Rental Car Blues

I flew all night to get to Detroit this morning. My rental car was waiting for me, previously reserved for $20/day by my daughter using a meeting/convention discount code. When the service rep asked which meeting I was going to, I had to say, "The Hollyer Group". "What do they do?" she persisted. "Well", says I, "they get together and share good ideas". That was vague enough so she said, "There's always something going on in Ann Arbor". Yep, and not all of it is good.

She tried to sell me lots of stuff. Did I want GPS for $9.95 a day? No. What about upgrading for $5 (and worse gas mileage)? No. If I bought their gas plan, they would fill my tank for $4.19/gallon, only a reasonable deal if it was completely empty. No, thanks. I surely wanted insurance! No, my own car insurance covers rental and VISA covers any exclusions. She was pretty disgusted to give me this little car, so she told me my car was really bare bones. I asked her if it had air conditioning and she said, "Yes, but I don't think it will blow very hard on you!"

So, thus equipped, I headed out towards Northville. Whoops. My Google map was from the airport, not the rental car place. Where was the freeway? I knew the neighborhood got tough fast, so I stopped in a Shell station to get directions. The guy was great-specific and added, "you'll think you must be on the wrong road it's so far down, but don't give up. The freeway will be there." And you know, he was absolutely right! I was just beginning to think I made a wrong turn when the freeway came up. By the way, is it bad to drive for 15 minutes in 3rd gear?

It's about 78 degrees here, but I walked into town and ate a cheeseburger at Joseph's Coney Island. The new theater, The Tipping Point, just finished its first season last week. Too bad. It looked pretty interesting.

My dance card for tomorrow is filling up. My favorite partner will be the shampooer, I think.