Stuart White responds to "Cross Over The Line"

I have only listened to the Jay Steilstra song "Crossed Over The Line" and you can understand how much I love the main sentiment in those lyrics. He echoes the feelings each of us would get, as early as the Fifties, when we drove up north. And he still seems moved, as an adult, by the mind-meld from Washtenaw to Lake County.

The I-75 corridor upta Midland is numbing and then just at Clare, "Gateway To The North- Stop at The Doherty", as US-10 becomes a challenging two-lane and Reed City/Evart are your next goals, the trees, no matter what the season, become larger and higher. I am certain it is additionally due to the rolling terrain. The farms and the country houses seem hidden by the trees. Jay is right about the sandy soil only being good for growin' wood. But those trees dominate your attention.

Chase, Nirvana are the last two settlements before downtown Baldwin. Chase, Nirvana.... Coincidence? Idlewild is off US-10 just aways before Baldwin. It was always easy to buy underage liquor there and never did I imagine the sweet greatness of the place in an earlier era. Who would guess that Lake County is the poorest, per capita, county in Michigan? I think even the privately owned Youth Prison went outa business. But, still these sweeping
roads among canyons of trees, fully knowing that Ed Sedlecki's Bait Shop and the PM were very close.

There was almost a definable line just past Clare when you knew that things should be re-examined, when you knew that this new world came with lots of questions, and when you knew that you were a visitor in a strange land.

I still cross the line many, many times each year and I always notice the difference...