Another College Town: Ann Arbor, Michigan

I leave Indiana a little later than I expected. I wanted to find those deer whistles I'd heard about. On the drive to Mt Rushmore, in the early evening, I saw the car ahead of me in the distance suddenly hit its brakes, then move to the side of the road and turn on its blinkers. As I came closer I slowed down, and then found out that the guy had hit a deer! The poor thing was lying in the middle of the road. Anyway, that scared me big-time, so I had to slow down and/or follow someone ahead of me so they would be the one to hit the deer if there was one on the road.

Anyway, I get one of these things in Rural Store (yes, they have those. It's like a huge K-mart, only full of rural stuff that farmers need). It looks kinda cool, like little laser lights, but also looks kinda silly:

Turns out I got scared by something else on the drive. Right outside Indianapolis, I suddenly get three loud beeps and my instrumentation panel turns off. Then turns back on, but with everything reset! The odometer went back to 0, the clock starts its blinking --:-- (just like your VCR), the seatbelt light comes on (even though I'm wearing my seatbelt). I start to pull over to the side, but realize that the engine is still running fine. I slow down wondering what to do, then decide to move on. I unbuckle and buckle up and the light goes off. The odometer begins counting up the miles again, and I reset the time. Not knowing what was going on, I call the dealership in San Francisco and talk to a service guy. He does not know either and says it could be just a software glitch or could be my battery is not charging. But since the battery warning light is not on, he's not sure either.

I still have 200 miles to go! I don't know if I should stop coz I'm in a big city at least (Indianapolis) or keep going. I decide to keep going. Later on I realize that I could not stop to pee or get gas or whatever because I was afraid the car would not start back up, if indeed the battery was the problem. So I had to push on non-stop even towards the end I had to pee sooooooo bad. Ugggh.

Anyway, I get to Ann Arbor without incident. Check-in (after running to the bathroom to pee, much to the amusement of the check-in clerk), then take a cab for my Saturday night-out.

Unfortunately, this other college town turned out to be as much a disappointment as the other one. There was a big game in East Lansing and someone mentioned all the college kids were over there. Sigh. The next day I spend just walking around the campus (which was gorgeous), seeing the sights and the usual things college kids do, and pretending to be young and in college again. Brought back a lot of memories of my college days not too long ago.

Before driving into Canada, I take the car to the dealership, and the service guy says the same thing. He does not know either, but it should be safe to drive. So I push on.