoon. After a brief visit to the school’s music library–where I found a great article related to my upcoming presentation, I had an extended meeting with George Shirley. (If you don’t know who he is, see my bio on him at www.afrovoices.com/shirley.html.) Was only expecting a short chat, especially since I’d only contacted him a couple of days ago. However, it turned into a 90-minute discussion about many things related to music in general and spirituals specifically. I haven’t enjoyed a conversation like that so much in a long time. Prof. Shirley was very gracious and gave me some excellent suggestions.
Reached Detroit and decided to call it an evening. The hotel where I’d made reservations online turned out to be in a neighborhood of questionable quality. Let me put it this way: the hotel shared its parking lot with a topless bar. Fortunately, I was able to persuade the management to let me stay at another site with only a minor extra charge.
No pictures today, I’m afraid. Should more than make up for that starting Friday, though. My route today:
http://mapq.st/njfIQI. Tomorrow, I don’t expect to drive far, but I do hope to get a lot done.
The presentation got a major step forward today. The article I found really helped me lock in the approach I want to take for the presentation.
I realized that I neglected a couple of critical parts of my journey. First, I need to acknowledge the musicians and their songs that helped me focus on my driving throughout my journey. So, I’m going back and posting links to a song that I recall most strongly from each day’s playlist.
This day’s song is Count Basie’s “April in Paris.” The day’s playlist was almost exclusively pre-bebop Jazz, and let’s just say that “one more once” occurs a lot in one of my obsession sessions.
Most importantly, of course, I thank the Lord for granting me the stamina to make the trip, the damn good reflexes to steer the RB as she needed to be guided, and the ability to enjoy His handiwork as it whizzed by my windshield.