Flashback: MTU Trip – Day 1
Go back in time with us as we recount our epic 46-hour round trip bus adventure to Houghton/Hancock for the MTU Spring Career Fair. Just for fun, we pulled this 3-part blog series out of the vault (along with the photo of me in my fleece Labatt pond hockey helmet) to commemorate the 9-year anniversary of the trip Andrea Kerbuski and I made when we were both still working together at Capital Area Michigan Works! (looking back at the crap I put her through, its amazing that we’re still friends today!)
It’s Monday, February 21 which means that the day has finally arrived for my epic journey up north to Houghton/Hancock for the Michigan Technological University Spring Career Fair. It didn’t seem much like spring here in Lansing as we got 10 inches of snow the day I was supposed to venture into the wintery landscape of the western upper peninsula – where the hearty residents of the U.P. actually refer to 10 inches of snow as a “dusting”. Adding snow removal to my list of chores that needed to be completed before leaving contributed to an already exhausting day of watching my two boys while my wife went to her classes at MSU (I actually had this crazy notion that I might try to get some rest before boarding the bus for the overnight trip – silly rabbit, rest is for single/childless people). And this was coming off of spending the better part of a week at home helping my wife take care of both boys, ages 5 and 2 ½, as they healed from having their tonsils and adenoids removed on February 15. This of course consisted of 3-4-hour blocks of drug induced euphoria in which the kids would watch the same four “Caillou” episodes over and over again, only to be interrupted by periodic “re-medication” efforts when the pain meds would begin to wear off. And when the pain meds weren’t masking the discomfort in their throats, my wife and I got to tag team like WWF wrestlers to engage in the ever-fun hold your screaming, kicking children down and get them to swallow the only thing that would make their throats stop hurting. After continuing this routine day and night, night and day through the kicking, screaming, and occasional vomit, I started wondering who the hell it was that said it was “better to have both boys’ tonsils removed at the same time.” Better for who? Our otolaryngologist’s shop happy wife? The insurance company? Just writing about it is making me tired again – but I digress.
Way back in August when I got the idea to take the bus to Houghton/Hancock I knew right away that this was going to be something worth documenting with photos, video and updates through social media. Although I was willing and prepared to go solo and shoot footage “Blair Witch Project” style, it became a moot point when Andrea Kerbuski, assistant communication officer for Capital Area Michigan Works! was somehow able to convince our CEO and chief communications officer that she should accompany me on this journey for my “safety”. I guess I didn’t really understand this – it’s not like I was proposing jumping into an empty box car of a moving freight train. It would be far less exciting and dangerous riding a bus with a grand total of three other people who, like me, need to travel to the upper peninsula in the middle of February. That being said, I was happy to have her along as she imbedded herself for some good, old-fashioned photojournalism.
We picked Andrea up from her apartment at about 3:30 p.m. and were at the bus station by 4 p.m. This left me just enough time to woof down a little pre-game meal which consisted of a Wendy’s double, fries and a 34 oz. coke (the perfect snack for anyone getting ready to seal themselves in a 90-foot-long steel and glass diesel powered capsule for 15 hours with a co-worker that gets motion sickness and forgot to bring along her Dramamine – you can thank me later David Blaine for coming up with the idea for your next “street Magic” television special.
Our bus finally arrived shortly after 5 p.m. and we were able to board. The bus was a large Indian Trails coach – not the Greyhound Bus I was expecting. We settled into our seats and tried getting some last-minute emails out before losing the bus station’s Wi-Fi signal. It wasn’t long before we made our first stop (10 minutes to be exact – when we pulled into the East Lansing station) – and I’d soon find out that Indian Trails is so committed to serving the transportation needs of residents in lower Michigan, that they have incorporated stops at every city, town, village, hamlet and K.O.A. campground located along the road headed north. This isn’t all bad. When we stopped in Clare, they announced that it was something called a “meal stop”. which meant we had 30 minutes to grab some food if we wanted. We of course chose to walk across the parking lot to the nearby Arby’s (my pre-game meal had worn off by then and like the travel weary Hobbit, I was ready for a “second” dinner of roast beef and curly fries). Much to my chagrin, their stupid shake machine was broken so I missed out on the best part of any Arby’s experience: the large jamocha shake. (I don’t know what’s involved with the production of the substance known as “jamocha” – whether its strip mined somewhere or if there are some kind of genetically engineered “jamocha” beasts running around a farm, but I definitely think the U.S. needs to be importing more of that stuff because it is goooooood).
Bus travel is interesting to say the least. You’d think that you could just kick back and zone out for 15 hours, but in reality, you are stopping so frequently, and people are getting on and off for different connecting buses to parts unknown, that closing your eyes for even a few minutes means that you risk missing an important announcement and that you could potentially wake up the next day in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Apparently, Andrea has always had a burning desire to visit Oshkosh, Wisconsin because even before the bus had pulled away from the Clare station, she was slumped over in her seat fast asleep. I, on the other hand, settled in for a long night passing the time staring rather pointlessly out a window at the dark.