Greektown to Ferndale (Detroit area)

Yesterday was a beautiful day in the Detroit area.  Rod and Lisa are very gracious hosts and we appreciate their friendship and hospitality.

They have a beautiful home and plenty of space out back.

Rod is active in the men's group at Bethany Baptist Church and I was able to join him for their regular Saturday morning meeting.  We had a good group and discussed the Ch 4 of the book:  Chasing Daylight - Seize the Power of Every Moment.

It was a great time of fellowship and instruction as we talked about how we can be a better influence on those around us every day.  The bagels, Tim Horton muffins and coffee were good too :)

We got back home for a great breakfast that Lisa made, then went by the Harley Davidson store and on into Detroit.  Rod is a motorcycle rider and needed to get a new tire ordered for his Buell motorcycle.

They had quite a crowd at their spring Open House.  Unfortunately, they did not have the tire he needed so he will have to do something else.

Then it was on to downtown Detroit.

We took a windshield tour first and then parked near Greektown.  I had no idea there was a large Greek population in Detroit.  I was impressed with how clean the city seemed.

We also took a ride on the city Detroit People Mover.  It was a bargain at $.50 and allowed us to see the city from a different perspective.  

By then we were pretty hungry and ended up at Piper's restaurant for lunch.  I had a bowl of cheddar soup and a black russian sandwich.

Our next task was to find a rental car so we could drive across to Canada on Sunday for the wedding.  We will find a place there to stay the night and then can drive ourselves back to the airport on Monday for a return trip to Houston.

On that way over I had to stop and take a picture of a nomads building---

According to a web site, Nomads, Inc. is Detroit's around-the-world, non-profit air travel club. (not related to the NOMADS, UMC volunteer organization for RVers.

Getting a rental car was a bit of a challenge...  I thought there would be a series rental car agencies near the baggage claim area.  Following the signs, I went upstairs from there, across a walkway over to the large airport parking garage.  There were shuttles to the rental car parking lots, but no desk or row of agents like I expected.

Instead, I found a phone where I could call the national car rental company of my choice.  I did so and got kicked into a long series of automated responses to get a rental car.  After too many attempts and a bit of frustration, I decided to retrace my steps upstairs, across the walkway, down to the baggage area and outside where everyone was waiting.

We ended up driving to one of the rental car company's off site parking areas and walking from the curb back to the shuttle drop off point and renting a Ford Focus from the lady at the counter.  Whew!!  I guess they are reducing their manpower and presence in airport terminals to save money?  But no matter-- we got a car and returned to Rod and Lisa's for the rest of the afternoon.

Adam got off work and we drove over to Ferndale to see the house where he lives.  Looks like a nice neighborhood and a good place to live.

A couple blocks over, we found Anita's Kitchen and had a great dinner of Lebanese food.

Rod and Lisa returned home and Adam drove us around for a 'Detroit by Night' windshield tour.  I was a beautiful evening.  There must have been something going on at Tiger Stadium.  We heard Taylor Swift is going to be in town but not sure that was it.

Detroit is an interesting city, glad we got to see it.

Then Adam drove us back to Rod and Lisa's.  We watched an episode of Sherlock Holmes and some of the Canadian comedy 'Green and Red'.  By then it was well past our bedtime so we turned in.  Big day tomorrow!

Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles!