I stand corrected. In an earlier post, I said I wished the Accent had a “swipe” feature on the windshield wiper controls. Well it does. You just have to push the stalk up rather than bring it towards you. Hmm. What else am I going to complain about?
Today we drove 160 km west to Battle Creek, Michigan, a city I have deep-seated resentment towards; a festering issue going back over 40 years. In short, I’ve got a bone to pick with Battle Creek.
Back when I was a kid, the cereal companies would tempt youngsters with offers of incredible free prizes if only we’d eat the cereal. All we had to do was send a few cereal boxtops and a self-addressed stamped envelope and the cereal companies would send along the prize.
I’d send in the boxtops as well as the self-addressed envelopes and received exactly diddly. Why? I guess because we used Canadian stamps, the only kind we could get – US Postage stamps being kind of hard to find in Ajax back in the 1960s.
So now I’m in Battle Creek and I’m mad as heck. Somebody owes me a dinosaur book, a decoder ring and a Roy Rogers lunchbox. Or at least an explanation. But sadly, several residents we ask don’t even know where the Kellogg’s plant is. We managed to find the Post factory but they don’t have a dog in this fight. Sigh. 
We finally found Cereal City, which has a huge Kellogg’s mural and I angrily shake my fist at the images of “Snap, Crackle and Pop.” Not exactly redemption, but it’s the best I can do.
At least Battle Creek smells nice (like toasted cereal), once you’re away from the river, which doesn’t. Digging deeper, not only is their cereal prize scam a total fraud, so is the name “Battle Creek.” Apparently, back in 1825, there was a minor skirmish between two surveyors and two Indians on the banks of the river, and one of the Indians was slightly wounded.
Hardly a battle.
On the way back, we stopped in at Historic Bridge Park in Calhoun County – sort of an elephant’s graveyard for old bridges. Several date back to the late 1800s. Pretty cool idea really.
I’ve gotta say again that 70 miles per hour speed limits are the way to cover ground. Even though the Accent seems happiest cruising at around 110 kmh (66 mph), having that last little bit in legal reserve is nice.
Another Michigan oddity – they string their traffic lights across the intersection from cables so when you pull up to the white line at a red light, the suspended traffic light is almost directly above the car. There’s no way to see the damn light unless you crane your neck forward up over the front of the dash.
It's not only Michigan that has the traffic lights hanging over your head - it's the same in Alabama. The trick down there, is to look a light or two ahead, as all the lights are sync'ed
Posted by: Josh | October 17, 2008 at 05:41 AM