The downstate turnaround
The whole, entire time I was growing up downstate, in Livonia, I never met anybody who said, “I drove to Traverse City and back in one day yesterday.” Never. Not once.
Of course, why would anybody want to do that? I mean, once you leave downstate and arrive Up North, why would anybody want to turn around and head back south in the same day?
But what I discovered when I moved Up North is that people from here do that downstate-and-back-in-a-day thing as a regular part of their lives. Example: Two weeks ago, our art director and her husband drove to Farmington to see a concert, hopped back in the car and drove home—9 hours of driving, 2.5 hours of music, home by 3 a.m., no biggie. Example: A family piles into a minivan and drives to Ann Arbor for medical appointments, sees the docs and drives back home. Example: a family climbs into an SUV and motors down to Detroit for a Tigers game, then gets back into the SUV and drives home.
The topic is on my mind because in the past week I’ve done the downstate turnaround twice. Tuesday I drove to Sommerset Mall to pick up my daughter who’d gotten a ride from U. Cincinnati for Thanksgiving break. Then I drove her back down on Sunday, chatted for 3 minutes standing on a snowy driveway near Fenton, turned around, drove back to Cedar, Michigan.
One moment in the trip home that I love is passing under a freeway sign somewhere near Bay City or thereabouts that reads simply, “North, I-75, Mackinac Bridge.” The odd thing about the sign is it’s so far from the Mackinac Bridge. What other bridge in America has a freeway sign announcing its presence 150 miles away? Am thinking none. Golden Gate? Brooklyn Bridge? No Department of Transportation worker is thinking, Hey, better tell people the Golden Gate Bridge is 150 miles away.
But the way the Mackinac Bridge is presented on that freeway sign, it stands for something more than just telling you there’s a nice way to get across some water 150 miles from Bay City. “North, I-75, Mackinac Bridge” -- in this case, the bridge is representing everything we love when we head this way. Like DOT haiku. The smell of the woods. The feel of clean water on our skin. SKIING!!! On and on and on. All of it is embedded in those directional words, a statement so spare and iconic, yet it’s all you need to know. Just keep heading in that direction, north to the Mackinac Bridge. Every time I read the sign I just think, Right on.
And that is why people from Up North do the downstate-and-back-in-a-day thing. They might not think the same words that I think—admittedly “right on” is kinda cliché. But they feel the same feelings I feel. We give up some stuff living Up North, but we know that if we really need whatever it is they have downstate that we don’t have here, all we have to do is drive south a few hours, and then, of course, turn around and drive back Up North. No biggie. North, I-75, Mackinac Bridge. Heading home.
-- Jeff Smith is editor of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine
Of course, why would anybody want to do that? I mean, once you leave downstate and arrive Up North, why would anybody want to turn around and head back south in the same day?
But what I discovered when I moved Up North is that people from here do that downstate-and-back-in-a-day thing as a regular part of their lives. Example: Two weeks ago, our art director and her husband drove to Farmington to see a concert, hopped back in the car and drove home—9 hours of driving, 2.5 hours of music, home by 3 a.m., no biggie. Example: A family piles into a minivan and drives to Ann Arbor for medical appointments, sees the docs and drives back home. Example: a family climbs into an SUV and motors down to Detroit for a Tigers game, then gets back into the SUV and drives home.
The topic is on my mind because in the past week I’ve done the downstate turnaround twice. Tuesday I drove to Sommerset Mall to pick up my daughter who’d gotten a ride from U. Cincinnati for Thanksgiving break. Then I drove her back down on Sunday, chatted for 3 minutes standing on a snowy driveway near Fenton, turned around, drove back to Cedar, Michigan.
One moment in the trip home that I love is passing under a freeway sign somewhere near Bay City or thereabouts that reads simply, “North, I-75, Mackinac Bridge.” The odd thing about the sign is it’s so far from the Mackinac Bridge. What other bridge in America has a freeway sign announcing its presence 150 miles away? Am thinking none. Golden Gate? Brooklyn Bridge? No Department of Transportation worker is thinking, Hey, better tell people the Golden Gate Bridge is 150 miles away.
But the way the Mackinac Bridge is presented on that freeway sign, it stands for something more than just telling you there’s a nice way to get across some water 150 miles from Bay City. “North, I-75, Mackinac Bridge” -- in this case, the bridge is representing everything we love when we head this way. Like DOT haiku. The smell of the woods. The feel of clean water on our skin. SKIING!!! On and on and on. All of it is embedded in those directional words, a statement so spare and iconic, yet it’s all you need to know. Just keep heading in that direction, north to the Mackinac Bridge. Every time I read the sign I just think, Right on.
And that is why people from Up North do the downstate-and-back-in-a-day thing. They might not think the same words that I think—admittedly “right on” is kinda cliché. But they feel the same feelings I feel. We give up some stuff living Up North, but we know that if we really need whatever it is they have downstate that we don’t have here, all we have to do is drive south a few hours, and then, of course, turn around and drive back Up North. No biggie. North, I-75, Mackinac Bridge. Heading home.
-- Jeff Smith is editor of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine
Tags: jeff smith, mackinac bridge, traverse city, up north
7 Comments
-
Comment by Kristine Carpenter on December 1, 2008 at 12:30pm - Jeff, I've seen that sign and as a downstater it always gives me that same thrill. We're on the way! We're heading UP! It's a wonderful thing.
-
Comment by Rachel North on December 1, 2008 at 1:25pm - Jeff, sometimes if you live somewhere else, being Up North, if only for one day is still great. I remember leaving St. Louis, MO after work and driving through the night to drop my brother off at Camp Minnewonka on Saturday morning. Dad and I continued up to Leelanau getting there somewhere around lunch. On Sunday, we drove back probably 15-16 hours on the road (remember the 55 mph speed limit?). And while we would have liked to have stayed, we both had to be at work on Monday. It might have been easier to turn around at Stony Lake, but we'd have missed being at the cottage for an afternoon. I remember sitting with Dad on the beach watching the sun go down that Saturday night. What's worth 30 hours on the road? A sunset I remember 20 years later.
-
Comment by Donna on December 1, 2008 at 5:41pm - Ah yes....the sign. The mere thought of it and what it represents makes my breathing calm and blood pressure lower.
-
Comment by Kelly on December 1, 2008 at 11:40pm - There's a sign on the way back from my parents' house in Grand Haven that bears the name of a small town, "New Era." Every time I read that and head under it and further North I think, "Yep." Coming home to Traverse City always renews my love of this place, no matter how familiar it and I may be.
-
Comment by Darren King on December 2, 2008 at 6:43am - Great piece. And to Jeff Smith's point - and Rachel North's too - the good news is you're both correct - once you leave downstate and arrive Up North, why go back the same day? Because what we have up north is so great, if you can't make it a weekend, and you can't stay overnight, you steal what time you can to cure the up north jones - if but for one day - which for me will keep me going until my next overnighter. For 30 years, my father-in-law did daytrips from Livonia, arriving in morning, skiing all day, grabbing a good dinner then driving back that night. I prefer driving I96 to I27 then 115 through Cadillac - seems like I'm Up North faster - silly I know - but there's a Mackinac Bridge sign for us on that side too...whoever did the sign hanging must have been a daytripper.
-
Comment by Kate on December 3, 2008 at 1:20pm - I remember when I moved to Harbor Springs-- I grew up in Saginaw so I know that bridge sign well-- driving past that "150 miles till" sign suddenly had a whole new meaning. Eight years later, I can hardly imagine driving south to go "home," but when I pass Bay City, I always look for that sign, and remind myself I am so, so lucky to be heading Up North. Yea, I know, I'm one big ball of mush lately. The holidays get me every time.
-
Comment by Leslie Askwith on December 4, 2008 at 10:03pm - Holidays here in the EUP are a nightmare of phoning to try to coordinate as many arrivals at the Detroit Airport as possible among our far-flung kids. Flying to the Chippewa County International Airport (an highfalutin name if there ever was one) often nearly doubles the cost of flying in from the west where they've all migrated to. But we usually end up driving to Detroit at least once and often twice. It's always down and back in the same day - 6 hours times two is a lot of time behind the wheel but we do it without a second thought. Most of the people I know have a survival strategy like knitting or at least a neck pillow and a good book. When I attended conferences, always down-state (anywhere below the bridge), and our small contingent of people from the U.P suggested meeting up north, we were summarily dismissed. It was always too far. It's inconvenient to get to or get away from, and that's a blessing for those of us who like it rural.
Add a Comment
You need to be a member of MyNorth to add comments!
Join this network