Rick & Carol's Journey (DL)

After more than a week, we are finally at a campground that has WiFi access. I will be writing three posts this evening to catch things up, since it is hard to put more than three photos in a single entry. (Actually, I'm having trouble posting any pictures at all -- the next couple of entries may be text only until I figure out what the problem is.)

With the RV fixed on Wednesday morning (June 14), we spent two days driving to Ypsilanti, Michigan, located between Ann Arbor and Detroit. On Thursday afternoon, we walked through the University of Michigan Law School complex in Ann Arbor, and, after some searching, found the apartment where we had lived for two of my three years in law school. Except for the law school, either the town has changed a lot, my memory is less that perfect, or both.

Friday and Saturday were spent at "The Henry Ford," which consists of Greenfield Village, the Henry Ford Museum, and a tour of the Rouge truck assembly plant. The tour of Greenfield Village consumed the entire day on Friday. The village was started by Henry Ford in the mid-1920s and consists primarily of historical buildings which have been relocated to the site. These include Ford's childhood home, Thomas Edison's laboratory, Robert Frost's house, Noah Webster's house, and a number of others. One of the highlights of the day was a ride around the village in a 1914 Model T Ford.

On Saturday, we first toured the Rouge assembly plant, where 440 to 460 trucks are assembled in an 8-hour shift. The plant is part of a larger vertically integrated manufacturing facility which occupies 2,000 acres purchased by Ford for $1,100 (total, not per acre). In the afternoon, we toured the Henry Ford Museum. In addition to a collection of vintage cars, airplanes and railcars, the museum holds agricultural equipment, industrial equipment (primarily steam engines) and a host of historical household items. There are four presidential limousines -- FDRs, Eisenhower's, the one in which Kennedy was shot, and one from the Reagan/Ford era. There will be no future presidential limousines on display, newer vintage models undergo destructive testing by the Secret Service at the end of their useful life.

Sunday and Monday were spent driving, via London Ontario, to the Niagara Falls area. This will be the subject of Part 2.