Guess Who bought a B-Van??? I will let you guess for a while....answer in a week.... Glad to hear the news!!! We sure do miss them!!! It will be Great to have them back !!!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Here is a Pink Car...Barbie's??
At around 9:00 am we drove to Greenfield Village the Ford complex. The Village is adjacent to the Ford Museum and the IMAX Theater. We presented our prepaid Annual membership and they attached red arm bands for the rides. WOW! A Disney like park everything perfect, clean and landscaped. The Village covers 90 acres of the 200+ acres. The first thing we did was board the Steam Train Ride pulled by the oldest working locomotive in the USA. The ride was 35 minutes as they stopped at three locations for folks to get off and on. Next we walked to the Roundhouse a large brick facility that can work on 10 locomotives at a time. There is a large turn table that is used to turn the heavy machines to the garage bay of choice. There were two levels and we could see the several large machine drills, lathes, planes and hammers used in the reconstruction of the locomotives. They had 4 old locomotives in the bays currently being worked on. A Baldwin locomotive was under restoration a ten year project. Next we walked the sidewalks of the beautiful Village to the Model T Loading Dock. With our red arm bands they put us on a 1914 Model T and the driver told us all about the car. He described the many sites along the way and it was a most enjoyable ride. They have 18 Model T’s and were using 8 of them for rides today. Most of the Model T’s were Black but ours was red and black with a bright brass radiator. Next we walked to the Ford Motor Company building and watched a movie presentation showing the assembly line. An old motion picture showed the actual assembly line and also the office people with Henry giving advice, orders and directions. At the end of the show they raised a curtain showing a display of the actual 15th million Model T that was built 1926. Next we walked a few blocks to the Eagle Tavern a wonderful period restaurant with recipes of the 1800’s. After a delicious lunch we took a stroll down Maple Lane a beautiful street they call Porches and parlors with period houses of famous people and interesting structures. Stephen Foster’s home, Rocks Village Toll House, Luther Burbank Garden Office, Bandstand, Susquehanna Station, Susquehanna Plantation, Plympton Family Home, Farris Windmill, Noah Webster Home, Swiss Chalet, Edison Homestead, Robert Frost Home, Hermitage Salve Quarters, Mattox Family Home, William Holmes McGuffey School and Birthplace, George Washington Carver Cabin, Chapman Family Home, Adams Family Home and more… Next we rode the large colorful 1913 Herschell Speelman Carousel. The music could be heard throughout the Village. We found a concession that served Ice-Cream and enjoyed sitting across the street from a building that had a unique clock tower with moving characters that rang four large tuned bells on the hour and half hour. The building was titled Sir John Bennett Sweet Shop from London. Main Street has 30 buildings all historic. Some of the buildings were The Wright Brothers Home and Bicycle Shop, Cohen Millinery, Hearse Shed, J. R. Jones General Store and the Logan County Courthouse where Abe Lincoln practiced Law. We visited many of the Craft Shops, Glass Blowing, Pottery and Old vertical sawmill, and a waterwheel driven mill where they were grinding corn flour. We watched a lady making tin candle holders and how she soldered the handles using an alcohol lamp and a blow tube. A process she said that existed 2000 BC. We rode the Model T’s three different models and times and we rode the carousel 2 times before we returned home at about 6:00 pm. Tomorrow we go back to see more. The weather was perfect. Bill & Joan
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
TODAY: We drove 24 miles to the Ford Museum in Dearborn. We paid $136.50 including the Museum, 2 days in the Village and the Factory Tour minus coupons and discounts. We started with the Museum Wow one can only describe it as an experience not to be missed. Presidential Limousines, Scores of autos form the Model T, Tucker, GM models, Stanley Steamer, Packard, Studebaker, Hudson, Fraiser, and many models I forgot or never saw before. About ½ dozen Trains, stage couches, Buggies, sleds and more. We saw old time farm equipment, steam engines, balers, thrashers, reapers, corn planters, tomato harvester. Airplanes built by Henry Ford including the Admiral Byrd excursion over the South Pole. A replica of the Wright Bros. plane and the first all metal plane built by Ford. Joan scouted the furniture era and I took pictures of the big engines that were 20 feet high and 75 feet long that generated electricity for New York City. There were several Hugh oil pumps run by steam, water wheels, and turbines of several designs. We spent about 4 hours taking pictures and touring the indoor elegant museum with its chandlers, platinum windows, marble columns and haring bone parquet oak floors. Hungry we headed for the Weiner mobile Café. A Weiner mobile is displayed just outside the café. I had the foot long Texas dog with chili and peppers. Joan had the Greek salad. Joan toured the gift shops while I relaxed on a bench. Next we walked outside the Ford Museum and got on the shuttle bus to the Rouge Ford Factory Tour. Wow! The factory complex is I mile by 3 miles. The Ford family Farm is within 5 miles of this location. We were directed to a theater for a 15 minute movie about the history of the rouge facility now over 100 years old. It showed the early assembly lines and how employment went from hundreds to over 10,000 employees. In WWII the factory stopped making cars and manufactured military jeeps, trucks and more. The industrial revolution changed everybody’s life. The middle class was developed when Henry Ford doubled the wages of his workers and now his employees could afford to buy the car they were building plus homes and more. Next they guided us to a second theater that demonstrated the assembly line of today with sound effects, like a Disney movie. Next we took a self guided tour of the Final Assembly Line that offered a 1/3 mile cat walk overlooking the assembly lines. Everything was in motion. The floor was moving with the partially completed F150 Trucks. They had dozens of video screens explaining each process. Along the way a guide would point out and talk about a certain way things were getting done. I was all eyes and ears. Amazing after the truck is painted they take off the doors to install the insides. They produce 60 new trucks in one hour. That’s one truck a minute. Joan asked who is buying all these new vehicles. We also got a roof top tour showing the 11 acres of roof that is all planted in grass that retains the water and keeps the building a comfortable temp. Rain water is collected and used to water the landscaping. The Factory Tour lasted about 2 hours.
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