Authors give readers interesting views from freeway and rivers
by Jerry Nunn | The Bay City Times
Friday September 26, 2008, 9:59 AM

Travelers along Michigan's byways and waterways have interesting new guide books.

"Driving Michigan: Mile by Mile on I-75," by Leslie Mertz, takes the boredom out of that 400 mile stretch of road while answering questions the average highway traveler never thinks to ask.

Nearly every fact and curiosity the road bound traveler ever wanted to know about the towns, cultures, attractions and animals along the highway are addressed by Mertz. And the Traverse City author provides great detail exit by exit and mile-marker by mile-marker.

Ever wonder where the Institute of Snow Research was located? (Michigan Technological University.) When do black bears give birth to their young? (In the dead of winter.) What state park lies off exit 259? (The 9,672 acre Hartwick Pines State Park, the largest in the Lower Peninsula.)

The idea for Mertz' book - one she calls "trivia pursuit without the board" - came from her own frequent travels down the highway. From Exit 6, just north of the Ohio Border, to the International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie, Mertz adds excitement for travelers while teaching them plenty they probably never knew.