Lurking on US 41

I live alone...I mean really alone, my closest family member lives a 7 hour drive away. So if I want to see people I'm related to, being the single, child-free, pet-free person in the equation, I do a lot of driving, in a car, by myself, for hours.

This has led to some rather creative car games (there's only so many times you can play the license plate game). On a particular trip home after visiting my parents, my car was passed by a red full sized van. I decided to follow them, speculating we were probably going to the same place any way (a common occurrence in the UP).

This is not that van.

I was sneaky for the firs few miles, keeping 2-3 cars behind them until we both turned to go down the same road where we were the only two cars. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, a police car pulled out of his hidey-hole and drove between us for 20 minutes.

Hai guys! Heard you were having a party! Wait...where is everybody going?

I. freaked. out. Had I picked the wrong van to stalk? Could it be someone famous traveling incognito to perform at one of the casinos? Someone from the government on their way to Tech? What had my boredom gotten me into now?

The answer is we had both (the van & I) become a rolling speed-trap for anyone traveling the opposite direction. He pulled over the first sap who came barreling down the highway.

I continued to follow the van until we came to the Seney rest-stop. Normally, if you're attempting to successfully lurk, you probably shouldn't follow them into a rest-stop.  The Seney stop is different. Everyone stops there because you've either just driven or about to drive the longest, straightest, most unpopulated stretch of road imaginable.

I once had a passenger who was convinced the trees were out to get us by the end of this road.

I parked about five cars over from the van and watched as 5 young men got out. Their dress and mode of travel suggested band members. One of them announced loudly on his cell that they "would be there in an hour." From this statement I gleaned two things: 1) They were headed for Marquette and 2) The man on the cell was bad at estimating the passage of time (Marquette was about 2 hours away).

I finished my business at the rest stop and got on my way long before the guys in the van were ready to go. 1 person (even if I'm a chick) takes less time than 5 (even if they're dudes). I didn't want to wait around for them because they might start suspecting something, and when I play creeper, I play to win.

When I got back on the road, I started going about 3 mi. under the speed limit. Most people in Michigan will pass you of your going the limit (kinda explains why the cop went after the first car that went by, don't it?) Eventually, the van caught up and passed me.

Now, the Seney Stretch is particularly devoid of radio stations. As I was following the van, I figured, like many people, they would be listening to an MP3 player in the car. They might even be using one of those devices that broadcasts to a radio station to be playing it through the speakers. Flipping through the static on my radio, I found it.

So there I am. In the middle of the wilderness, stalking a van, listening to their music and they were none the wiser. If I wasn't such a non-intimidating little blonde girl, we might have been in a horror flick.

Like this, except shorter, thinner and wielding a Nerf sword.