Meet you in Michigan.

The above billboard helped me meet some fantastic folks from Vermont this weekend.

The model in the picture, holding the car keys, is Kayla - a 17-year-old sweetheart who has developed quite the portfolio.

The photographer, Christine, saw my billboard on iStockphoto and told Kayla. Kayla flipped. She couldn't believe she was posted that big, on a major highway (US 127) on a billboard. Christine e-mailed me to tell me the news. And then she decided to grab Kayla, pack up a car, and head to Michigan on a road trip. Just to see my billboard.

Talk about a compliment.

After stopping at Niagra Falls and Cedar Point on the way, Christine and Kayla met me at the credit union, and then we headed to lunch.



I decided on the Parlor, since nothing says "Jackson" like the Dare to Be Great (which Kayla actually thought of ordering). We traded stories about each other's states and regions, and compared Apple Mac notes, and shared our iStockphoto experiences.



After ice cream (which none of us could finish), I took them on a tour of Jackson. They wanted to see the prison, plus a quick trip through Cascades and Ella Sharp Park.

It was a pretty cool deal, to meet one of the models that stars in my graphic design work. When you purchase stock photography, you never know the person's story. Now I do, both from the model and the photographer.

Christine and Kayla left for Vermont after we got back to the credit union, hoping to make it to at least Buffalo, NY by last night, and then on home today.

I sent them home with baggies full of American 1 swag, and hopefully a decent-enough sense of Michigan (since they've never been here before).

Nice to meet you, Christine and Kayla!