Benton Harbor, not a vacation hotspot...

We drove last night until 1:30 am and then found a hotel. I was tired. Trying to get to bed was a challenge because Reid was in his "funny guy" mode and was making me laugh. I think the funniest was when I was trying to sleep on one bed and he was across on the other bed and started reciting the lines from the movie "Step Brothers". I can't remember exactly what they were, but he was looking at me and acting out one of the characters and told "his dad doesn't like me or something like that". It's hard to fall asleep when your laughing, and he knew the lines word for word. All I could see was Will Ferrel and John C. Reilly in my mind.

I had an okay sleep, although it wasn't long enough. By the time we got up, checked out and got back on the road, I just got to my appointment with 10 minutes to spare. I dropped the family off at a local mall and I went to visit Craig Swayze at Grandville Printing. I've talked to Craig over the phone but have never met him. Craig and I hit it off and it turns out that he too is an Ironman triathlete. He's the one that convinced me I should do the Steelhead race. He's also doing it as part of his training for Ironman Wisconsin. He gave me some pointers about the race and told me about a tire he uses that is a tubular and a clincher in one. Never heard of it, but I'm going to check it out. He also told me about a stem that can be adjusted up and down and an iPod that he uses in the pool. I'm checking those out as well. Craig's specialty is swimming, he'll be one of the first out of the water. His Ironman swims are in the 1:03's.

When I left Grandville, we headed directly to Benton Harbor. Craig suggested that I shouldn't swim at the YMCA or any pool in Benton Harbor. He said that it is not the greatest area for one's safety. When we got to our hotel, I could see why. We are staying at the Howard Johnson and it doesn't look like they've painted it since it opened in the 60's. I almost cancelled our reservation but all the hotels in the area are booked. Craig told me the race will have over 2000 athletes. Reluctantly, I took the Ho Jo. By this time it was dinner and we went to a Texas BBQ grill. It was the first restaurant I've been in for years that allows inside smoking at your table. It's now strange watching people eat and smoke, Reid thought it was cool. He loves old school rules and thinks Alice and I were lucky to grow up when we did. Afterwards we went for a drive and did some sightseeing around the neighborhood.

We went to St Joesph, which is the other side of the tracks, and it's very nice. Next time I'm going to stay in that area. Then we drove along the water, eventually ending up in an old downtown area. I have the GPS, so I like just driving anywhere and then when I'm totally lost, I turn it on and it guides me back to the hotel. Eventually I did just that and the drive to the hotel was wild. It took us through a residential black area where we didn't see one white person, and it wasn't a short ride, we drove through that area for at least 10 minutes. It was a very active community and most of the people where outside on there yards or porches and the kids playing on the side walk and street. As we drove through, everyone was looking at us. I'm think it was for two reasons, we were white and our vehicle was newer. Most of the vehicles were fairly old. I'm sure they figured we must be lost.

We finally made it to the edge of the residential neighborhood and into the commercial area and then we saw the greatest store sign, "Ultimate Shoes & Tobacco". What a combination. I can only imagine the discussion that came up with that combination and then presenting the business plan to the bank or investors. I'd love to know how they figured selling shoes and tobacco is a natural fit. (Now that I think about it, I buy runners and cigars, it's a perfect fit for me). We ended up at Meijer's grocery store, it's big and has food and clothes. This is a super sized community, they had some cool Orange Crush shirts, but the smallest size was XL and the largest was XXXL. I couldn't find a medium. On the way out of the store, a lady asked us if we could borrow her a quarter for a drink and I told her, truthfully, we are from Canada and only have Canadian coins. Then she hastily asked me how I bought our stuff, I said debit card. She then started to yell at me and tell me to use it to buy her a drink. Then I ignored her and she went on to harassing other people walking into the store. Nice.

When we finally got to the hotel, just outside was a white hooker and standing about 50 yards away was her black pimp. The family was laughing and bugging me about "another great hotel choice by dad". When we got back to the room, I was beat. I think having a couple beers at dinner and last nights late drive did me in, so I feel asleep while the family watched some National Geographic Animal stuff about animals mating in Russia. I was so tired, the laughing was even bothering me. I just looked at them and told them to enjoy there "Animal Porn" and fell asleep. Needless to say, I didn't go to a local pool to do a swim. I'll do it in the lake tomorrow with the other triathletes.

Rest Taper Day

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